Great Falls weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1894-1???, 1895-03-29
BREED BIG CARRIAGE HORSES.
The Demand For Them Is Brisker Thar
Ever.

unprecedented depression in the horse
market is the active and increasingly
seen demand for horses of tho coaching
carriage type. English and Scotch
buyers, French and German buyers,
New York and other eastern city buy
5rs have all been quietly but constantly
up every desirable horse OF this
llass that presented itself during the
last year. AS business men these buy
,rs very naturally wish to purchase as
as possible, but it is an open
secret that if the horse is only good
enough-possessing tho size, the form,
the quality and the action desired
very handsome prices, and in some in
extravaganza prices, are being got
for them, prices that would seem in
credible to the average breeder of ordi-
nary horses.
Now, assuming that those good prices
are obtained on account of the scarcity
Of this class of horses, the question nat
urally arises, Why this scarcity? How
comes it that with the multitudinous
hordes of almost every conceivable kind
u tuulLlto "llNjl luCCu uo III on ttilN
---many of whom arc ''fcarfully and
wonderfully madu'--thero are really SO
few specimens fit for carriage purposes:
The problem is an interesting ANA high
" important ono to consider and does
not by any means reflect fayoratly on
our ability and intelligence as breeders.
In conversation with some foreign
buyers at tho Chicago stockyards re-
Gently lcullcd tho following facts--viz:
That tho demand tor certain kinds OF
American horses is better than ever;
that price cuts little figure if only the
horses are good enough; that the ones
which best fill the bill are produced in
various different Ways-some from trot-
ting bred sireS, sonio from hackneys and
other imported coach breeds, while some
Of tho very best III point of quality have
a large infusion of thoroughbred blood.
1t is of course only natural to suppose
that in a country so vast as ours, with
mares of such extremely varied types
and qualifications, no ~ stallion or
one breed will give uniformly good re-
suits. This, in my opinion, is why
many otherwise intelligent breeders
have become discouraged i'll the bust
ness by want of success, whereas the
primary fault lay in their OWL inability
to discriminate and make the proper
connection.
For instance, a farmer has two brood
mares, both good individuals, but OF
quite different types. He breeds them
both to a certain trotting bred horse
with perhaps "a good reputation. One
raises a good colt, the other rather an
inferior one. He sells the dam OF the
latter, and the new owner breeds her to
a good hackney, we shall say, and OBJ
tains q carriage horse. Now, where the
| first marc failed the second easily sue
| ceeds, and this knowledge of how to
''nick'' or blend certain individuals to
obtain a desired result is the highest at
tainable aim of the scientific breeder.
Without this knowledge Or inspiration
our breeders only work in tho dark.
Their operations are haphazard and in
the highest degree uncertain. Most OF
the discouragements and hoartburnlngs
which breeders have experienced in re-
sent years are only the natural result OF
mistaken ideas or a want Of knowledge
of tho proper essentials of mating. just
as a well balanced ration of feed is in
%dispensuble to the highest development
Of the young animals physical frame,
SO an experienced, we'll balanced iudg-
ment, coupled with the requisite knowl,
edge of the science of breeding, is re-
CURED to make any kind of success III
that line. The question of the demand
for coach horses resolves itself into the
following:
FIRST. THAT coachers are wanted and
in all human probability will continue
to be wanted, at good figures, for many
years t. come.
Second. THAT they are today the only
kind of horse in America for which the
demand is greater than tho supply.
Third. That the production of such
horses offers probably better prospects
of remuneration than that Of any other
kind of live stock.
Fourth, That quality, style, size and
action are Indispensable qualifications
of good coach horses.
Fitth.-That with the material which
this country already possesses and the
REQUISITE knowledge in mating, feeding,
handling and fitting such horses there
is today a most profitable field for the
farmers and horse breeders Of America,
ALEX Galbraith i'll Horsoman.