The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-29
GOOD HORSES In DEMAND
TROLLEY CAR HAS NOT KNOCKED
THE BOTTOM OUT OF THE MARKET.
Big Prices Paid for Saddlers and DrIv-
ers-WOrd of Counsel to Western
Breeders and Dealers.
Chicago Post


horses as a motive power for street cars
the newspapers of the country have been
busy heralding the fact that the bottom was
out of the horse market and time had
come when the horse was to be superseded
by steam and electric motors The talk has
been of horses being given away or sold for
a few dollars to be killed for the hides.
bones and tallow. Commission men have
stated that carloads of horses that have
been shipped them by Western breeders
have failed to sell for enough money to pay
the freight and commission charges.
That a certain class of horses is SO cheap
as to be practically worthless is undeniably
true, and just as true is the fact that good
horses never brought as much money as
they are doing to-day, nor were good horses
ever so scarce The reason is plain.
Not many years ago the street railways
of the country used up annually thousands
of horses of a type that was of little use for
any other purpose, and in those days so
great was the demand for horses to work on
the street-car lines that 'streeters, as
they were called, were worth from 500 to
$3.50 a head, the price decreasing with the
use of the horse as trolley cars came more
and more into use.
Nearly any horse was a 'streeter' that
sound feet The consequence was many
people throughout the country were breed
ing horses, and so long as the poorest, the,
'culls" of the farms, would bring $3.50
"streeters" very little attention was paid
by the breeder as to what quality of stock
he used.
Ten years ago very little effort was made
to breed any special kind of horse. When
the colts came those of good shape and
color were broken and when old enough
sold carriage or general-purpose horses
while the poorer-shaped and 'on-colored
animals would be shipped away to pound
their lives out on the streets of some city.
ne S1oTeht u me lolley al nc nc To- 49,
! fall of the price of common, nondeScrlpt
horses and sounded the knell of the street
err and it is poor horses of that class and
poor ones alone, that are unstable at the
present time.
That horses are being killed for their
| hides bones and talow is true, and so they
| have been for hundreds of years, but never
until lately outside of large cities: London
! has had a hOrSe-Slaughtering establishment
for several hundred years, where they kill
| ard utilize the bodies of broken down
| horses One of the most curious sights of
| Brooklyn n. Y, is the market where used
up horses are disposed of. Several hundred
head of the lame, the halt and the blind are
| sold there every week. There is not much
| talow in this description of horse. but the
| hide and bones are worth about So In
| healthy horse of nine hundred pounds
| weight, welie the talloW can be saved and
the meat fused for food, the profit is much
| greater. But nOwhera in this country Elk
! cept Montana and Oregon are horses killed
in herds for the value that is in their car
| caSSeS.
HORSE ABATTOIR.
On the banks of the Willamette river.
ten miles below Portland, Ore, IS horse
abattoir the first of the kind ever estab-
| lished. The plant is operated by a COM
| pany which has capital of 800 900. 1t
pays from SO to S. a head for horses and
| is killing from thirty to fifty a day. All
| parts of the animals killed are utilized,
and as the hides alone are worth 81 apiece
| the venture is likely to be profitable, for
time at least. 1t is a good thing for the
| ranchman and will not only rid the ranges
| of these herds of useless "buzzard heads"
| but will enable their owners to realize
| something from otherwise worthless stock.
Horses of this kind being killed on the
banks of the Willamette roam in vast herds
over the plains of Idaho, Wyoming and
| Utah, as well Oregon and Montana.
| Some of them are the direct descendants
of the Southern mustangs that came from
| the Spanish horses, but others are the re-
| settlers, who wanting heavy horses for
| team and farm work, attempted to breed
| them from draft stations and pony mares.
| The breeders hoped to get by this cross
good-sized, chunky animal That they were
unsuccessful the slaughter houses of Ore
| gon and Montana give ample proof.
Although at times a serviceable horse was
| bred, the majority were ill-shaped animals
with large, ugly heads and light bodies
| These large heads, heritage from their
| Clyde sires, procured for them the name OF
"buzzard heads" from the, cowboys and
| horse wranglers" of the plains Pasture
| costing nothing, the animals were turned
loose to get their living on the prairie.
The true pony descended from the escaped
| cavalry horses of the early Spanish invad-
ers is, in point Of endurance and strength
| the best saddle animal in the world; his size
| alone is against him, but the cross of the
and draft horse Is weed. and. like a
| weed, must be killed and stamped out to be
| got rid Of. No attempt is now being made
| to improve these herds by infusions of fresh
| blood; they are increasing naturally and live
| in a nearly wild state, being seen, except by
| accident, but once year, when. at the an
nual roundup" the herds are corralled
| and the colts branded.
But not all poor horses are being bred in
| the West California is second only to Ken
| lucky as a nursery for thoroughbreds, and
| in number of sensational trotterS produced
stands at the head. 1t is unfortunate the
| efforts of California breeders nave been d.
rected entirely toward producing speedy
| horses. OF late years no effort has been
made to produce general-purpoSe or car
riage horses. Lately CaliforntanS have
bought carriage horses in the East at prices
| in the thousands, while California-bred trot-
| ters were selling at the same time and place
| charges simply because they We're poor in
dividuals. There is surely an object lesson
| in this for breeders.
| Spokane was the only bunch grass horse
| that ever won the Kentucky Derby; the
| Montana horse won, beating Proctor Knott
| in the hardest fought race an the history of
| that famous stake Mikado, the PAGER, was
foaled at Toston, near the headwaters OF
| the Missouri, and was few seasons ago
| one of the sensations of the Grand Circuit
| Oregon was the birthplace of the trotter
| Klamath, whose dam was a cayuse mare,
| and of Oregon Eclipse, rare good race
! horse.
FOR THE LONDON MARKET,
| In eastern Montana, near Miles City, and
| in several places in Wyoming, horses are
being bred from thoroughbred sires and
well-bred mares that. when of a suitable
age, are shipped straight to London and
sold for hacks and hunters. There is prac-
ticalIy no limit to the demand for horses
OF this type in England, and large prices
are paid for good animals.
The demand for the half-breed horses is
great in all the Eastern cities, and the sup
ply at present comes from Canada, Virginia
| and a few from New York State They
! could just well be raised in the middle
| West, and would prove an important addl-
| ton TO the resources of the farmers.
| That One-half of the world doesn't know
! how the other half lives is very true. And
it is just az true that half the horse breed
! ers of the country don't know what the
| other half of their world the horse con-
| sumers, wants.
| Daisy Dare is a good type of the gated
! saddle horse so popular through the South.
! Easy and smooth gated as they are. the
! gated saddler Is not wanted TO any. extent
! in the North and East, where the breeder
| must look for buyers st. Nicholas well
| represents the type of horse that is want
| ed-one that knows only the walk trot and