The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-05-10
THE AMERICAN SADDLE HORSE.
UnequaIed as an AII-Round Travel
er-His Fame in FrankIin's Day.

er-His Fame in FrankIin's Day.
John Gilmer Speed in Ainslee's.)
Saddle horses in America have quite
naturally been good for a very long time.
In our early history all long journeys rot
taken on foot were on horseback, and Their
has never been a time when in this coun-
try what was necessary and desirable has
not been supplied. The hardy and active
horses before spoken of as the foundation
native stock were apt to be very good sad
die horses Indeed, any active horse not
too heavy in weight or too long on the
back, can be converted by a patient and
sl1illful rider into a good saddle horse.
good saddle horse nowadays must walk
trot, canter and gallop. These are all MAJ
ural gaits to all horses, so that any ordi-
narily active horse can be more or less
perfected in them. But more was needed
in the time of our grandfathers, when long
journeys had to be made over roads which
were not much better than trails Then
the amble was considered desirable, and
later a much pleasanter gait. which is call
ed the running walk. The amble is a
slow pace, a gait where the progression is
secured by the feet on the same side NOV
ing forward at the same time. This am-
BILE had been held in esteem in Europe
since the Middle Ages. At the time alb
bots and other monks took journeys on
ambling jennets, and ladies also preferred
such a mount. We read also of ambling
palfreys which the knights used before
mounting their charges for battle or for
tilt. The saddle horses in America in the
colonial time were of the palfrey kind, and
they were considered very excellnt. Silas
Dean, who, with DIR. Franklin, represented
the colonies in France during the Revolt
tionary War, expressed a wish that he had
p, III Ia
Antoinette. L wish, he said, I had one of
your best saddle horses, of the American
or Rhode Island breed-a present Of that
kind would be money well laid out with a
certain parsonage"
1.-The amble pushed faster came to be the
pace, and il Is probably true that there
were pacing races under saddle before we
had trottlng races. These, by the way,
were also always under saddle until well
along in the nineteenth century--eyen into
the second half of it, But the pace is not
a nice gait, either In harness or under the
saddle, and it is not held in high esteem,
except by those who use phen3meuafiy fast
horses for exhibition and gambling pur-
poses. That there is pacing blood in
many of our best trotting families there
can be no doubt Ii is also true that pac-
ers have been converted into trotters. just
as baritones have been changed into ten
ors; but these facts do not in the least
prove that the trotter owes the capacity
to trot to pacing blood; that conclusion
from the facts is not fairsr than TO say
that the trotter owes the trot 10 the thor
oughbred blood, and, in spite of occas .oaal
pacing strains. At any rate, the modern
American saddle horse-the best saddle
horse anywhere TO be found--is not in
debted to the PAGER to any extent Nova
days none but a pumpkin would ride
pacing horse, and even the amble is quite
Of 70 chi n Of ha
country where men ride on horseback for
bushes purposes, and have no desire 10
get greatly heated by exercise. For fun,
for the fun of riding, / think the thor
oughbred is the ideal saddle horse. But
the thoroughbred is not suited to all rid
ers. Most frequently il is not up to TIE
weight of heavy men, and then again il is
too highly strung for any save patient
and expert rider For the general rid
there has been developed in this country.
chiefly in Kentucky, an American saddle
horse in every way admirable This horse
is at least half bred, and often three quar-
tiers bred. 1t is the product of thorough
bred blood, and some Old Kentucky strains
-Denmarks and Dreunons. These horses
are capable of high education, and become
very accomplished, besides being active,
symmetrical and gentle. II used TO be thai
at every country fair in Kentucky they
had rings for combination horsss-that Is.
saddle. 1t may be that such is still the
case. / have seen the same horse take
three premiums in three classes-the best
driving horse, the best saddle horse and
the best combination horse The Kentucky
saddle horses twenty years ago were ac-
complished in many gaits-the walk. the
running walk the trot, the rack or single
foot the canter and the gallop-and they
were fine and useful animals in every
sense. recently, and especially for the
Eastern market, these gaits have been cur
tailed to the walk, canter an gallop, and 1t
a horse intended for the saddle to harness,
has not been considered necessary to break
the mistaken idea prevailing that to drive
a horse would injure his saddle gals This
idea is the veriest nonsense. Each new ac-
complishment helps a horse in his others.
1t Is on par with the idea that an Eng
disappearing person knowing French
should not attempt to learn German, or
Spanish or italian or Russian.