The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-06-23
THE AMERICAN SADDLE HORSE.

OoudlC uOISSS III Au6IlCd nave
quite naturally been good for very
long time. In Our early history all
long journeys not taken on foot were
on horseback, and there has never
been time when in this country
what was necessary, and desirable has
not been supplied" writes John Gil
mer Speed in Ainslee's. "The hardy
aud active horses before spoken of as
foundation native stock were apt to
pc very good saddle horses. Indeed,
any active horse not too heavy in
Nc1sslsstt 'NsFc-zsst oF~too long on the back can be
converted by patient and skillful rid
ing into good saddle horse. A good
saddle horse nowadays must walk,
trot, canter and gal1op. These are
Unnatural gaits to all horses, so that
any. ordinarily active horse can be
or less perfected in them. But more
was needed in the time of our grand
fathers, when long journeys had to be
made over roads which were not
much better than trails. Then the
amble was considered desirable, and
later much pleasanter gait, which
was called runningwalk. The am
bic is slow pace, a gait where the
progression is secured by the feet on
the same side moving forward at the
same time. This amble had been
held in esteem in Europe since the
middle ages. At that time abbots
and other monks took journeys on
ambling jennets, and ladies also pre-
ferred such a mount. We read also
of ambling palfreys which the knights
used before mounting their chargers
for battle or for the tilt. The saddle
horses in America in the colonial
time were of the palfrey kind, and
they were considered very excellent.
Silas Dean, who, with DR.. Franklin,
represented the colonies in France
during the revolutionary war, ex-
pressed wish that he had such a
horse to give, presumably, to Marie
Antoinette. I wish, he said, I had
one of your best saddle horses, of the
American or Rhode Island breed
present of that kind would be
money we'll laid out with certain
parsonage
"The amble pushed faster came to
be the pace, and it is probably true
that there were pacing races under
saddle before we had trotting races.
These, by the way, were also always
under saddle until well along in the
nineteenth century-even to the Sec
ond half of it. But the pace is not
nice gait, either in harness or under
-, ssFss' sts=z1zss- y ;ss<St l,ald in lyicsl,
n6ffSnally fast horses for exhibition
and gambling purposes. That there
is pacing blood in many of our best
trotting families there can be no
doubt. 1t is also true that PAGERS
have been converted into trotters, just
as baritones have been changed into
tenors; but these facts do not in the
least prove that the trotter owes the
capacity trot to pacing blood; that
conclusion from the facts is no fairer
than to say that the trotter owes the
trot to the thoroughbred blood, and
in spite of occasional strains. At any
rate, the modern American saddle
horse-the best saddle horse any,
where to be found-is not indebted to
the PAGER to any extent. Nowadays
none but pumpkin would ride pac-
ing horse, and even the amble is quite
out of fashion even in those sections
of the country where men ride on
horseback for business purposes, and
have no desire to get greatly heated
by exercise. For fun, for the fun of
riding, 1 think, the thoroughbred is
the ideal saddle horse. But the
thoroughbred is not suited to all rid
ers. Most frequent it is not up to the
weight of heavy men, and then again
it is too highly strung for any save
patient and expert rider. For the
general rider there has been develop
ed i'll this country, chiefly in Ken
tucky, an American saddle horse in
every way admirable. The horse is
at least half bred, and often three
quarters bred. 1t is the product of
thoroughbred blood and some old
Kentucky strains--Denmarks and
Drennons. These horses are capable
of high education and become very
accomplished, besides being very ac-
tive, symmetrical and gentle. 1t
used to be that at every country fair
in Kentucky they had rings for COM
bination horses, that is, horses good
both in harness and under saddle. 1t
may be that such is still the case. I
have seen the same horse take three
premiums in three classes-the best
driving horse, the best saddle horse
and the best combination horse.
These Kentucky saddle horses 20
years ago were accomplished 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 east
ern market, these gaits have been
curtailed to the walk, canter and gal
lop, aud it has not been considered
necessary to break horse intended
for saddle to harness, the mistaken
idea prevailing that to drive horse
would injure his saddle gaits. This
idea is the veriest nonsense. Each
new accomplishment helps horse in
his others. 1t is on par with the
idea that an English-speaking person
knowing French should not attempt
to learn German, or Spanish, or Ital-
ian, or Russian. "
TEAcHER-"Who was the first
man, Tommy"
Tommy = George Washington.
He xuoc fret in war fret in reace