The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-07-29

that is to say, wide commons-they often
run for ten miles as hard as they can leg
it, then come trotting back in the most in
nocent fashion TO their own proper quar-
tiers.
1t is not only blood horses that race
among themselves, free of girth or rein.
When a storm threatens horses of every
sort grow so full of running needs must
they race and jump. Then in a wide pas
ture you may see sights such as no course
can offer. In every herd there is a leader,
usually mare, and oftener than not a bar
rem one. AS the cloud mounts and the
air grows thick and lifeess, she stops
grazing, turns her nose to the wind,
shorts, then falls again to feeding, but
only for minute. Her snort was a sort
of bugle call The rest answers it. some
with low whinnes. She whinnes back
filings up her head and starts off in q trot
locking over her shoulder to see if she is
followed The rest come streaming after
she breaks into a eeping run. Round,
round, faster, the herd follows 1t is a
race for blood where the best horse all
ways wins. Generally it is not the leader
She may even be distanced in the second
round or the third. Sometimes
the pastures circuit is made
twenty times before stopping The
best horse gains sometimes a whole round
upon his mates. 1t is he who ends the
heat. When he has had enough he Stacks
up, turns sidewise lifts his head and tail
and whnnys shrill triumph. But the tri-
umph never goes TO his head. After it
he is submissive as ever, coming or go
ing, jumping out or staying meekly at
home. quite as the lead mare ordains.
Until foals are a week old, they are
not safe in the company of grown-up
horses. Barren mares especially will at
tack the little creatures, biting, kicking
and trampling them 20 death That is
not infallibly the case, but there is al
ways a chance of it, hence horse breeders
are careful to keep brood mares away
from other stock. II is most unusual for
brood mares to harm colt, either their
own or their neighbors But cases have
been known of mares still with foal at
tempting to steal colts dropped in their
pasture.
In size hardly any other domestic ami
mails Is so diverse as the horse. The av-
erage weight of a standard Percheron is
near 1000 pounds; Shetland, on the other
hand may weigh less than 200 But ami
mails cross bred between the diverse races
are true horses not hybrids. such as re-
suit from the interbreedng of Asatic and
South African asses. Thoroughbred stock
all traces back to Arabia, Percherons to
the barbs left behind by the Moors whom
Charomagne overthrow in battle. Only
the Percheron bulk could have carried
the weight of knights in armor. But
It is demonstrate that weight for weight
the thoroughbred is stronger, both in bone
and muscle, than his big, handsome
feather-legged compeer.
A thoroughbred has bone something be-
tween ivory and flint for hard. compact
ness. Percheron bone is soft and spongy
The big beasts pull great loads over
smooth roads, but in mud soon become
leg-weary. A blood cross, otherwise
thoroughbred one gives staying power
endurance--to any sort OF stock. and very
often symmetry as we'll Pure blood is
-potent--that is to say, It impresses IT.
self consistently upon offspring. BY