Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 2, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 May 1858 — THE HOUSE. [ARTICLE]

THE HOUSE.

The secret of successful breeding consists in a knowledge oif the result sought and the means by which it is to be obtained. Hence, the first question which the horse-grower has to settle, before he can proceed to his object with any hope of a favorable termination, is, what kind of horses does the age demand, and how can that particular race be propagated and maintained? It is in regard to the first partpjf this inquiry that we propose to offer a hints American hordes are of two classes, the work-horse and the roadster: a distinction sufficiently clear to preclude the idea that it is a forced or an arbitrary one. These classes, moreover, are susceptible of a subdivision, the one into the dray-horse and the general work-horse; the other into the roadster proper and the trotting or race-horse — which ladder division, however, is less important, since the characteristics upon which it depends are less marked. Still, the drayhorse and racer note the extremes of the former. The qualities which constitute the excellencies of the dray-horse are, bulk of body combined with strength. He must be so, heavy as not to be swayed by his ponderous load, and sufficiently strong to carrry it forward over every obstacle. Yet he has less absolute power, in proportion to his size, than either of the others: his strength lies in the immense carcass which he throws into the collar, arid, as among men, a large body and a small head often steal the honors which belong to a large head and a small hody; so inertia does for him what tho active exertion of sinews <ftes for the others. He is negatively strong, not positively powerful. We, therefore, find that the most valuable animals of this kind are large, course, overgrown beasts, loosely jointed, with long backs, thick necks and heavy heads, and are often found weighing frgot

eighteen hundred to two thousand pounds. Their shoulders are set on in a linefislightly inclining from a perpendicular, whereby they exert an enormous force on the collar without any great outlay of strength. They are, consequently, very slow in their movements, and the distance from the hip to the gambrel-joint is, in proportion, uncommonly short. In fine, while the dray-horse has few of the points of a good animal, he is eminently qualified to perform the duties required of him, and is one of the most servicable of what are termed the royal brutes. As we descend to the general work-horse, the qualities gradually change; there is less hulk, but more speed and strength. He is shorter in the back, has a thinner neck and a lighter head; his shoulders form greater angles with the perpendicular; the distance from the hip to the gambrel-joiijt increases; he is smaller boned, is more compactly and firmjy made, and has less flesh and more muscle; his movements are easier-and quicker, and at the plow or on the road is able and willing to do whatever is asked of him. He is positively strong, and when his s'rength is united with his bulk of body, he is negatively powerful. In the second class, we come to the true horse—the noblest animal given to man—who is at once man’s slave and companion; who is dependent on the hand of his master for liis daily food, and by his services rendered him indebted for many of the pleasures and comforts of life; who shares his confidence and his affections; who “paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in his strength;” who “mocketh at fear and is not affrighted;” who “swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage:” who “saitli, ha! ha! among the trumpets, and smelleth the battle afar off;” “whose neck is clothed with thunder” and “the glory of whose nostrils is terrible.” Four great qualifications are necessary tp constitute the roadster, speed, endurance, action and beauty; but the greatest of them all is speed. The age we live in ijs an age of intensity, wherein thereof feed upon steam and run “air the cradle to the grave. It is not stfange, then, that the horse is made to partake of this spirit, and that his powers for fleetness are cult'vated to a very great extent. beast which the farmer, the lawyer, the merchant, the manufacturer, the minister, the printer, the cobbler, the blacksmith, the butcher, the baker and the candle-stijck maker and whatnot drive, must be fast or he is good for nothing. An animal m»y have none of the other qualifications, hut strong in this he meets with a ready Sale. The roadster, however, must not only be swift for one mile, hut for many miles; for one hour and many hours; for days and weeks; his powers of endurance must rather increase than diminish by exertion, and he must press ips hard on the hit, and respond as quickly to the wishes of his driver, at.the close of the day as at its commencement. He must combine speed with bottom, or he car.not be truly termed las). Moreover, the roadster must have action. A man, if there is any manhood in him, is proud of his horse, and herein the horse sympathizes with him, and is proud of the man. By the grace with which he handles himself, he testifies as much and exhibits the fair proportions of his built. The arching neck, the lofty steps, the flashing eye, the flaming nostril and the haughty tossing of the head all bespeak courage and energy, and tell us that within the brain of the horse is a power which, although less noble and god-like, is yet as mysterious and fascinating as the more gifted and immortal spirit of man. If the roadster has these three qualities in harmony,lie, cannot fail of having the last one, na.mely,beauty. Now, the horseman, if he wishes to obtain an animal which will do good road service, must shake off, as wholly erroneous, the idea—which 6eems: to be as generally received, and as hard to he got rid of, among farmers, as cholera among foreigners—that the roadster must he a large beast. Any person well ; read in English history or acquainted with ! the performances of the turf, will tell you that every attempt to endow a large horse with speed, endurance, action and beauty, in any eminent dree, has always proved a failure. The great object is, and it should be written in letters of gold over the horsegrower’s stable, to get as much horse as possible into a smalt compass. We are no advocate lor ponies—we go neither to the one extreme nor to the other; but we say, that no horse, except one of a medium size, is fit for the road. The greatest Toad horses the world has ever seen, the Morgan, are notoriously small; and herein lies one of their excellencies. They scarcely ever exceed fifteen and a half hands in bight, or weigh more than eleven hundred pounds. Our favorite of this breed, the “Sherman Blackhawk,” unquestionably the best Morgan horse now living, is not a large horse, ns we use the term. He stands fifteen and a half hands/-high, and weighs ten hundred and eighty pounds. There is, however, no waste of material about him. Hie was put together for speed and actiofi, and was made to last. His body is most acuralely poised, and filled and rounded wjth cords and sinews; and what is the best-of it, he knows how to use them. We remember the last time we saw him trot. It was before a heavy buggy; and he carried himself with such grace und elegance, end moved with so much elasticity and smoothness, that his i

limb 3 seemed as if worked by the most delicate machinery. There was no false motion in his gait—every step told; and so great is his m&scular power, it seemed like a blow from the arm of Achilles. We offer him as the best type of this class, with which we are Acquainted.

The points of the roadster are easily told: He is very short in the back, very long from the hips to the gambrel, has a thin, muscular neck, tapering toward the head, head light and short, ears small, nostrils large, chest deep and thick, hips wide and round, inclining from the perpendicular, and his whole structure compactly and firmly put. together. As every particle of his body is called into a ©five exertion, he is what we term positively powerful. A few words must suffice for the racer. He does not differ materially from the roadster, except that some of his qualities are developed to the exclusion of others. He has very great speed, and comparatively large powers i-es endurance. He has very little action and less beauty- His shoulders make the largest angles with the perpendicular; hips slanting, legs set well underneath, with hind and fore leg inclining toward each other; neck long and slim, head fine, nostrils large; chest deep, &c. The turf has done and is doing much for the improvement of the horse It is mainly through its aid that we have already attained to so great a degree of perfection. We shall most assuredly hail the day when the turf is wholly taken from the hands of unprincipled men and elevated into'general respectablenelp. In a future article we may offer a few hints on the second inquiry.

AGRICULTURAL ED.