The Marks By Which A Good Horse Is Known

To a young man starting out in the business of breeding, or to any person about to purchase a horse, nothing can be of greater value than the knowledge of those points or marks which characterize a perfect animal. Not that all of these desirable qualities of bone, muscle, and nervous organization, can be found once in a thousand times combined in any single animal ; for the perfect form in any order of life is rarely if ever seen. But, nevertheless, a standard is needed by which the buyer may measure the several animals inspected, in order to ascertain where to place them in the column that represents aggregate excellence, else his blunders will be many and mortifying. The question arises, therefore, — and it is of the most practical significance to the young breeder and general purchaser, — Is there any standard or representative horse, the marks of which. being known, would enable one to buy with intelligence and wisdom? How can one who has had little if any experience with horses go to the mart or field, and invest his money in such a way as to escape the ridicule of his more experienced companions and neighbors, and the censure of his after-judgment ?

I reply, that such a standard can be formed, — a standard which, when it has become known and familiar to the mind, enables it to discriminate with accuracy touching the excellences or deficiencies of every animal inspected, and qualifies a man to fix surely and at once the money-value of the animal he wishes to purchase. In other words, there are certain elements of nature, and certain peculiarities of form, and a certain style of action, which the perfect, the ideal horse invariably possesses, and which, according to the degree with which they are possessed by an animal, rank it in the column of value and price. Nor are these marks, on the one hand, so numerous as to be beyond the capacity of the poorest memory to commit them ; nor, on the other, are they so latent, that, when once pointed out, they cannot be perceived by even the most casual glance. Nature does not disguise herself from those that seek to know her, nor so mask her excellences that they cannot be perceived and admired even by the careless eye.

I propose, therefore, to point out to the reader those marks which characterize the perfect or ideal horse ; and I do so for the sole purpose that every boy who reads these pages may have with him the knowledge which forbids blundering and financial loss in the selection of animals from which to breed, or for general or special use. Nothing is more preposterous than the idea which seems to be current, that there is something mysterious in. the art of buying and selling horses wisely, which has been hidden from the average farmer or gentleman, and revealed only to jockeys, grooms, and stable-boys. It is about time for the public to realize that the organization of the horse is too high, and his physical anatomy too intricate, for the ignorant and drunken to understand ; and that the gentleman's companion, as I hold the horse to be, can best" be understood and managed by gentlemen. I will now call your attention to certain elements and characteristics of the horse which the perfect animal must have.