THE HORSE AGAIN

Hutt News, Volume 6, Issue 49, 16 May 1934, Page 2

THE HORSE AGAIN

BEST FRIEND OP MAW Man. aEd horso aro becoming better .cquainted again. Which is another ray of saying that the pleasure horso s having a "come back," helping to how man, woman, and child alike how 0 find a more wholesome, pleasurable ife than the crowded city offers, and onsequently making it fashionable to >o a "country gentleman" again says he "Christian Science Monitor." So declared speakers at the recent mnual meeting of the Horse Associa;ion of America, when it-was noted ;hat there had been an increase of some 25 to 30 per cent in the number of pleasure horses in tlie United States dur mg the past thirteen years, although the J total number of horses has dwindled! from 27,000,000 to less than 18,000,000] in this time on account of the increasej of power machines on the farm. 3 Members -of the Horso Association,' in speaking at the meeting, declared the horse, given his proper place, can be man's greatest friend, while man himself in crowding the horse off the farm and hence out of existence, has been his own worst enemy. They were inclined to attribute the present agricultural crisis partly to the decreaso in horses, holding that some •±0,000,000 acres once used for cultivation and care of horses had been turned over to producing a farm surplus while at the same time consumption of farm products for maintenance of horses had proportionately decreased. Mr Wayne Dinsmore, secretary of the association, and Mr A. B. Hancock, its president, both covered this point. But as to the value of the pleasure liorse as a friend of man, Mr Stuyvesont Pcabody, prominent business man and horso lover, gave tlio following illustration' — "No man can own a good yearling without being an optimist, and no one can comprehend the unquenchable courage of the thoroughbred, without developing some of the unconquerable spirit that will never brook defeat. "There are apparently many reasons for the growing popularity of pleasure horses," ho continued. "One is the increase in country homes, or country es-1 tates, occupied by men .who have to make their living in town, who have a deep love of country life. Many who begin by living in the country during the growing season —March to November—eventually find country life so attractive that they sell their city residences and make their country places their permanent homes. "Invariably the children want ponies, | the older boys and girls good riding 1 horses of some sort, and mother, to I keep in the swim, wants a good driving I horse or a pair, with an appropriate veI hide for driving about the farm. The net result of all these desires is the purchase of some pleasure horses, and it is frequently but a short time till the family possesses eight or ten." As to the character value of raising children around horses, Mr Peabody said that '' children who grow up in the saddle develop an unusual degree of self confidence, courage and self-control."