CHAPTER EIGHT

THE DENMARK, OR KENTUCKY SADDLE-HORSE

The assessed value of horses tabulated by States would make it appear that Kentucky horse-flesh was not more precious than in other parts of the Union. And yet Kentucky horses have a fame that is not approached by those of any other state. This is due to the fact that in a small section of the state, none but horses of high breeding are reared. A few counties give to the whole state a reputation which, I am afraid, the whole state does not deserve. But in the famous Blue Grass region the noblest horses of several types and kinds have been bred for more than a hundred years. It is distinctively the breeding place in America of the English Thoroughbred, and comparatively few men who have gone into the reproduction of these interesting and fleet animals have refrained sooner or later from buying or renting farms in Central Kentucky to carry on their operations. So, also, with the trotters. Indeed, it has been maintained that in this lime stone region, where blue grass is indigenous and where it was found in abundance in the park-like woods by the early explorers that the very bones of horses that had grazed upon it from infancy were harder, stouter and less sponge-like than those from anywhere else. This much for the virtue of the lime stone nurtured merits of the blue grass.

But the people have had much to do with the excellence of Kentucky horses. They seem to have been by nature interested in the breed of horses from the beginning of their settlement there. One of the first records of the Colonial era is that of a Kentuckian who was killed by an Indian while training a race-horse on a frontier race-course. And among the seven first statutes enacted by the Colony when in preparation to become a state of the Union, was one to regulate the range and improve the breed of horses. They were horse lovers in Kentucky in the beginning as they are to-day. And to-day there is no crime that is looked upon with more contempt than to misrepresent the breeding of a horse. In Kentucky a gentleman may kill another gentleman if his cause be just, and suffer no reproach save that of himself; but if he palter with the pedigree of a horse he trifles with his caste, and is ranked with the sneak thieves and the pickpockets who take their victims unaware, and achieve at once a petty and cowardly advantage. This love of the horse and knowledge of him has gone on from generation to generation until it has become a part, and no inconsiderable part of the heritage of every Kentuckian who considers himself well born.

Some twenty years ago a Kentucky horse-breeder was in Boston, visiting a gentleman with whom he had business. The Bostonian, with the characteristic hospitality of those Dr. Holmes catalogued as of the “Brahmin caste,” showed the Kentuckian about. He pointed out to him the equestrian statue of Washington at the head of Commonwealth Avenue. “There is the Washington statue,” remarked the Bostonian. “And what was the breeding of the horse?” the Kentuckian inquired. The horse to him was almost everything. And, later in the day, when dinner was over at the hospitable Bostonian’s home, and the ladies and children were retiring, the Kentuckian leaned over to his host and said, with enthusiasm: “By Gad, Colonel, you have outbred yourself.” That was a heartfelt tribute expressed in the natural way in which a Kentuckian should speak. No wonder that they have fine horses when they give so much thought to this subject of breeding.

But for all this Kentucky has produced only one distinctive reproducing type. Her trotters—if type they be—belong as much elsewhere as to Kentucky; her runners are purely English. Her Denmarks, however, belong to Kentucky. They have been bred there for more than sixty years, and as a distinctive American type, they are second only in this country to the Morgans of Vermont. It is a singular fact and not unworthy of note that only two states have produced distinct American reproducing types, Vermont and Kentucky, and those were the first two states admitted to the Union after the original thirteen got ready to embrace other sisters.

It is most curious how a type happens. The Morgans, as has been shown in a previous chapter, came from a horse whose pedigree was not even considered, and to this day is known only by conjecture and not at all by established fact. He was considered a good horse in his day, but it was not until his sons begat colts of exceptional merit that it was thought worth while to inquire into his origin, and that of his antecedents. With Denmark it was, in a degree, different. Denmark was a Thoroughbred, though some who are over-critical, quarrel with the pedigree of his dam. Let that be as it may. In 1839, when he was foaled, begat by Imported Hedgeford out of Betsey Harrison, he was about as good a Thoroughbred as the generality of those we had in America. Moreover, he was a successful contestant on the turf and a good horse at four-mile heats. These disputes as to the purity of the blood of our early horses are rather academic than practical. In all of the early race-horses, not purely English, there were infusions of the American basic blood; and for that matter this was the case also in England, where the Thoroughbred at that time was only newly evolved with the aid of Oriental blood from the native strains. Here, however, is his pedigree of Denmark traced back for several generations:

PEDIGREE OF DENMARK

┌── Highflyer ┌── Sir Peter │ └── Papillon ┌── Haphazard │ │ ┌── Eclipse │ └── Miss Hervey │ └── Clio ┌── Fihlo-da-puta │ │ ┌── Pot-8-os │ │ ┌── Waxy │ │ │ └── Maria │ └── Mrs. Barnet │ │ ┌── Woodpecker │ └── Daughter │ └── Heikel Imp. Hedgeford │ ┌── King Fergus │ ┌── Benningbrough │ │ └── Daughter │ ┌── Orville │ │ │ ┌── Highflyer │ │ └── Evelina │ │ └── Termagant └── Miss Craigie │ ┌── Dungannon │ ┌── Lurcher │ │ └── Vertumus └── Marchioness │ ┌── Phenomenon └── Miss Cogden └── Daughter

┌── Imp. Fearnaught ┌── Symmes' Wildair │ └── Jolly Roger Mare ┌── Director │ │ ┌── Harris' Eclipse │ └── Eclipse Mare │ └── Daughter ┌── Aratus │ │ ┌── Sir Peter Teazle │ │ ┌── Imp. Sir Harry │ │ │ └── Matron │ └── Betsey Haxall │ │ ┌── Imp. Saltram │ └── Saltram Mare (Timoleun's dam) │ └── Daughter Betsey Harrison │ ┌── Florizel │ ┌── Imp. Diomed │ │ └── Sister to Juno │ ┌── Potomac │ │ │ ┌── Pegasus │ │ └── Fairy │ │ └── Nancy McCullock └── Jenny Cockracy │ ┌── Eclipse │ ┌── Imp. Saltram │ │ └── Virago └── Saltram Mare (Timoleun's dam) │ ┌── Symmes' Wildair └── Daughter └── Daughter

That is pretty good breeding, even though the ancestors of Potomac might not pass muster with those who look very closely back through the sixteen generations. It may be that this so-called “cold-streak” in Denmark, through his maternal great grandsire, was just what was needed when he was mated with the Kentucky mares whose produce has given him enduring fame.

In England the Thoroughbred is thought to be the ideal saddle-horse. I confess that I have had the Thoroughbred fever pretty badly. But that was a long time ago; and maybe that fever was contemporaneous with Anglo-mania; indeed, the former may have been due to the latter. Personal preferences, however, have properly little weight in a judicial inquiry. My whole effort in this book has been to be entirely fair. Personally, I care for a very few gaits in a saddle-horse. I am quite content with the walk, the trot and the gallop. The Thoroughbred does all of these with, to say the least, a reasonable satisfaction. But it is unquestionably true that a well-formed, well-trained, well-bred Denmark will go all three of these gaits with better style and more finish than any Thoroughbred. Besides, he can readily be taught the amble or pace, the running-walk, or fox-trot, and the rack or single foot. That some do not care for these gaits is not in the least a reproach upon the capacity of the horse that can do them at the bidding of the rider. Moreover, this multiplicity of gaits does not in the least detract from the complete finish of each and all. This fact has become so apparent that there is a kind of hostility between New York and South and Western horse-show standards as to what a saddle-horse shall be like. A thoroughly gaited horse, trained in all the paces, would look absurd in the eyes of those who like such horses if he were shorn of his tail. It is considered by many who care only for the three gaits that a saddle-horse must have a docked tail. A few years ago a man with a thoroughly gaited horse could show him, long tail and all, in the Southern and Western circuit, and then bring him to New York and Philadelphia where he would tie up the horse’s tail and only exhibit the walk, trot and gallop. Now, this still may be permissible; but, if not absolutely denied, it is sternly frowned upon. So really the question has become the highly absurd one of tail or no tail. It is about as absurd as to deny the place to an applicant for a position where knowledge of French was required because he also knew Italian and Spanish. The breeders and trainers of Denmarks are too practical, however, to shed tears over such foolishness. They breed their horses the same as before, but they train this one for the East and that one for the West and South. The quality tells wherever they go, and a horse in any section that takes a blue ribbon away from a Denmark is more than lucky, he is almost unique.

For several years past, however, at the Horse Show in New York, a gentleman from England has come over to judge the saddle classes. In England he is, no doubt, as good a judge of such classes as may be had, for there the Thoroughbred is the one type, except the cob, that is considered as filling the requirements for the saddle. Before the advent of this gentleman, a great master in training, exhibiting and judging saddle-horses, had acted for a good many years. He had, by his awards, established a standard that made it almost impossible for other horses to compete with the Denmarks. He appeared to think—I have never spoken with him on the subject—that symmetry, good manners, good mouth, style of action both in front and behind, sure-footedness, docility, and intelligence were the requisites to be aimed at. Now, these are all characteristics of the Denmark. Not all are characteristics of the Thoroughbred. For instance, in the slow gaits a Thoroughbred, particularly one that has ever been in training, is not sure-footed; he travels too close to the ground. Again, he is not docile, as he becomes very easily excited, and when his blood is up, wants to gallop at full speed. His mouth, owing to this easily aroused excitement, more frequently than not, gets all wrong, and he responds more to force than to that sympathy which makes a good saddle-horse, and his rider seem to be one. His style of action is inferior to that of the Denmark both in front and behind and, as a general thing, he lacks the symmetry of substance which is really the most remarkable thing about a Denmark. It is surely a pity that there should be in our show rings this confusion as to standards. The Thoroughbred type as a saddle-horse standard does not obtain away from New York. In Philadelphia, in Boston, in Chicago and all over the South and West, the Denmark is still the saddle-horse par excellence, as he deserves to be. A friend of mine, in upholding the New York authorities for getting an English judge for American saddle-horses, says that the substitution was wise, because the Kentucky horses hammer themselves all to pieces on the hard roads in the parks of the East. If the park roads in the East are harder than the Kentucky turnpikes, I have yet to see them. His idea seemed to be that every Kentucky horse was sure to rack. But that is not so at all. He racks when he is taught, and he is taught so easily that he acquires the gait by what might be called second nature; but the Denmark can be turned out whenever desired to go only the three gaits—walk, trot, and canter—and he does these with a finish that the Thoroughbred cannot approach.

But these other easily acquired Kentucky gaits are not to be despised. The running-walk is not hard upon the horse, and it is the easiest of all on the rider. When men on business, or soldiers on a march both have to go great distances in the saddle, the running-walk is about as great an excellence as a horse can be endowed with. It came into being in this country when most journeys were made on horseback. In those days, when about to take the long road from Lexington to Washington and Philadelphia, a man would have been considered lacking in intelligence who expressed contempt for either the amble or the fox-trot. And when Morgan’s men, during the Civil War, were making those wonderful raids—now here, now there, and the next day out of sight—they were generally mounted on these Kentucky-bred horses—not Thoroughbreds, but Denmarks and others of the saddle-class type, the one type that particularly belongs to Kentucky, and one of the very few types that we can call American.

Long before Denmark came to Kentucky—fifty years and more—there had been good saddle-horses there. There was an urgent need for them, and men of enterprise usually get what they need. They had been brought from Virginia by the early settlers, they had come from Canada and from Vermont. They were excellent horses for the purposes of the time, but they lacked the fine finish that came to them from Denmark and other Thoroughbred crosses that were made about his time. It was not appreciated to the full what an excellent cross Denmark made on those old time mares until after his death, and the appearance of his sons as sires—particularly Gaines’s Denmark. From this latter horse the best saddle-horses that Kentucky has produced have descended and, in many instances, they breed back to him two, three and four times. To my mind, here is the strongest proof that the Denmark is a fixed reproducing type. Inbreeding is fatal among mongrels of any sort; but where the type is fixed it may be done with most excellent results and strictly, too, according to the rule of “like begetting like.”

Here is another peculiarity of the Denmark. His excellence as a driving horse is only exceeded by his virtues under the saddle. I am well aware that men of fortune, who can keep as many horses in their stables as they choose, rather scoff at the “combination horse.” All right for them. All of us, however, are not so fortunately situated. When a man whose means only enable him to keep a few horses—or even one horse—and he wants both to ride and drive, the “combination horse” is the only animal that will enable him to go how and when he chooses. The Denmarks make splendid combination horses. They trot in harness with quite reasonable speed and very good action, and the road is seldom too long for them. My personal experience has not shown me that this change from saddle to harness worked any great harm. I once had a Denmark that won first prizes at the same show in the rings for saddle-horses, for combination horses and for roadsters; all these winnings in two days. It seems only reasonable that horses with the activity, the adaptability, and the intelligence to acquire the various gaits that are within a Denmark’s range would not necessarily be injured by driving in harness. At any rate, a man who has only a small stable can get more kinds of fun out of a Denmark than out of any other type of horse.

This type of horse is bred in five or six counties grouped about Lexington. There are several large breeders, but pretty nearly every farmer has a saddle mare or two that are regularly bred. But the supply is not up to the demand. The dealers and trainers have their eyes open all the time for promising individuals to train for the show rings, and supply to wealthy customers in various parts of the country. They get first choice because they are willing, when they come across a particularly fine specimen, to take it even as a yearling. As these animals are usually not salable until four years old, it will be seen that the disposal of the yearling is an attractive thing for the breeder and risky for the dealer. But there are still a good many of them needed for use at home, as the young Blue Grass Kentuckian must have his saddler so that he can range the country-side at will. Most men, unacquainted with the easy gaits of a Kentucky saddle-horse, as used in his native counties, would think it rather strange to go courting on horseback, and arrive at one’s destination hot and mussed up. But these easily gaited horses do not muss one up any more than a hansom cab does. This easiness of gait reminds me of another use for which they are invaluable. The planters in the South, as a general thing, go about their places on horseback, also visiting the village and their neighbors in the same way. In that generally warm climate a Thoroughbred or trotting horse would get the rider so warm that a change of clothes would be necessary; but these Southern gentlemen do not find such a need. Indeed, I have been told that one accustomed to the saddle and the climate can attend to business and social duties, plus two or three mint juleps, without any great inconvenience.

When I was asked last year by the Civil Government of the Philippines to select some mares and stallions for transportation there for breeding and the improvement of the ponies in the Islands, I bought as many Denmark mares as the conditions of my commission permitted. As my time was limited I had to scour several counties very thoroughly. The gentlemen I first consulted were rather discouraging, but I got in a few weeks as fine a lot as ever left Kentucky, and the picture that is in this book shows a group of them at pasture just before they were started on their long journey to the other side of the world, where they arrived, I am glad to say, with a loss of only two per cent. It was more difficult to find Denmark stallions. The scarcity of these is due to the efforts of the dealers and trainers to get males for their customers. So many of the most promising are sold as yearlings and gelded. The greatest stallions of the day are, I should judge, Montgomery Chief, belonging to the Ball Brothers, Highland Denmark, belonging to the Gay Brothers, and Forest Denmark, belonging to Colonel Woodford. These are all closely-inbred Denmarks, and are most successful as sires, their progeny winning blue ribbons wherever shown.

These horses have found their way into Tennessee, Illinois, and Missouri, where the stock is most highly esteemed; but they flourish most in Kentucky. I have heard army officers say that in the hard riding days, when the Indian was still a frontier menace, that a troop of cavalry mounted on horses from Kentucky would find their horses in first-class condition when other troops on horses say from Iowa, Missouri, or Illinois would be completely worn out and unable to continue. These horses are singularly free from blemishes. I noticed this particularly when making the Philippine purchases just alluded to. Here every horse had to be absolutely sound, or, as they say in Kentucky, “without a pimple.” The small percentage of rejection for unsoundness really surprised me. This was testimony to the careful selection in breeding that is practised there. One other word as to this experience. When a breeder was asked whether his offering were broken or trained, he either looked bewildered or treated the question as a joke. This was because all of them are perfectly broken and, as a mere matter of course, both to saddle and harness.

The prevailing size of the Denmarks, I should say, is 15.2, the weight 1050 pounds. In color they are usually bays or chestnuts, though there are browns, blacks and grays. I never saw a dun; but I have seen a few roans. The usual practice is to handle them at two years old, train them gently at three, and give them a complete education at four.

The American Saddle Horse Breeders’ Association keeps and publishes a register affirming that the following sires are the founders of the type:

Denmark (Thoroughbred), by Imp. Hedgeford. John Dillard, by Indian Chief (Canadian). Tom Hal (Imported from Canada). Cabell’s Lexington, by Gist’s Black Hawk (Morgan). Coleman’s Eureka (Thoroughbred and Morgan). Van Meter’s Waxy (Thoroughbred). Stump the Dealer (Thoroughbred). Peter’s Halcorn. Davy Crockett. Pat Cleburne, by Benton’s Gray Diomed.

This wide inclusion is hospitable and probably just, for the blood of all these horses commingling with the old stock has made the Kentucky saddle-horses what they are, but among them all the Denmarks are pre-eminent. That they should be a reproducing type is, no doubt, due to the Oriental blood in the Thoroughbreds and the fresh infusions that came with the Jefferson Barbs, Keene Richards’s Arabs and from other more recent sources.