Is Horse to Become Extinct, Asks Editor, Sept. 6, 1921

Horse-Drawn Plow, by Paul Bransom.

Is the Horse to Become Extinct?

A gentleman was impressed with the number of automobiles he saw flying up and down the road and impressed also with the fact that during that procession of speeding vehicles which he was looking upon, not a single horse appeared along the road. He asked the question if the horse had not actually seen all the service that the world needs to derive from him.

As a matter of fact, however, the fast-moving automobile and the tractor that will turn up as much ground in a day as a horse might well do in a week, and much better, have not yet pushed the animals out of the way entirely. In 1919 there were 21,040,000 horses in the United States, according to the reports of the department of agriculture and in 1920 there were 21,109,000. Forty years ago, there were just about half that number. The farm horses of the country have a valuation of $2 billion placed upon them and the average price for a horse last year was $118.

These statistics may be regarded as a guarantee that the day of the horse has not ended and that the faithful old driving animal will never go out of favor. Fact is, there may be a strong reaction against the automobile some of these days on the part of those who are able to afford a good driving horse as well as a car. There is an exhilaration in pulling the lines over a good stepping horse that is not offered by the meteoric automobile.

From the editorial page of The Charlotte News, Sept. 6, 1921. The American Horse Council Foundation estimates that there are 9.2 million horses currently in the United States, counting recreational and commercial horses.