ON THE BREEDING OF HORSES. 183 



The draft horse should be from 15 to 17 hands, and weigh from 

 1,200 to 1,500 pounds, with short legs, broad, short back, loins and 

 chest, round, solid body, and capable of throwing great weight 

 into the collar, of quiet, easy disposition, rather resembling the 

 patient ox than the restless, nervous thorough-bred. 



These three breeds are distinct, and as well miglit we expect the 

 grey-hound, the St. Bernard and the terrier, each, to show the 

 peculiarities of the others' separate natures, as to expect the racer 

 to draw a heavy load of stone, or the clumsy draft horse to show 

 2.40 to a sulky ; and yet such has been the unreasonable expecta- 

 tion of many American farmers and breeders. 



We will close our remarks on breeding by describing our model 

 of the brood mares and stallions. Both should be of good color 

 and temper, their ancestry possessing for two generations the same 

 good qualities, if possible — for animals often breed back to a white- 

 faced, white-legged sire or grandsire, dam or granddam. There 

 should be a moderate proportion of size maintained, the mare being 

 rather the larger ; but the great mistake of breeding a small mare 

 to a very large stallion, and vice versa, will probably produce a 

 monstrosity of a quadruped with the large head of one parent and 

 the small body of the other. A reasonable proportion can rarely 

 be realized. That by a judicious system of breeding, horses can 

 be brought to a larger or smaller size, none can doubt; but it 

 should be done in a series of generations, never in one. The same 

 remarks apply equally to gait. Cross a short, quick-stepping Mor- 

 gan with a long-gaited thorough-bred, and you produce often a 

 mongrel that has a medium length of step and no quickness. If 

 like produces like in any point it should be in gait ; but both pa- 

 rents should be gaited alike, never extremely dissimilar in this or 

 any other respect. Shorten and quicken, or lengthen by degrees, 

 in three, four or more generations. Especially should both parents 

 be alike in points desirable to retain in the offspring. A brood 

 mare should be roomy, and a good milker (for no foal can flourish 

 where the dam gives it no food;) both sire and dam should be 

 between eight and thirteen years old. If parents are older, their 

 colts are puny looking animals. Neither should they be over- 

 worked. Hard training essentially impairs the powers of breed- 

 ing, and hence so few of our renowned horses have left worthy 

 successors. The mare should be kept steadily at breeding to de- 

 velop her qualities as a dam. First colts are rarely the equals of 

 their successors. 



