184 ON THE BREEDING OF HOKSES. 



Great mistakes are also often made by our fai'mers in selection 

 of stallions. To save a few dollars for the services of the horse, 

 they often breed to any inferior animal that presents himself, for- 

 getting entirely that the colt from good stock will remunerate him 

 fourfold for the extra cost of service ; after which the expense for 

 rearing a superior and an inferior colt is the same, and while one 

 at five years old commands $500, the other will find slow sale at 

 $125. In our judgment stallions should be selected by properly 

 appointed judges, and no others be allowed to sei've mares. Two 

 or three first-class stallions, of proper size, pedigree and action, in 

 each county, would rapidly improve our stock, and would also 

 remunerate their owners for the large outlay necessary to obtain 

 them. In this respect Kentucky is fast outstripping Vermont, 

 while the latter State has every advantage in its clear, cool, invig- 

 orating atmosphere, its sweet mountain herbage, while the rough 

 ground over which the colt climbs in pursuit of food, develops 

 every muscle, and gives him feet like flint and sinews of iron. In 

 New York and Vermont, thorough-bred stallions of large size are 

 needed to bring up gradually the size, courage and endurance of 

 horses. To prove good stock getters, stallions should be spared 

 from the severe training necessary to develop speed. If of good 

 ancestry and the necessary form, there can be little doubt of the 

 animal's performance if trained. Hard driving takes from him the 

 courage, fire and vigor which should mark the stallion, and even if 

 a little vicious withal, it is no material objection in the sire. Very 

 amiable horses rarely possess strong constitutions, while the vicious 

 brute is always tough and hardy. Our stallions are often worked 

 to earn their living, or trained to trot fast, as such animals only 

 pay in the stud — many presuming that such must necessarily get 

 trotters, while they forget that all the powers of the constitution 

 are taxed to sustain the unmerciful driving to develop speed. The 

 figure of the stallion should be closely inspected — short necks, big 

 heads, light limbs, white face and feet, narrow loins, ring-bones, 

 curbs, spavins, &c., &c., are all inheritable. We yet hope to see 

 the day when stallions will be owned by Agricultural Societies 

 and used for the public good, thus avoiding the miserable degen- 

 erate race now infesting the country, and the extravagant prices 

 demanded for the services of the few that are worthy. 



Tkeatment of Colts. In the foregoing we gave some general 

 principles of breeding. It is our purpose now to speak of the 



