BREEDING HORSES. 93 



BREEDING HORSES. 

 HOOSAC VALLEY. 



[From the Report of the Committee.] 



The breeding of fast trotting horses has not been very satis- 

 factory to many gentlemen who have made it something of a 

 study, and who have spent large sums of money in experi- 

 menting. The theories advanced by our best horsemen are 

 not practically operative in producing the results promised. 

 If we could breed a mare that could trot in 2.30 to a stallion 

 of the same speed, and have a colt that could make the same 

 time, with care and attention in training, there would be a 

 pleasure in the business, and a profit for our investments ; and, 

 until we can do this with reasonable certainty, all theories 

 are defective, and the matter not understood. 



My opinion is, that the treatment of horse and mare is 

 greatly at fault. For instance, if I were to breed a mare 

 that could trot in 2.30, I should have her in the best possible 

 condition, — able to do her best upon the track. I should 

 select a stallion that was perfect where the mare was faulty. 

 The animal himself, and his family, in size, style, color, health, 

 bottom speed, and, above all, in action, must be considered. 

 He should also be in fine working-condition. The longer the 

 lines of his trotting descent, and the more numerous they 

 are, the greater the probability that his foal will inherit the 

 desired quality. A horse may trot fast, and never get a fast 

 colt, because he does not himself inherit the qualities strong 

 enough from his ancestor. He inherited from a single line, 

 "breeding back," and cannot transmit. We have families 

 in which the trotting qualities have been transmitted for 

 generations, and in several lines of descent ; and, in breeding, 

 the best practice will be to conform to the principles herein 

 stated, and choose from them. I would then work my mare 

 to nearly or quite her time for foaling, the first two months 

 to her speed, after that gently, and, in my opinion, the colt 

 will equal the speed of the dam at least. I will admit that 



