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'The Country GentlemafCs Magazine 



in the rearing of ordinary foals had far better 

 be expended in rearing neat stock, and, as a 

 farmer must have horses, buy yearHng colts, 

 which in their turn shall fill up coming gaps 

 in the stables. 



MATCHING BREEDING ANIMALS. 



By way of illustration, I will suppose six 

 mares diverse in make; the ist, a long, low, 

 wide-spread mare ; No. 2, a short-made, 

 leggy, mare ; No. 3, a fair-proportioned, long, 

 light-legged one ; No. 4, a short, punchy one ; 

 No. 5, a long mare, mth fine hind-quarters, 

 but narrow-chested ; No. 6, a stylish one, with 

 substance, good form and size. Now it is a 

 fact that, however good in points and general 

 contour a horse may be, not one can 

 be found suited to such a lot ; but I 

 have taken extreme cases for example 

 sake. No. i, a long, low, wide mare, is so 

 constructed that Nature has furnished her 

 with a capacity and powers for the develop- 

 ment of a large offspring. An over-sized 

 horse in comparison to her — and should he 

 be a trifle leggy — would cross well with her, 

 provided defective points in her were met 

 with good points in him. No. 2, a short- 

 made, leggy mare, is just the sort, with a 

 crested neck so often spoken of, as a good 

 mare to breed by. Observant eyes will have 

 noticed in a flock how frequently a long, low- 

 made ewe produces large twins. When the 

 ewe, formed in the trunk like this mare, has but 

 a puny lamb, it is so with mares where there 

 is no length of back or ends — there is no 

 room for the growth of the foetus. Thus dis- 

 appointment ensues. There is danger also 

 from the projecting sides, a lengthy mare 

 carrying her young closer and safer. No. 3, 

 a long light-made mare needs a punchy 

 horse with long back ribs, for if short the 

 progeny will be too high and long— a regular 

 rail as we sometimes hear. A colt, as a two- 

 year-old, should have length, and if let down 

 at the flank, grows downwards into a valuable 

 horse. No. 4, a small punchy sort, is the 

 stamp which many suppose requires a high 

 slashing horse, but such crossing proves almost 

 always a failure, the reason of which is this, 

 the deposit of the male is too much for the 



fructifying powers of the female to carry out. 

 No. 5, a lengthy big mare, with fair hind- 

 quarters but narrow-chested. I had often 

 wondered that mares of this stamp paired with 

 an undersized stallion should throw a colt 

 with a full, open chest. Cline's excellent 

 paper on form asserts why : — " To obtain 

 animals with large lungs, crossing is the most 

 expeditious method; putting well-formed 

 females from a variety of a large size to a 

 male of a variety which is smaller. By such 

 crossings the lungs and heart become propor- 

 tionately larger, in consequence of a peculiar- 

 ity in the circulation of the fcetus, which 

 causes a larger portion of the blood under 

 such circumstances to be distributed to the 

 lungs than to the other parts of the body ; 

 and as the shape and size of the chest de- 

 pend upon that of the lungs, hence arises the 

 remarkably large chest which is produced by 

 crossing by females that are larger than the 

 males." In No. 6, a stylish, compact, weighty 

 mare, with size, he would know how to 

 remedy defects by giving her a horse good in 

 his points where she was weak ; but a 

 favourite mare frequently gets her generative 

 organs damaged by becoming too fat ; a mare 

 in fair condition being more healthy and 

 likely to stint. 



SELECTING SIRE AND DAM. 



I have mentioned an over-sized and an 

 under-sized horse in comparison to the mare. 

 As an index, I should say for the horse to be 

 on a par with the mare he should stand three- 

 quarters of a hand higher, proportioned ac- 

 cordingly. The more sorty a lot of mares 

 are, the less occasion tliere is to use a variety 

 of stallions. It is the lack of distinctness of 

 character in a stable that calls for sorting. 

 To shew to what length the late INIr Blenk- 

 iron went in selection, I find in his sale of 

 the Middle Park yearling blood colts last 

 June, where 40 were sold for ^15,000, no 

 less than 15 blood sires were employed. In 

 his case it was strains of blood which in- 

 fluenced him in a great measure. Seek to 

 avoid hereditary diseases in the parents, viz., 

 blindness, broken wind, spavins, curbs, ring- 

 bones, sidebones, grease, farcy, &c. I would 



