LiyE STOCK BREEDERS ASSOCIATION. 22$ 



going on in a helter-skelter way to put the building together. I want 

 to know, when you come to breed a horse, if you should not have the 

 type of horse in your mind that you want to breed, you should know 

 something about the size }ou want, the color you want, the action that 

 you want, the temperament you want, the purposes for which you can 

 use it, and after determining in your own mind what you want, then 

 go to work and breed it. 



What sort of a horse is that? I think that nine farmers out of 

 ten would say, "for my purposes — to go to church, to ride to the village 

 postoffice, to drive in the buggy, in the cart, before the carriage, any- 

 where and everywhere, the horse that I want to work upon the farm, 

 must be intelligent, of good color, good action, proper spirit, about 

 i6 hands high and weighing about 1,200 pounds." That is the horse 

 that the government has decided to breed. That is the horse that can 

 be used upon the farm in any way that you think proper — in plowing, 

 in harrowing, in cultivating, in hauling, under the saddle, he is just 

 the horse that you want; but how few of us think of breeding just such a 

 horse ! We will be satisfied with some nondescript that has no action, 

 no pedigree, no breeding ; one not registered ; and the farmer who lives 

 nearest will patronize that horse, when, perhaps, a few miles further 

 there is a horse duly registered, of good size and action and good style ; 

 one that is a pleasure to "drive, to breed, a pleasure to handle. The far- 

 mer will neglect the latter because it costs a little more to breed him. 

 That sort of work here in Missouri ought to be abandoned. If I can 

 establish and root in your mind the necessity of forming an idea of what 

 horse you want, and if I can likewise establish in your mind the idea 

 that the great law of breeding, that like produces like, or the likeness 

 of some ancestor, you will be more careful as to what you breed — as 

 to what stallion you patronize, because like does produce like. 



The farmer is well situated for breeding the trotting horse. 1 

 think it is the best class of horses to work, and I work two teams con- 

 tinually of standard bred trotting horses on my farm for all kinds of 

 work, and although not quite as large as I have been describing, yet 

 I have found them very suitable for all kinds of work on the farm. 1 

 say the farmer is well situated for raising the standard bred trotting 

 horse, and he can raise his colts at such a season of the year as tot 

 scarcely feel their cost. Some will say, 'T don't want to breed my mares 

 in the spring, because I have my farm crops to take care of." If you 

 have no more mares than are necessary to do your work, perhaps it is 

 necessary to breed them later. Some of the best horses I have ever 

 raised have been born in the fall ; they run with the dam during the 

 winter, when there is not much work to be done, and are then turned 



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