144 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



frequently of disaster. Hence in selecting breeding animals, while 

 high spirit and courage are qualities very desirable, in fact essential, in 

 the sire, viciousness or stubbornness should never be tolerated. They 

 mean absolute loss of cash when the progeny goes to market — and they 

 should, for they mean positive danger to their future owners. Then 

 the man who breeds horses should have a positive liking for them, under- 

 stand their nature, the history of the particular breed he has selected, 

 with its inherent characteristics, its merits and defects— that he may 

 work toward the elimination of the one and the increase of the other. 



With the farm and the man, the next point is a selection of the breed. 

 The importance of this problem cannot be over-estimated. Different 

 men, each admirers of the horse, will select different breeds, and it is 

 well that this is so, for we must have various classes of the horse to 

 meet the requirements of different people engaged in different lines of 

 business. It is best for the breeder to select the one for which he has 

 the greatest admiration, for he will then take pride in the business and 

 give it his 'best attention and judgment. If he favors the heavy draft 

 horse, with his ponderous frame and power to draw heavy loads, with 

 freedom from nervousness under all circumstances, he can engage in it 

 with the assurance that if he produces good animals there is always a 

 market for them at remunerative prices, and that they will require 

 less looking after and give less trouble in breaking and training than 

 any other breed. His principal care will be to get size and weight, 

 with quality. They are more subject to bad feet and spongy bone 

 than the lighter breeds, and to avoid these troubles will require 

 skill, care and good judgment. Those are the weaknesses of the draft 

 horse, and to achieve success in breeding them it is absolutely essential 

 to eliminate them to the greatest extent possible. This is a good class 

 of horses for farmers to breed, for the brood mares, capable of pro- 

 ducing such horses, will easily pay their way on the farm, and the colts 

 will be profit except the service fee and cost of maintenance to a mar- 

 ketable age. Besides, they can be put on the market in good shape to 

 sell well at less cost than any other class. 



But many people do not want to raise heavy horses. So much the bet- 

 ter. If everyone did there would be such a surplus that the owner could 

 not get cost of production. For these people the lighter breeds repre- 

 sented by coach and carriage horses, and the driving horse, offer a pay- 

 ing and legitimate business likely to become more profitable every year. 

 The breeds are numerous in this class of horses. We have the foreign 

 breeds — the French and German Coachers, and the English Hackneys — 

 each with their admirers, and the American trotter, which personally 

 I believe to be the most generally useful of all the lighter breeds. It 

 may be well to remember, in saying anything of these breeds, that their 

 foundation and improvement comes from the same source — the thor- 

 oughbred — and the thoroughbred in turn from the Arabian and the 

 Barb. The dift'erence between them comes from the different classes of 

 mares used in forming the breed, and the differing views of the breeders 

 who have been engaged in producing them. The French and German 

 coachers are the result of breeding for a horse that would fill the re- 

 quirements of a cavalry remount or an artillery horse. These horses 

 must have size, substance and activity, and the respective governments 

 of the two countries named have taken a great deal of interest, and 



