550 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



own way. The danger is not in parturition but in mating, in the event 

 that the mare is not large enough to bear up the horse, while in the act 

 of breeding. There is however little to fear even with a mare of 900 

 pounds and a horse of twice her weight. 



It is a well known axiom that Nature abhors a union of widely differ- 

 ing types. The more different the parents the greater is the likelihood 

 that the progeny will be a misfit. As a rule it has not paid to mate very 

 Bmall mares with large stallions. As a result of such breeding many colts 

 have come into the world possessed of the body of the drafter and the 

 bone of the trotter, or vice versa. Some have had fairly shapely bodies 

 and heads large enough for animals of twice their weight. Id fact the 

 business of mating 900-pound mares to 1,800-pound or larger stallions is 

 fraught with danger as to the pecuniary results. 



There is however a wide difference between mares weighing 900 pounds 

 and mare weighing 1,400 pounds. The latter or thpse weighing 100" 

 pounds less may safely be bred to a ton horse. The resulting progeny ig 

 likely to partake largely of the draft character in outward appearance and 

 disposition. We believe it is better to make a start with very small mares 

 with a stallion of correct conformation and type but weighing not more 

 than 1,500 or at most 1,600 pounds. As a rule such light draft stallions are 

 'finer in quality than the heavier ones and therefore are more closely 

 related in conformation to the fine-boned light-bodied mares. Draft-bred 

 horses weighing not more than 1,400 pounds in thin flesh have been suc- 

 cessfully used to make the first cross on mares weighing around 800 or 

 900 pounds. 



It is true that some very well shaped horses of heavy weight have been 

 produced by small mares to the cover of very heavy stallions, but the 

 preponderance of testimony is that when there is a violent mixing of types 

 the progeny will come of the misfit order. As to the market value of the 

 colts, it all depends on the size and breeding of the mare. If she weighs 

 1,400 pounds and has some draft blood in her, which is altogether prob- 

 able at that heft, the foal will in all probability grow up into a saleable 

 animal, but if the mare weigh only 900 pounds and is of common blood 

 it is problematical altogether what the foal will ultimately amount to and 

 therefore no prospective T^lue can be assigned to it. 



GOOD HORSES NEED GOOD CARE. 



* BEEEDEBS' GAZETTE. 



As the writer wended his way cityward last week a farmer owning, 

 clear of incumbrance, a farm of 240 acres asked: "Will it pay me to buy 

 two purebred mares? I can buy a pair for $500 and I thought that it 

 would be good business." 



