628 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



fees, or the size of the owner in the estimation of the owner of the mare. 

 In this country where the farmers have been educated to the idea that 

 draft blood is the whole thing in breeding horses, the majority will select 

 something big, regardless of the size or quality of their mare and expect 

 to secure a high class draft horse and are disappointed if they do not 

 succeed. Others again will patronize no horse unless the fees are cheap 

 and they are another class who don't see any money in growing horses. 

 Other farmers have been laboring for years breeding up their stock and 

 while they have secured size they have made bad selections and their 

 stock lacks quality, hence this farmer is disgusted with the draft horse 

 because they lack action, style, endurance and it takes an enormous 

 amount to keep this class of horse so he proposes to make a change, insteai" 

 of selecting a large, compact, easy kept draft stallion, they select some 

 light, cheap, cross roads stallion of mixed breeding to mate with his draft 

 bred mares and the chances are there is disappointment again. We have 

 observed that the men who make a success of growing horses are the men 

 who put brains into the business. They judiciously select some type of 

 the horse they think they are adapted to grow. They select the best mare* 

 of this type their money will buy. A man had better own but one high 

 class brood mare, whether she be draft, coach, trotting, saddle or thor- 

 oughbred, than a whole barn yard full of mixed breeds, sizes and inferior 

 quality, having selected the type and mare, the net step is the selection of 

 the stallion. It is best to select a stallion of known reputation as then you 

 can see his colts. By observing the class of mares and kind of colts pro- 

 duced you can draw conclusions how he will mate with your mare. It is 

 time the farmer began to realize that he must abandon the production 

 of the common general purpose horse. This is the class of horse that 

 brings the least money to the farmer of any except the broncho. He is 

 strictly a horse of no particular type. The farmer with a light mare, 

 weighing from 800 lbs. to 1200 or 1400 lbs. carrying a strong infusion of 

 Morgan trotting or thoroughbred blood imagines that mating her with 

 a large draft stallion he will secure a general purpose horse. He often 

 claims that such a horse suits him, and he is the one to be suited, but when 

 he comes to sell the dealer will find fault with his ideal general purpose 

 Horse and offer but a small price. The farmers horse lacks weight, muscu- 

 lar development, style and finish and is neither draft, coacher or a road 

 horse. While had he mated these same mares with a good sized coach or 

 trotting bred stallion they would have a general purpose horse wifh plenty 

 of style, finish and endurance, and when they come to make a sale they 

 have a horse that will have a definite market and realize the farmer good 

 prices. At the present time, buyers are scouring the country looking for 

 horses of this type in size from 15 Vj hands to 17 hands and weighing from 

 1100 to 1350 pounds, with good style, action and finish and they are paying 

 good prices. Of course the farmer may not receive more than $125 to $200 

 for this style of horse but after he is educated to be a high stepper he com- 

 mands good prices, while the market is constantly glutted with the ordi- 

 nary general purpose horse. While we are a great admirer of the large 

 draft horse and the demand for this class of horse is of the best, some 

 choice specimens command the high figure of five to six hundred dollars 



