WHAT THE SPOTTED STALLION PRODUCED 



This mare was sired by the stalHon shown in the preceding figure, and the curby conformation 

 of the left hind leg is plainly noticeable. The piebald pattern itself, which is always trans- 

 mitted by a stallion who possesses it to at least half his offspring, is no more conspicuous to a 

 horseman than the inherited leg-conformation. Photograph from. Bureau of Animal Industry. 

 (Fig. 17.) 



and money which has been spent in 

 achieving them. 



The progeny of a grade stalhon from 

 a mongrel mare is usually inferior in 

 every way. The main reason for this is 

 that the grade horse has not the pre- 

 potency to stamp the characteristics of 

 the pure breed upon his offspring. One 

 infusion of pure blood may be sufficient 

 to make the first generation resemble 

 markedly a given breed, but in the 

 second generation, and often in the 

 first, there is an overwhelming ten- 

 dency for the large mass of mongrel 

 ancestry to crop out, and hence the off- 

 spring may in no way resemble the 

 breed which it is supposed to represent. 

 When a pure-bred stallion is used, he is 

 generally prepotent enough to stamp 

 his offspring with the desired qualities, 

 but the offspring when again bred with 

 mongrel stock is rarely prepotent enough 

 again to luring forth the desirable traits. 



The only way by which the horse 

 industry can be built up in this country 

 along right lines is by grading. But 

 this grading must be carried on by right 

 methods, and should not include the 

 use of grade stallions. It is ob- 

 viously impossible to depend wholly on 

 pure-bred stock, because only a small 

 percentage of the animals in this country 

 are pure-bred. This is especially true 

 of brood mares, which, producing only 

 one foal a year, would have to be 

 available in enormous niunbers in order 

 to obviate the necessity of using mon- 

 grel or grade mares. Hence, it is easily 

 evident that the grading system offers 

 the only solution of the problem of 

 building up the breed on the maternal 

 side. 



But on the paternal side the case is 

 quite different. Since one stallion can 

 serve successfully a hundred or more 

 mares in one season, a comparatively 



51.S 



