THE HORSE. 749 



If the dam be most highly organized, then the foal will resemble the dam; if the sire, then 

 the foal will resemble the sire. This is the law, as we all know, in the human family: if the 

 mother be of nervous, sanguine temperament, and the father lymphatic and sluggish, the 

 cliild will take after the mother; if the conditions be reversed, the result will be the reverse. 

 Exceptions there may be and are; but the law stands firm, vindicating its truth with each 

 successive generation. I am bound, nevertheless, to say that this law does not hold good in 

 cases where we should naturally expect it would. To illustrate: According to the law, when 

 a low-blooded mare is bred to a thoroughbred horse, the foal should resemble the sire; but, 

 alas ! too often he does not. On the other hand, according to the law, a blooded mare bred 

 to a low-blooded horse should bring forth a colt like herself ; but neither is this true. What, 

 then, becomes of the law? I confess that I do not know; nor have I been able to find in the 

 works of any author a satisfactory answer to the puzzle. Practically, although I cannot phi 

 losophically account for my preference, yet practically, I say, we know that it is far better to 

 have a high, fine organization in the sire, and let the low organization, if it must exist in 

 either parent, be on the side of the dam. The fact is, both parents shtfuld be highly organ 

 ized, and anything short of this introduces uncertainty as to what the result of the experiment 

 will be. The only infallible rule, the best statement ever given touching the reproduction 

 of any form of life, was published by God himself in His inspired word, when he said, &quot;Let 

 the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind&quot; This, nevertheless, must be observed, 

 that the power to bring forth after his kind, if by his kind we mean personal resemblances, 

 rather than generic attributes, does not belong to the horse as a race, but to the horse as an 

 individual; for, as we have already seen in the case of Justin Morgan, this faculty of repro 

 ducing excellences is individual, and not general. And so we come back to the same obser 

 vation previously made in regard to what constitutes a valuable stock -horse, -viz., that the 

 best horse is he who, being good in himself, most surely and closely reproduces himself in 

 his offspring; and to this formula should now be added the words, when bred to the mares of 

 the greatest variety of form and temperament.&quot; 



As a general rule, although, as we have previously seen that individual cases will differ, 

 the purer or less mixed the blood, the more likely are the characteristics of the breed to be 

 transmitted to the progeny, and consequently, the parent that possesses the purest blood, or 

 in whose pedigree the fewest crosses with other breeds are found, will exert the most influence 

 upon the offspring, and be the most largely represented in it. 



In the breeding of domestic animals, the male parent is commonly selected with more 

 care than the female, since one animal of this kind impresses itself upon so large a number, 

 consequently it follows for this reason, as the usual result, that the sire exerts more influence 

 than the dam; but when the dam is of superior blood to the sire the result would be the 

 reverse. &quot;When both parents are equally well-bred, other conditions being equal, the influence 

 will be divided, the sire perpetuating some characteristics, and the dam others. 



What Horses to Breed. For the reproduction of its kind, whether in vegetable or 

 animal life, the best results can only be reached by employing for this purpose the best and 

 highest types of the species to be perpetuated. For this reason, the most intelligent and suc 

 cessful agriculturists select the seed for future crops from the most thrifty and perfectly 

 developed plants, and by this means not only prevent deterioration of the variety, but fre 

 quently improve upon it. In the animal kingdom the same law of selection is equally important. 

 The most perfectly developed, vigorous, and healthy animals of the breed should be selected 

 to reproduce it. 



The kind of horse to be bred will, of course, depend upon the use to which it is to be 

 appropriated, whether it be the stylish carriage-horse, the trotter, racer, the saddle-horse, the 

 general-purpose or farm-horse, or the heavy-draft animal. Whatever breed is to be per 

 petuated, the best and most perfect types should be selected, and not only this, but those 



