STUD BOOK. 93 



and it is from selecting great, loose-made, leggy mares for 

 this purpose, that we have too many horses of that descrip- 

 tion in the fairs. 



Those conformations, or more emphatically speaking, ana- 

 tomical proportions, which are conducive to the utmost degree 

 of speed in the race-horse, are not in general the most eligible 

 for other purposes, such as riding, or harness-work. From 

 this cause it frequently happens that stallions, which have 

 been most successful as the progenitors of racing stock, have 

 not gained equal renown as sires of horses of inferior classes; 

 and, vice versa, many horses which have been the sires of cele- 

 brated hacks have been nearly worthless in the racing harem. 

 This is a fortunate circumstance for the generality of breeders, 

 as it enables them to procure the services of really useful 

 sires at a more reasonable rate. 



The custom occasionally adopted by agriculturists of 

 breeding foals from three-year-old fillies before they are 

 broken, is, upon general principles, a questionable policy, 

 but under certain circumstances it may be rendered justifi- 

 able. 4 



Comparing the thorough-bred horse with the cart-horse, 

 we are scarcely able to reconcile our ideas with the fact, that 

 they are varieties of the same species of animal, so great is 

 the distinction between them in their movements, appear- 

 ance, temper, capabilities, and habits. They stand at the two 

 extremes of the equine tribe. The cart-horse is useful for 

 only one purpose, that of draught. The thorough-bred horse 

 is useful for many purposes. If taken from the race-course, 

 he makes the most superlative of hunters; he is undeniable 

 as a charger, and equally good in harness; and, with some 

 exceptions, he makes the best of hacks; and when, poor fel- 

 low, he is worn out in those services, he will go to the plow 

 with the most amiable docility. The more persons are ac- 

 quainted with him, the more highly will they value his nu- 

 merous properties. 



A breeder of through-bred horses has a manifest advan- 

 tage over him who breeds half-bred ones, on two very essen- 

 tial points. The former knows to a certainty how his mare 

 is descended, and can obtain similar information concerning 

 the horse which he may select; he is thus able to avoid con- 

 sanguinity. There are few half-bred mares whose lineage 

 can be traced beyond a generation or two, and there are 

 many very promising ones in appearance whose ancestry is 

 not known. The propensity which stock has to the resem- 

 blance of a distant relative in character, imperfections, and 



