94 THE ORANGE COUNTY 



constitution, renders the breeder of half-bred horses liable to 

 much uncertainty in that respect. More perfections are 

 combined in and transmitted by the thorough-bred than the 

 mongrel-bred horse. 



It is a very frequent exclamation, that breeding horses is 

 attended with so much uncertainty that many persons have 

 been deterred from the speculation, or have relinquished it 

 from disappointment. True, Nature sometimes perplexes us 

 with casualties which we did not contemplate, yet a little in- 

 vestigation will elucidate and explain causes; and again, they 

 will serve as monitors for the future. A chestnut horse and 

 a bay mare may prodnce a gray, a brown, or black foal; but 

 in all probability it will be discovered on inquiry that some 

 ancestor was of a similar color. When breeding for the 

 chase or the road is the object, color is a consideration of 

 some importance, and that will be most successfully regulated 

 by selecting parents whose ancestors were generally of the 

 most fashionable colors. It frequently happens, both with 

 mares and stallions, that most of their progeny are of different 

 colors from themselves, from the cause already mentioned. 



Hereditary defects, among which may be enumerated 

 spavins, curbs, roaring, and constitutional blindness, may lie 

 dormant in the immediate progenitors, and make their ap- 

 pearance in the offspring ; but it will nine times out of ten 

 be ascertained that the imperfection is a family inheritance. 

 No surprise ought to be aroused by such events, and when they 

 transpire they should be attributed to want of caution. It 

 is to guard against such casualties that circumspection, study t 

 and experience are valuable; and the more judgment there 

 is exercised the more satisfactory will be the results of the 

 undertaking. Beauty, symmetry, and action are essential 

 qualifications; for the price which may be obtained for a 

 handsome young horse with showy action, far exceeds that 

 which can be procured for one whose only merit consists in 

 his goodness, without style and appearance to recommend 

 him to notice. The value of the latter is not estimated until 

 his good deeds have established his fame, and it may not be 

 in the power of the breeder to put them to the test, or, hav- 

 ing done so, to give them publicity. 



