20 BREEDING OF 



f ects animals while they are yet very young, The pecu- 

 liar condition of the bones which causes them to bend 

 or give way under the weight of the body has a strong 

 tendency to be "inherited. It should therefore be the 

 aim of the breeder to pick out animals that have no ap- 

 pearance of having the long bones bent in early life. 



RINGBONES All authorities recognize that the 

 tendency to ringbones is strongly inherited. It is 

 therefore very necessary for the successful breeder to 

 keep all animals affected with ringbones from becom- 

 ing members of his breeding family. 



ROARING. Youatt gives some strongly convincing 

 instances where sires affected with this disease had got- 

 ten numerous progeny that were the subjects of roar- 

 ing. He says: "Facts have established the hereditary 

 predisposition to roaring beyond the possibility of 

 doubt." A well known owner of horses said to me that 

 he dreaded an outbreak of distemper among his horses, 

 as it was almost certain to leave some of them as 

 roarers. There is no doubt in my mind that if breed- 

 ers were more careful in this respect thoroughbreds 

 would not be more subject to be left roarers after dis- 

 temper than are other breeds of horses. The rule should 

 be to never breed from a roarer. 



SIDEBONES. This is often a disease of the more 

 common bred horses, but nevertheless is strongly in- 

 herited and is a cause of making numerous animals 

 comparitively useless except for very slow work. The 

 breeding of animals affected with sidebones can only 

 result in a deterioration of the quality of horses when 

 considered in the aggregate. 



SPAVIN. This is considered by all authorities to be a 

 disease which is very strongly inherited, and as it is a 



