302 AGRICULTURE 



The body is deep and well rounded, the legs and neck are 

 short, the croup is level, and the quarters are strong and well 

 developed. 



These different classes of horses often merge into one 

 another so that it is difficult to tell in which of two classes a 

 certain animal belongs. For market purposes it pays to 

 breed for well marked classes, as these always bring higher 

 prices than mixed stock. 



1. Study each horse on your home farm, and decide 

 the class to which it belongs. If the type is not clearly 

 marked in any case, decide what two classes it resembles. 



2. Also grade each horse as choice, good, medium, com- 

 mon, or inferior in its class. Remember that to be "choice" 

 the animal must be entirely sound, in good condition, and 

 possess in the highest degree the ideal qualities of its class. 

 The "inferior" grade is the very worst of its class. The 

 other grades lie in between these two extremes. 



3. Breeds of Horses 



While the breed to which a horse belongs has little 

 bearing on its market value if the class marks are strong 

 and the grade high, yet the only way to secure class and 

 grade is by pure breeding. Millions of dollars are being 

 lost by American farmers every year through the breed- 

 ing of grade or scrub horses. 



The value of breeding. An excellent illustration of 

 the difference in market value between pure-bred and grade- 

 bred horses is shown in the case of Wisconsin horses (Bui. 

 186, Wis. Ag. Exp. Sta.) : 



Average value of horses by ages 



4 to 6 

 months 1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years 



From pure-bred sires $78.77 $132.84 $196.84 $218.00 $303.00 



From grade sires 51.25 85.00 127.50 156.45 200.20 



Difference in favor of 



pure-bred sires _ _ 27.52 47.84 59.34 61.55 102.80 



