BREEDING THE TROTTER 



important to consider. One of them is the age at 

 which the mare should first be bred. At this 

 point, if you have a young mare, it will be neces- 

 sary for you to decide whether or not you wish to 

 race her. 



A filly intended for breeding purposes should 

 be broken, trained and her speed developed like 

 a filly intended for racing purposes. If at the age 

 of two or three years she shows speed, is nicely 

 gaited and comes up to your ideal of a brood-mare, 

 it is not necessary to train her longer or to race her 

 in order to endow her with the ability to transmit 

 speed to her progeny. Extended development 

 will not help her colts one particle. A mare in- 

 herits a certain amount of speed ability from her 

 parents. She should be developed enough to find 

 out what ability she herself has in that line. If 

 she has no speed ability she will transmit none. 



As in the case of stallions it is sometimes advis- 

 able to race a mare one season to show the public 

 she has speed and to help her sire and dam, but 

 her racing career should be limited to one season, 

 made as easy for her as possible, after which she 

 should be retired to the brood-mare ranks. 



A mare intended for a race mare should not be 

 bred first for the reason that few mares pack to- 

 gether again after foaling. With such mares a 

 hot day and a hard race will develop certain weak- 

 nesses that place them at a disadvantage against 

 other horses. A few of our fast performers have 

 taken their records after producing a foal. Emily 

 (2.11) was one of these. If a mare is not to be raced 



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