^87 — 



Mares at an advanced age, too stiff, too weak, too slow to 

 be of any furtlier active use, are turned to account for breeding 

 purposes — and the result is, a weak foal, lacking thrift and lack- 

 ing spirit. Mares hacked about until tluy are ring-boned, spav- 

 ined, and splinted, or perhaps dropsical or with a glanderous 

 tendency, — no longer useful on the farm or on the road, are re- 

 lieved from the work which they can no longer do with any 

 chance of profit, and sent to the stallion. Result : a foal with a 

 rickety or knotty bony system, or with a tendency to some 

 form of dropsy, or ready, in the presence of any exciting cause, 

 to develop a case of glanders. And so of other disorders, more 

 especiall}^ of roaring, thick-wind, blindness, contracted feet, 

 grease and afflictions of the brain and nervous system. Some 

 mares have a peculiar predisposition to surfeit, some to swelled 

 legs, some to vertigo, some to a sort of unaccountable vicious- 

 ness. No wise breeder can afford to disregard these things. If 

 he wishes to rear a horse for service, he Avants a sound foal ; for 

 he knows he can get from such a one more work for less cost than 

 from one unsound in bone, muscle, secretions or integument. If 

 he designs to breed for market he is aware that neither a puny 

 nor a diseased creature can be palmed off there either to his 

 profit or his credit. 



To insure health}^, active, thrifty progeny, then, the dam must 

 be soumd and vlgorovs ; and this is no less true of the sire. We 

 dwell less upon the latter because it is of far less frequent occur- 

 rence for a broken down and diseased stallion to be kept for the 

 service of mares than for mares of this description to be put 

 to breeding because they are known to be fit for nothing else, 

 but are erroneously deemed useful for this. The condition of the 

 stallion, however, must not be overlooked. Every breeder must 

 have a care to choose a vigorous stallion, and one free from 

 blemishes, malformation and hereditar^^ taints. 



Nor should mares be put to breeding too young. They should 

 be full grown and vigorous, and when their powers begin to fail 

 they should no longer be subjected to this service. It is the 

 practice of some to begin to breed at two years of age. This is 

 injurious to the mare, and otherwise unprofitable to the owner. 



