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My idea as to how horses should be checked, road horses and 

 others, I positively condemn the overdraw check, it certainly is, 

 and there is no gainsaying it, cruelty to animals to use it. The only 

 utility I can perceive there is in the check at all is to keep a horse 

 from putting his nose to the ground when he stops, and when a 

 check is used, place the loops high up on the cheek pieces to the 

 head stall, as the horse can in such cases have the free use of his 

 head, and can handle himself with ease and grace. For speeding 

 horses it might become necessary to use the overdraw in some cases, 

 but it must be understood that I hold firm to my idea as to the 

 practicabilty of its general usefulness. 



Question. What do you think of breeding draft horses, and the 

 care and early training of the colt ? 



Answer. It has been the stupendous error of the average farmer 

 to consider that any mare will do to raise a colt from. Thousands 

 of worthless horses bear witness to the absurdity of this. The mare 

 should be, as nearly as we can have her, what we hope the colt to be. 

 Above all, she must be sound in feet, bone and wind. She should 



