134 THE HORSE. 



foal, we should not choose an extremely roomy dam. 

 There is nothing more required than that there shall 

 be sufficient room to prevent defonnity from position, 

 which latter is a remarkably rare occuiTence. If a 

 mare is so naiTOw as not to be able properly to contain 

 a foal, she is, in every point of view, such a thorough 

 weed, that no man but a fool would select her for breed- 

 ing-pm-poses. 



The common, almost universal, practice of putting 

 all sorts of mares to the same horse, cannot be too 

 strongly reprehended. Breeding will indeed be a com- 

 plete lottery so long as this plan is pursued. It re- 

 quires a great deal of discrimination and judgment to 

 select the most suitable stallion for any particular 

 mare. On this hangs the chief part of our success. 

 The crosses of blood, the size, the temper, the consti- 

 tution, and the form, must all be well considered. 

 Whatever faults exist on the one side must, as far as 

 possible, be avoided on the other. If the same fault 

 exists on both sides of the house, it is nearly certain of 

 being handed down. It is a much better plan, how- 

 ever, to rectify an imperfection in the dam by selecting 

 a horse as nearly perfect as possible at the same part, 

 than to choose one who runs to the opposite extreme. 

 It is an old saying, and a true one, that extremes 

 never meet. The happy medium cannot be obtained 

 in this wav. 



