RANGE HORSES. 237 



the carload. The attention of the breeders was 

 turned to the possibilities of the business. 

 Bands were collected and culled. A better class 

 of draft and other stallions was purchased and 

 more sensible methods of breeding adopted. 



Wherever any persistent effort at improve- 

 ment by the draft route had been made a rich 

 harvest of profit was reaped. Breeders who 

 had piled two, three or four crosses of pure 

 draft blood on either a native or a range foun- 

 dation received prices not previously dreamed 

 of. It was found that pure-breds could be pro- 

 duced on the range and perpetuate their charac- 

 teristics with great prepotency. Free grazing 

 was constricted. It became a choice of fewer 

 and better or get out of the business. The net 

 result today is that all draft-bred range horses 

 are bringing unprecedented prices, as high as 

 $161 having been paid per head for four-year- 

 old geldings and mares by the carload of twenty 

 head, unbroken, but weighing in grass flesh 

 from 1,350 to 1,500 pounds. Unfortunately 

 many of the breeders, despite the success which 

 they have achieved, are for the most part still 

 pursuing the short-sighted policy of using in- 

 ferior stallions. A disinclination to pay the 

 price for a high-class breeding horse seems in- 

 grained in the business, tho'iigh evidence that 

 the best pay the highest dividends is by no 

 means wanting. 



In short the range horse breeding business is 

 on a most prosperous footing at the present 

 time. The extraordinary development of the 



