Vlll THE HORSE IN AMERICA 



ago in the expression: "Like begets like." This 

 rule has been followed in the creation and main- 

 tenance of all the great horse types in the civil- 

 ized world, and singularly enough all of them, 

 both great and small in size, have descended 

 from Arab and Barb stock. This concise rule of 

 breeding, " Like begets like," has been misunder- 

 stood by some who did not take a sufficiently 

 comprehensive view of it. This likeness does not 

 refer merely to one thing; not to blood alone, nor 

 to conformation, nor to performance; but to 

 blood and to conformation and performance, but 

 most of all to blood. Where blood lines, as to like- 

 ness, are disregarded, and conformation and per- 

 formance are alone considered, the result is sure 

 to be a lot of mongrels, some of them, it is true, of 

 most surpassing excellence, but as a general 

 thing, quite incapable of reproducing themselves 

 with any reasonable certainty. 



The great danger always in breeding horses 

 and other domestic animals with the idea of im- 

 proving a type or a family, is that mongrels may 

 be produced. A mongrel is an animal that results 

 from the union of dissimilar and heterogeneous 



