BREEDING, CASTRATION, &c. 



from the breeding service, until old age or injury renders them worth little for it. An 

 intelligent veterinary surgeon, Mr. Castley, has placed this in a very strong light.* 



It should be impressed on the minds of breeders, that peculiarity of form and con- 

 stitution are inherited from both parents, that the excellence of the mare is a point 

 of quite as much importance as that of the horse, and that, out of a sorry mare, let 

 the horse be as perfect as he may, a good foal will rarely be produced. All this is 

 recognised upon the turf, though poverty or carelessness have made the genera, 

 breeder neglect or forget it. 



That the constitution and endurance of the horse are inherited, no sporting man 

 ever doubted. The qualities of the sire or the dam descend from generation to genera- 

 tion, and the excellences or defects of certain horses are often traced, and justly so, to 

 some peculiarity in a far-distant ancestor. 



It may, perhaps, be justly affirmed, that there is more difficulty in selecting a good 

 mare to breed from than a good horse, because she should possess somewhat opposite 

 qualities. Her carcase should be long, in order to give room for the growth of the 

 foetus ; and yet with his there should be compactness of form and shortness of leg. 

 What can they expect whose practice it is to purchase worn-out, spavined, foundered 

 mares, about whom they fancy there have been some good points, and send thera far 

 into the country to breed from, and, with all their variety of shape, to be covert*! by 

 the same horse ? In a lottery like this there may be now and then a prize, but there 

 must be many blanks. If horse-breeders, possessed of good judgment, would pay th 

 same attention to breed and shape as Mr. Bakewell did with his sheep, they would 

 probably attain their wishes in an equal degree, and greatly to their advantage, 

 whether for the collar or the road, for racing or for hunting. 



As to the shape of the stallion, little satisfactory can be said. It must depend on 

 that of the mare, and the kind of horse wished to be bred ; but if there is one point 

 absolutely essential, it is "compactness" as much goodness and strength as possible 

 condensed into a little space. 



Next to compactness, the inclination of the shoulder will be regarded. A huge 

 stallion, with upright shoulders, never got a capital hunter or hackney. From him 

 the breeder can obtain nothing but a cart or dray horse, and that, perhaps, spoiled by 

 the opposite form of the mare. On the other hand, an upright shoulder is desirable, 

 if not absolutely necessary, when a mere slow draught-horse is required. 



On the subject of breeding in and in, that is, persevering in the same breed, and 

 selecting the best on either side, much has been said. The system of crossing, 

 requires more judgment and experience than breeders usually possess. The bad 

 qualities of the cross are too soon engrafted on the original stock, and once engrafted 

 there, are not, for many generations, eradicated. The good qualities of both are occa- 

 sionally neutralized to a most mortifying degree. On the other hand, it is the fact, 

 however some may deny it, that strict confinement to one breed, however valuable 01 



* "Any one," says he, " who, during the last twenty or five -and -twenty years, has had 

 frequent opportunities of visiting some of our great horse-fairs in the north of England must 

 be struck with the sad falling-off there is everywhere to be remarked in the quality of the one- 

 half and three-part bred horses, exhibited for sale. The farmers, when taxed with this, com- 

 plain that breeding horses does not sufficiently repay them ; and yet we find large sums of 

 money always given at fairs for any horses that are really good, but bad ones are not at any 

 time likely to pay for rearing, and less now than ever, on account of the advanced rate of 

 land, and the increased expense of production. The truth is, that farmers do not, now-a-daya. 

 Dreed horses so generally good as they used to do, and this is owing to the inferior quality of 

 the rnares which they now commonly employ in breeding. They have, to a great degree, 

 been tempted to part with their best mares, and thus breed from the refuse. The stock con- 

 sequently deteriorates, and they are disappointed. 



" The great demand for mares has also contributed to get the best material for breeding out 

 of the farmer's hands. Thirty years ago few gentlemen would be seen riding a mare it was 

 unfashionable. There was, consequently, but little demand for her, and she was left for the 

 most part in the farmers' hands, who were then to be seen riding to market, mounted on the 

 Inest mares, and from among which they selected the best for the purpose of breeding. Like 

 will produce like, and the stock would seldom disappoint them. 



" Then there is the demand for the foreign market. Within the last twenty years, a great 

 number of our finest three-parts-bred mares have been exported to various portions of the 

 Continent, and particularly to France and Germany. They never find their way back again. 

 The money brought int.: our country by their export is a mere trifle- a drop in the ocean-- 

 while wr arr doing ourse ^ es incalculable mischief by allowing some of our best materials tc 

 paps out f <J \r bar *s fo- e er." Veterinarian, III., p. 371. 



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