92 Management and Feeding of Heavy Horses 



As regards size, a mare standing i6 hands high, and of pro- 

 portionate symmetry, is big enough. Colour may be decided by 

 taste. Sufifolks, of course, are all chestnuts. Bay or brown are 

 the prevailing colours among Clydesdales, and among Shires a 

 good bay or brown sells better than any other colour. Not so 

 long ago, white feet and legs were considered very objectionable, 

 as it was thought that dark feet were harder and more enduring. 

 Whether that idea stood the test of experience or not, dark points 

 are not now insisted on as formerly. Indeed, white feet and legs 

 seem to be all the fashion now in Shires as well as in Clydesdales; 

 and it must be admitted that a ring full of fine horses with clean 

 white legs and fine flowing feather is a sight well worth seeing. 



Having now grasped the idea of what is the most suitable 

 animal to breed from, the next consideration is how, when, and 

 where to obtain her. Facilities for doing so are much greater than 

 they were a few years ago, when the only way was to travel about 

 among the breeders, attend the horse fairs, or commission a dealer 

 to buy one, a process which took time and could not be done 

 without expense. 



The periodical auction sales, which many of our successful 

 breeders have instituted, afford excellent opportunities for young 

 breeders to obtain foundation stock. The information given in 

 the catalogues of these private auctions being generally reliable, 

 one can depend on its being more correct than that obtained in 

 a horse fair or from a dealer. The agricultural shows instituted 

 in every county, and in nearly every parish, also present good 

 opportunities of discovering where the right class of mare is bred, 

 and of by and by securing one. Indeed, many breeders now ex- 

 hibit their young stock for the sole purpose of obtaining customers 

 and effecting sales. Farm sales also afford occasional oppor- 

 tunities of buying a useful animal ; the stock at these sales being 

 generally well known to the neighbours, information as to the 

 characters of the various animals can generally be obtained. Yet 

 another system of buying and selling stock is being introduced, 

 and is likely to develop into a means of transacting a vast amount 

 of business; that is, by advertisement. The agricultural journal 

 is now cheap, and is read by nearly every farmer. It is used 

 for advertising all sorts of goods the farmer has to buy. Why 

 should not the farmer advertise what he has to sell? Old pre- 

 judices, of course, will have to be broken down. The idea that 

 something is suspiciously wrong because a farmer advertises stock 

 for sale should not be harboured for an instant in these days of 

 enlightened business habits. And because a farmer advertises 



