138 Management and Feeding of Heavy Horses 



speculation in the work of horse breeding — much more so than in 

 the breeding of cattle and sheep. The profits from horses may be 

 much larger than from cattle or sheep, but so may also the losses. 

 The rank and file of farmers have to look to their herds and to the 

 flocks for the rent. If the rent depended on the horses, the poor 

 farmer would many times be at a loss on the approach of rent day. 



It must not be assumed, however, that horse breeding does not 

 pay. In almost every county we have examples showing that it 

 has proved a most profitable system of farming. 



On most farms where horses are required to do the work of the 

 farm, a few are bred as an auxiliary branch of the management of 

 the land ; in such cases the profits are not very readily identified. 

 But on some farms the department of horse breeding takes the first 

 place; it is worked as a speciality on scientific lines, the young 

 horses being the principal source of revenue. In such cases the 

 whole system of managing the farm is arranged with the aim of 

 making the best of the horses. Although the system appears too 

 much like the placing of all the eggs in one basket, yet it may be, 

 and frequently is, done successfully, provided all the necessary 

 factors for success are in combination and co-operation. Needless 

 to say, the principal factor is the man himself. He must be 

 specially gifted, a born horseman, a keen, shrewd judge, enthusi- 

 astic and enterprising, not readily daunted by losses or failures, 

 and unremitting in attention to the business. Then the farm must 

 be suitable, the land fairly level, the soil not too light nor deficient 

 in lime, the buildings convenient and adapted for the business, the 

 fields well fenced and supplied with pure water. The farmer must 

 have capital to get the right sort of stock, and he must have 

 assistants enthusiastic like himself. Success is safe under these 

 conditions. This, however, is not a system to be recommended 

 for adoption by everyone. The most successful breeders are those 

 who combine horse breeding with farming other stock as well. 

 Cattle breeding and horse breeding go well together. Sheep and 

 horses do not fit in so well, hence a sheep farm is not an ideal 

 horse-rearing farm. 



For producing geldings for street work the system adopted by 

 many farmers in the North of England of mating the Shire mare 

 with the Clydesdale stallion ensures a horse with the weight and 

 constitution of the Shire, combined with the grand feet, strong 

 fetlocks, and splendid action of the Clydesdale. The drawJDack 

 to the system is that neither sex is eligible for entry in the stud 

 book, hence the fillies are depreciated in value, and the colts are 

 of only gelding value. For profitable breeding it is better to breed 



