Chapter XXI. 



HINTS ON SELECTION, CARE AND MANAGE- 

 MENT OF HORSES. 



In selecting a horse, more actual knowledge is needed than can be 

 secured from books alone. The accurate judge of horse-flesh is one who 

 has made the subject a practical, continued study for years, and who 

 has at command not only the close knowledge gained by experience, 

 but a good understanding, as well, of the principles which underlie 

 Force and Action, applied in the movements of the horse. For an 

 exhaustive discussion of this subject, the reader is referred to any one of 

 the special works on the horse especially such books as Sanders' Horse 

 Breeding, and Helm's American Roadsters and Trotting Horses, with 

 which he is doubtless already familiar. We can only undertake to give 

 a few of the more prominent points, which may possibly aid somewhat 

 in forming an intelligent judgment. 



First. For draft, a horse must have weight ; he may have fine 

 action also, but the weight he must have, if capable of long pulls before 

 heavy loads. The shoulders should be upright and heavy below, in 

 order that strain on the traces may be met by collar resistance at such 

 an angle as will utilize all of the force exerted. The draft horse should 

 stand fairly high in front (rather prominent withers), and must have a 

 chest of ample width to permit free expansion of lungs when under any 

 temporary strain. The legs are best short, and should never exhibit 

 that smooth, puffy appearance which always indicates a tendency to form 

 fat at the expense of muscle; the cannons should be flat, and the joints, 

 especially, hard and firmly bound together. As we have stated, fine 

 action is not absolutely necessary, but for farm use a good, sprightly 

 walk is certainly desirable. Right here we may say, that a horse of 

 1,200 to 1,400 pounds weight is about the heaviest that will be found 

 profitable on the ordinary farm ; the heavier animals will always be 

 in demand for a different purpose, and an intelligent judgment will 

 select in reference to the purpose for which desired. To be too "fiery" 

 or "high strung" is an objection; the draft horse should be pre- 

 eminently an animal of quiet yet not sluggish temperament. A 

 strong, even puller will resist fatigue better, and do more service. 



Second. For speed, the shoulders should be slanting, the withers 

 medium to low, the loin and rump high, and the hind quarters long and 



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