THE HORSE-^B REELING. 557 



and against nature, and tend to undermine the stamina and har- 

 diness of the horse. The science of breeding, together with 

 better knowledge of sanitary laws, must help to prevent the ills 

 incident to these dangers attending the horse in civilization. 

 Of sanitary conditions we will speak further under hygiene and 

 sanitary conditions. 



Best Age to Breed. The mare is capable of breeding at 

 two years old, but as the size, good form, and sound health are 

 essential to the value of the horse, it is unwise to risk these by 

 so early taxing nature heavily. The old English view is a safe 

 one, that one or the other of the parents should be mature. 

 If a young mare is to be bred, the horse should riot be less than 

 eight or ten years old, and it is generally accepted that an aged 

 mare, if bred at all, will do better bred to a young horse. If 

 both horse and mare are very young or very old, the colt is 

 generally weak and small. Many of the best horses have been 

 gotten by old stallions. Old or worn-out mares are not suc- 

 cessful. The history of trotters does not show a remarkably 

 good colt from any of the noted old mares that have been re- 

 tired to the harem from the track. Old mares that have been 

 kept breeding, and not worn out by hard labor, have produced 

 some noted horses. A good rule is to wait until the mare is 

 past three, and then breed to a horse of full maturity. 



The Farmer as a Breeder. While we have a great 

 number, and that number rapidly increasing, who devote their 

 farms to the breeding of horses, still they produce but a small 

 per cent of the horses annually reared in the United States. 

 The farmers who keep from one to three mares produce the 

 great bulk of the horses. Hence, the importance in this work 

 intended for farmers of giving direct attention to the horse on 

 the farm, and giving such principles and suggestions to farmers 

 as will help them to not only breed horses of better blood, but 

 to so handle, feed, and manage them as to produce the most 

 valuable horse. 



It is not possible that farmers as a class should be as well 

 versed in the art of breeding and rearing horses as are those who 

 have made it a specialty, but there are some bottom principles 



