562 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



the public. They will continue to be a weedy, over-fed, lub- 

 berly set of brutes, whose plumpness and sleek coats will cap- 

 tivate the inexperienced, and the low cost of service will enable 

 this class of stallions to beget the majority of the foals 

 dropped. This kind of breeding, or want of breeding, degen- 

 erates the horses of the country, rather than improves them. 



The wild horses of the plains in the natural selection do bet- 

 ter than that, for the strongest and most powerful and active and 

 plucky stallions serve the most mares. With our advantages of 

 better feed, combined with the use of only the best stallions, we 

 should see our stock of horses rapidly improving. 



Pedigree, then Quality. Stonehenge says: "In choos- 

 ing a stallion to breed from for speed, the first thing to be con- 

 sidered is his pedigree." "Next to pedigree should be consid- 

 ered speed, bottom, health, size, style, color," and the writer 

 adds, disposition. " In breeding for speed, it should be remem- 

 bered that size is important, if the colt turns out fast, and still 

 more, if he does not." If he is large enough for taking a car- 

 riage, with two persons, over the road at a lively gait, the 

 breeding was not a failure. 



Some Defects may be Corrected. "If the mare has 

 any particular defect, a horse should be chosen that will correct 

 it in the progeny ;" but the writer would warn the reader against 

 attempts to correct such defects as thick wind, weak tendons, 

 spavin, ring-bone, and the like. Mares that have rather light 

 bone, or do not fill the eye as to form of neck or outline, or 

 have a want of muscle, or the leg is a little lacking in strength 

 or straightness such defects we may in a measure correct by a 

 judicious selection of the stallion. 



It is said, "Every chain has a weak link," and every horse 

 has a defect that the careful observer may detect. The defect 

 may be one that offends the eye only, and not impair the use- 

 fulness of the animal. Such defects we may aim to correct, 

 but let us not aim to correct constitutional and hereditary taints. 

 We will the more likely entail such if we breed animals pos- 

 sessing them. 



"Every part of every offspring partakes of the quality of 



