668 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



The best judges know how to weigh the value of strength 

 against the delicately rounded outline. The mare may not be 

 coarse at any point, but the strongly marked powers of the male 

 may manifest themselves in the large, bony, clean, brainy head. 

 The muscle and flesh of the mare will be more rounded and 

 graceful in the outlines, and the head, neck, and limbs be more 

 neat and more gracefully moulded. Her form will tell more of 

 quickness and fleetness, while her male-mate will manifest 

 more courageous strength and force in his step and action. 

 Neither will lack the ambition to use the hidden power. 



The Influence of Sire and Dam. Abdel Kader in a 

 letter to General Daumas discusses this subject. He does not 

 endorse the commonly accepted view, that the Arab prizes the 

 mare more than the horse, because she gave character and qual- 

 ity to the foal. He attributes great influence to each, if well 

 bred. He says it is true the foal proceeds from the sire and 

 the dam, but the experience of ages has proved that the essential 

 parts of the body, such as the bones, the tendons, the nerves, 

 and the veins, proceed always from the sire. This is beyond all 

 doubt. The meanest Arab knows that any malady, especially 

 belonging to the bones, under which the sire may be suffering 

 at the time of covering, will be perpetuated in his produce, such 

 as splints, bone and blood spavins, the shape of the bones, and 

 all diseases of the vertebral column. 



The dam may give to her produce color and a certain amount 

 of resemblance in form, the foal naturally partaking of some of 

 the qualities of the animal which had so long borne it ; but it is 

 an incontestable fact that it is the sire who gives strength to 

 the bones, substance to the tendons, vigor to the nerves, rapid- 

 ity of pace ; in short, all the principal qualities. He also com- 

 municates what may be considered moral qualities, and if he be 

 unquestionably of high blood, the foal is preserved from vice. 

 "A horse of noble race has no vices." 



"The foal follows the sire," is an old Arab maxim which 

 Abdel Kader fully endorses. Because of this universal belief 

 the Arab is difficult to please in the selection of a stud-horse, 

 and if he can not find one to please him of pure blood, he will 



