THE HORSE BREEDING. 571 



rectness, in a general way, the best brood mare is the one that, 

 being sound and of good disposition, breeds most like the horse. 

 The writer owns a mare that breeds like the horse in form and 

 action, except that she usually has colts with backs and fore- 

 quarters like herself. Whether the farmer knows how his mare 

 breeds or not, there exists the same reason for selecting a thor- 

 oughly sound and well formed horse of the best possible breeding. 



Condition at Breeding Time. There has been much 

 disappointment in breeding to horses that have been campaigned 

 from year to year, and have made noted records for speed and 

 staying powers. While these horses have proven themselves to 

 possess the qualities that the breeders of fast and good horses 

 would reproduce, it is an unquestionable fact that such stallions 

 rarely have produced colts which have equalled the sires. Their 

 frequent failures to produce valuable foals have led the superfi- 

 cial observers to assert " there is no value in blood," and that 

 "hits are merest chance." 



They fail to consider that any law of nature may, by coun- 

 ter influences, be diverted. We need not philosophize long on 

 the cause of this disappointment. The fact that old mares arid 

 noted mares which have been hammered on the track campaign 

 after campaign, have uniformly failed to breed foals equal to 

 themselves or the sires of their foals may give a clew. It is 

 accepted as true that after mares have passed their prime, and 

 have lost vigor by reason of age and hard usage, their colts are 

 not equal to those brought forth when the mare is in her prime, 

 or when young. 



A writer in Wallaces Monthly elaborated the subject of 

 breeding old campaign stallions, and showed by reference to the, 

 records of the long line of winners of distinguished breeding 

 and performance on the track, and which have been retired to 

 the stud that not one of them has met the expectations of the 

 owners or patrons. He treats the subject physiologically, and 

 shows that the long courses of feeding and training of campaign 

 horses hardens the tissues, and extraordinary development of 

 one faculty or power tends to weaken the rest. The feed and 

 training of the race-horse, together with the intense and long 



