THE BREEDING AND REARING OF COLTS. 185 



high headed sire, whose nervousness comes from timidity, and whose 

 blood is made up from guess-work breeding. Read carefully what is con- 

 tained in the preceding chapters, and breed from stock, already improved, 

 rather than seek to make a breed yourself. 



If you desire to breed up from the stock you already have, the object 

 is a laudable one, provided you want horses only for general use. In 

 this case, breed from the best sires you can find, and those which combine 

 the characteristics you seek to perj)etuate. 



II. Breed From Mature Animals. 



Maturity in breeding stock is indispensable, since it is futile to expect 

 to get the best development from animals undeveloped themselves. We 

 believe the weediness of many thoroughbreds, which means want of de- 

 velopment and lack of constitutional vigor, to be the result, in part, 

 of too early and fast work, and also of breeding their parents while yet 

 too young, or after they were broken down for service on the turf. To 

 get the highest exellence in the offspring we must have the highest de- 

 velopment in the parents. Degeneration will surely result, if we l)reed 

 from immature or broken down animals. Another important requisite is, 

 that the sire be given plenty of exercise during the season of service ; 

 and after that, and until the next season begins, he should have constant 

 work, except for a period of rest with a run on the grass immediately 

 after the service season. The mare also sh(,ald not be idle, nor confined 

 to the stable ; exercise is as necessary to the dam as to the sire. 



III. No Profit in Inferior Horses. 



The best and purest stock, well adai)ted to the end sought, is always 

 the cheapest. This is a fundamental principle, to be kept constantly in 

 view. It costs no more to feed, shelter, and properly care for good 

 stock, than it does to feed, shelter and care for inferior stock. The first 

 cost of good animals is, of course, more, but this is the capital invested, and 

 for which you expect to get adequate returns. It costs no more to raise 

 good stock than it does to raise inferior stock. It costs no more to fit and 

 train the one than the other. After 3'ou have secured the female stock, 

 smooth in movement, of undoubted constitutional vigor, and of the 

 proper blood for the labor intended, if you do not own, or cannot afford 

 to own, the sire, you need not fear to pay lil)erally for such blood as you 

 require ; you may, moreover, safely incur the expense of sending your 

 mares considerable distances to procure the proper sire. This, however, 

 wdll rarely be necessary unless you wish exceptional colts ; for, in all well- 

 settled districts, there are plenty of good sires, outside of the highest- 

 caste thoroughbreds, and trotting strains. In thinly-settled districts 

 the breeding of high-caste stock should not be undertaken unless the 



