HORSE BREEDING. 1311 



not SO good will prove valuable in the stud. In viewing the product of 

 a stallion we must, of course, note carefully the mares out of which the 

 colts have been produced. 



XIII. Carriage Horses. 

 Carriage horses, as a rule, are not pure-breds. We have in this 

 class pure-bred Hackneys, Cleveland Bays and French and German 

 coach horses, which are pure-bred, but as there are few pure-bred 

 mares of any of these classes in this country, the farmer who attempts 

 to produce carriage horses must use as sires the above mentioned 

 sires or the standard-bred or thoroughbred. The selection of a sire 

 for carriage horses must be largely governed by the mare to whom 

 he is to be bred. In my opinion the Hackney is the only horse that 

 truly comes up to the standard at present demanded in this class of 

 horses. He hsis fair size, beauty, a fair amount of quality and the 

 extreme action, both fore and aft, that is required. The carriage horse of 

 the present day must have free, easy, high and attractive action of both 

 knees and hocks; he must be of fair size and quality with attractive 

 appearance, both when standing and in motion. His action must not 

 only be high bub in a straight line, neither paddling nor rooling his fore 

 feet; he must not go wide behind, nor yet so close as to interfere. 

 While we try to get symmetry, quality and style along with the required 

 action, we must have action even though we sacrifice some of the other 

 qualities. I have stated that in my opinion the Hackney is the true 

 carriage horse, and we would therefore think that he should be used in 

 all cases to sire such. But a great deal depends upon the mare. My 

 experience has been that the produce of the Hackney out of a cold- 

 blooded mare is not a satisfactory animal for any purpose ; he will in 

 most cases be coarse, lack quality and ambition, and while he may be 

 possessed of a fair amount of action, his very noticeable lack of other 

 desirable characteristics and ambition render him almost worthless for 

 the purpose for which he is intended. Therefore, unless the mare has 

 considerable hot blood (by hot blood I mean the blood of a thorough- 

 bred), it will not be wise to mate her with the Hackney. If we have a 

 half-bred or even a quarter-bred mare of the desirable size, she should 

 produce well if crossed with the Hacknej'. The dam in this case will, 

 in all probability, impart quality, and the sire action and style, to the 

 offspring. Other sires for the production of carriage horses are coach 

 stallions. The same remarks as to quality in the mare apply here as to 

 the Hackney. These stallions are likely to produce larger stock, and 

 many of them have very good action, and when large carriage horses 

 are desired they should have the preference. Many first-class horses 



