184 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



of the brood inare is all-important; and a few dollars extra, 

 paid to secure a good mare, is money well spent, for the 

 extra is divided between a number of colts ; and a good 

 mare is liable, in the extra price of one colt, to pay many 

 times over the extra paid to secure a good dam at the start. 

 The mare should be in herself all that is wanted, save per- 

 haps extra speed. She should at least in that be a good 

 driver. She should be not less than 15 hands high, — 15 

 hands, 2 or 3 inches would be better. She should weigh not 

 less than 1,0C0 pounds, — 1,100 or 1,200 would be better. 

 Of good natural style, sound in wind and limb, with a strong 

 constitution. She should have a pleasant disposition, kind, 

 and willing to do what is told her, but with a powerful will 

 and great nerve power; a mare that needs no whip, and 

 one that, however tired she may be from a long, hard drive, 

 will respond with renewed energy to the voice or a touch of 

 the line. 



I lay this great stress on the mental organism of the brood 

 mare, because it is needed to give courage and energy to her 

 colts. I do not like vice or ugliness in a brood mare; but 

 there is a wide difference between a high-strung, nervous i 

 mare, and a vicious one. A vicious mare may be high- 

 strung, but a high-strung mare is not necessarily vicious. 



It is this nervous energy that makes our smartest men and 

 our best horses, and I believe they inherit it largely from 

 their mothers. Perhaps I may make my meaning better 

 understood by calling it grit or determination. Many a time 

 we see men of less natural ability outstripping their 

 superiors, simply from their determination and will power. 

 So in like manner we often see a horse of less natural speed 

 win a hard-fought race simply from his grit and determination 

 to hold on, and get there every time if possible. It always 

 tells in the long-fought battles, in human life and on the race 

 track and in the daily routine of hard work. 



How we all prize a horse that always lets us feel that 

 there is a little reserve power back, which we may have by 

 calling for it. All this the brood mare should be in herself, 

 and back of her she should have as Jong a line as possible of 

 this class of horses ; the more there are the less will be the 

 chance of loss in breeding, for it is a law of nature that like 



