190 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



speaking upon this question, I insist, whenever it is possi- 

 ble, upon having a horse before me, so that, as I attempt to 

 outline my thought, I may place my hand upon the part, 

 and show what I mean by " conformation ; " because a horse, 

 as Governor Hoard so clearly brought out in regard to the 

 cow, is adapted for some special line of work in his forma- 

 tion. You would not take a horse for a trotter with a short 

 hip, a heavy leg and a straight pastern. You could not 

 make a trotter of that horse. A trotting horse should have 

 a round, full nose ; an open nostril ; firmness in the mouth ; 

 clean-cut jowl ; an intelligent face, broad between the eyes ; 

 a full, round, expressive eye; a neck of good length, and 

 well arched ; oblique shoulders ; the point of the withers 

 well back under the saddle ; a well-muscled fore-arm ; a 

 strong knee ; a flat, short cannon bone ; a springy pastern, 

 with an angle of about forty-five degrees ; a short back, with 

 coupling well forward ; heavily muscled over the loins ; a 

 long quarter, well developed, allowing free stifle action ; 

 a clean-cut hock, neither straight not sickle-shape ; a body 

 deep in barrel and waist, and a good foot. There mast be 

 the oblique shoulder, to allow the horse to reach out with 

 the forward feet ; and there also must be a long quarter, to 

 insure length of stride in the propelling parts, — the hind 

 legs. A draft-horse should be stronger built, straight in 

 the shoulder, the shoulders well apart at the top, a rounder 

 barrel, a shorter quarter, a stronger leg and a straighter 

 pastern. There must be a conformation best adapted to the 

 wants and needs of the animal, and it is for this that we 

 should seek. When we bring these extremes together, we 

 must lower materially the standard of perfection in both. 



I do not wish to take up the time, but I will say that I 

 think we ought to study closely this question of formation. 

 During the past season I have assisted in passing upon nearly 

 a thousand horses and colts, and it has been surprising to 

 me to find how this matter of form controls action. In 

 our own State, passing upon some six hundred horses and 

 colts, scoring them as individuals by use of a card, we found 

 in certain lines of breeding, and with certain horses and 

 mares, surprisingly uniform results. Now, in breeding a 

 high-class horse, one thing is to be avoided, and that is, 



