1891.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 197 



have a colt that I can drive without pulling his head round. 

 I think that you can teach a colt in a short time by using a 

 bitting bridle, so that when he feels the rein he will turn his 

 body without turning his head. I may be mistaken, but 

 that is my idea. I would like to get rid of that method if 

 I could. 



Question. Do you think it is wise to use a mare to breed 

 from after she is past twenty ? 



Mr. Winslow. I was told, by a man up in the northern 

 part of the State, that he bought a mare that was said to be 

 too old to breed. The man of whom he bought her said she 

 was eighteen years old, and was of no value, and he bought 

 her for fifty dollars. She was a well-bred mare, and had 

 produced some nice colts. He told me she was then twenty- 

 five years old, and he had raised five or six colts from her. 

 I see no reason why a mare should not breed, so long as she 

 will breed good colts. Some of the colts from our old mares 

 have been among the most valuable colts in the country. 



Mr. Bancroft. If a mare is spavined or wind-broken, 

 is she not liable to transmit that weakness to her progeny ? 



Mr. Winslow. I do not like to breed from a spavined 

 mare. A mare may have a spavin, the result of accident, 

 but I think it will be likely to be transmitted. I had a very 

 curious illustration come within my personal knowledge. I 

 am a breeder of Ayrshire cattle. I once bought a bull for 

 another man, under price, because he had a broken tail. I 

 thought that was no special damage to the animal. After- 

 ward I bought the bull, and used him in my own herd. 

 The result was that I kept having broken-tailed calves. I 

 sold him to Mr. Peter Smith of Andover, Mass., and he 

 told me that he liked that bull very well, but said that every 

 now and then he got a calf with a broken tail. I know that 

 spavined mares are liable to have spavined colts, or to give 

 to their colts a predisposition to spavin. The colts may 

 never be subjected to a strain which will give them a spavin, 

 but they are not in as good a condition to resist a strain, 

 from having had a spavined mother. Why, gentlemen, you 

 know that we inherit from our parents all sorts of ills ; and 

 why should not a colt? I would use a sound mare for 

 breeding, and by all means a sound horse. 



