88 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



£No. 2. 



foal will not inherit, or, at least, the predisposition 

 to it: even the consequences of ill usage or hard 

 work will descend to the progeny. We have al- 

 ready enlarged on this, but its importance will be 

 a sufficient apology for the repetition. We have 

 had proof upon proof, that blindness, roaring, 

 thick wind, broken wind, spavins, curbs, ring- 

 bones, and founder, have been bequeathed, both 

 by the sire and the dam, to the offspring. It 

 should likewise be recollected, that although these 

 blemishes may not appear in the immediate pro- 

 geny, they frequently will in the next generation. 

 Hence the necessity of some knowledge of the 

 parentage both of the sire and dam. 



Peculiarity of form and constitution will also be 

 inherited. This is a most important, but neglect- 

 ed consideration; for however desirable, or even 

 perfect, may have been the conformation of the 

 sire, every good point may be neutralized or lost 

 by the defective form, or want of blood, of the 

 mare. There are niceties in this, of which some 

 breeders used to be aware, and they employed 

 their knowledge to great advantage. When they 

 were careful that the essential points should be 

 good in both parents, and that some minor defect 

 in either should be met, and got rid of, by excel- 

 lence in that particular point in the other^ the re- 

 sult was creditable to their judgement, and highly 

 profitable. The unskilful or careless breeder will 

 often so badly pair the animals, that the good 

 points of each will be, in a manner, lost: the de- 

 fects of both will be increased, and the produce 

 will be far inferior to both sire and dam. 



Of late years, these principles have been much 

 lost sight of in the breeding of horses for general 

 use; and the following is "the explanation of it. 

 There are nearly as good stallions as there used 

 to be. Few but well formed and valuable horses 

 will be selected and retained as stallions. They 

 are always the very prime of the breed; bat the 

 mares are not what they used to be. Poverty has 

 induced many of the breeders to part with the 

 mares from which they used to raise their stock, 

 and which were worth their weight in gold; and 

 the jade on which the farmer now rides to market, 

 or which he uses in his farm, costs him but little 

 money, and is only retained because he could not 

 get much money for her. It has likewise become 

 the fashion for gentlemen to ride mares, almost as 

 frequently^ geldings; and thus the better kind 

 are taken from the breeding service, until old aire 

 or injury renders them worth little for it. An in- 

 telligent veterinary surgeon, Mr. Castley, has 

 placed this in a very strong light, in the third vol- 

 ume of the "Veterinarian," p. 371. 



We would wish, then, to impress it. on the 

 minds of breeders, that peculiarity of form and 

 constitution are inherited from both parents; that 

 the excellence of the mare is a point of quite as 

 much importance as that of the horse; and that 

 out of a sorry mare, let the horse be as perfect as 

 he may, a good foal will rarely be produced. All 

 this is recognised upon the turf, although poverty 

 or carelessness have made the general breeder 

 neglect or forget it. 



It is recognised in the midland counties in the 

 breed of cart horses; and the strict attention 

 which has been paid to it, has brought our heavy 

 horses to almost the same perfection in their way 

 as the blood-horse. It is strange that in our sad- 

 dle-horses, our hunters, and, to a great degree, 



our carriage-horses, this should be left to chance. 

 The breeder begins to care little about the quality 

 of the mare, and the progeny is becoming com- 

 paratively of little worth. Experience, it Fs said, 

 will make fools wise, but experience will here be 

 bought at a very dear rate, both as it regards the 

 breeder and the community. 



That the constitution and endurance of the 

 horse are inherited, no sporting man ever doubted. 

 The qualities of the sire or the dam descend from 

 generation to generation, and the excellencies or 

 defects of certain horses are traced, and justly so, 

 to some peculiarity in a far distant ancestor. 



It may, perhaps, be justly affirmed, that there is 

 more difficulty in selecting a good mare to breed 

 from, than a good horse, because she should pos- 

 sess somewhat opposite qualities. Her carcass 

 should be long, to give room for the growth of the 

 foetus, and yet with this there should be compact- 

 ness of form and shortness of leg. What can 

 they expect who go to Smilhfield market to pur- 

 chase a number of worn-out, spavined, foundered 

 mares, about whom they fancy there have been 

 some good points, and send "them far into the 

 country to breed from, and, with all* their variety 

 of shape, to be covered by the same horse? In a 

 lottery like this, there may be now and then a 

 prize, but there must be many blanks. "If horse- 

 breeders, possessed of good judgement, would 

 pay the same attention to breed and shape as Mr.- 

 Bakewell did with sheep, they would probably at- 

 tain their wishes in an equal degree, and greatly 

 to their advantage, whether for the collar or the' 

 road, for racing or for hunting."* 



As to the shape of the stallion, little satisfactory' 

 can be said. It must depend on that of the mare, 

 and the kind of horse wished to be bred; but if 

 there be one point which we should say is abso- 

 lutely essential, it is this, "compactness" — as 

 much goodness and strength as possible con- 

 densed in a little space. If we are describing the' 

 reverse of the common race of stallions for hunt- 

 ers and coach-horses, the fault lies with the 

 bad taste and judgement of the majority of 

 breeders. 



Next to compactness, the inclination of the 

 shoulder will be regarded. A huge stallion, with 

 upright shoulders, never got a capital hunter or 1 

 hackney. From him the breeder can obtain no- 

 thing but a cart or dray-horse, and that, perhaps, 

 spoiled by the opposite form of the mare. On the 

 other hand, an upright shoulder is desirable, if not 

 absolutely necessary, when a mere draught horse 

 is required. 



It is of no little importance, that the parents 

 should be in full possession of their natural 

 strength and powers. It is a common error, that 

 because a mare has once been good, she is fit foi* 

 breeding when she is no longer capable of ordina- 

 ry work. Her blood and perfect frame may en- 

 sure a foal of some value, but he will inherit a 

 portion of the worn-out constitution of her from 

 whom he sprung. 



On the subject of breeding in and in, that is, 

 persevering in the same breed, and selecting the 

 best on either side, much has been said. The 

 system of crossing requires much judgement and 

 experience; a great deal more, indeed, than breed- 



* Parkinson on the Breeding and Manageme nt of 

 Live Stock, vol. ii. p. 59. 



