104 BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT. 



ponderating excellence relative to that defect in the other, great 

 care is necessary that both parents do not possess the same de- 

 fect. If one would be perfectly certain in breeding, it is better to 

 avoid even such mares as have suffered merely from accident ; nor 

 should the mare be put to the horse at too early an age, if one 

 would avoid the hazard of obtaining an unreliable offspring. 



The best form of a mare from which to breed, for any pur- 

 pose, is a short-legged, lengthy animal, with a deep, roomy 

 chest and carcass, wide and capacious hips, and a sound 

 constitution. "Breed," of course, must be looked for, accord- 

 ing to the class of horses to which the mare belongs ; a good, 

 animated countenance, an upright, sprightly carriage ; general 

 structure of muscle, bone and sinew firm, dense, and compact. 

 The head of the brood-mare is an important point to be re- 

 garded ; a mare that has a heavy head and a stupid countenance 

 cannot breed a good foal, unless to a horse possessed of fire 

 almost to madness — for her countenance indicates her disposi- 

 tion. The neck should be brought out of the top of the withers, 

 and not of the bottom of the shoulders and chest ; the shoulders 

 should be well back, the blade-bone lying obliquely from the 

 shoulder joint ; the blade should also be long and wide, extend- 

 ing nearly to the top of the withers, but attached so closely and 

 so well covered with muscle as not to present any undue pro- 

 minence ; the back of the shoulder should also be well furnished 

 with muscle, appearing to the mounted rider of a wedge shape 

 widening towards his knee ; the fore-leg should be perpendicular, 

 the toe and the point of the shoulder being in a right line ; the 

 foot should be round, even, and of a dark color ; the heels should 

 be open, but not low ; the brisket should be deep, especially in 

 the case of a riding-horse, as otherwise a crupper will be re- 



