108 BREEDING. 



considerable influence on the value of our different class of horses Avill be 

 readily admitted, and the great attention which has been given to this 

 subject by breeders during the last twenty years, has been rewarded Avith 

 the most successful results. Howevei- much may have been said or written 

 of late respecting the deterioration of our breed of horses, we are inclined 

 to believe that this country never possessed such numbers of valuable 

 animals in every class, as at the present. The general axiom laid dovra. 

 is that ' like will produce like,' and that the progeny will inherit the 

 general or mingled qualities of the parents. Tliis fact should not orJy be 

 taken into consideration Avith regard to the general conformation, temper, 

 &c., of the animal, but also in regai'd to the transmission of disease. That 

 disease is transmissible from the parents to the offspring, there cannot be 

 a doubt; and such is the hereditary nature of certain diseases, that, although 

 they may not show themselves in the immediate progeny, they frequently 

 do so in the next and even more distant generation. There is abundant 

 proof that blindness, roaring, broken wind, sidebones, spavins, ringbones, 

 laminitis and navicular disease, have been bequeathed to theii" offspring 

 both by sire and dam. Nor is this all, for although the freedom from 

 disease of some particular organ on the part of one of the parents may 

 counteract, and to a certain extent obliterate a palpable defect in that 

 organ in the other, there will still remain a peculiar weakness, or ten- 

 dency in the part, which requires but some slight exciting cause to bring- 

 about its full development. To illustrate this, we will suppose a mare 

 perfectly sound in her Avind is sent to a horse afflicted AA^th roaring : 

 although the produce may be free from roaring, and may continue so for 

 some time Avithout giAong any evidence of the disease, nevertheless, how 

 often does it happen that an attack of influenza is succeeded by the animal 

 becoming a conlirmed roarer ? Again, send a mare with curbs on her 

 hocks, to a horse with perfectly sound ones, and what is frequently the 

 result on the produce ? The young animal may not possess the great de- 

 fects observable in the dam — in short, may not have curbs at all ; he will, 

 nevertheless, in all probability have weak and badly- shaped hocks, what 

 are commonly called cui'by hocks, Avhich aa^U require but slight stress 

 upon the part to develop the disease inherited from the dam. Hence tho 

 necessity of a thorough knoAAdedge of both sire and dam. One of the first 

 principles Ave would therefore impress upon the breeders of all animals, 

 and the horse in particular, is that both parents should be free from dis- 

 ease. This has been too much lost sight of, especially in country districts, 

 Avhere stud-liorses are kept for getting hianters, many of A\*hich are nothing 

 better than cast-offs from the racing stable, in consequence of some disease 

 (not unfrequently of the respiratory orgaiis), Avhich makes them valueless 

 for the purposes for AAdiich they have been reared. The result in the 

 course of a few years will be manifest in the young produce exhibiting in 

 a greater or less degree the infirmities of the sire. There cannot be a 

 doubt that the employment of such animals for breeding purposes is cal- 

 culated to produce the greatest evil amongst all classes of horses ; and the 

 best course that could be adopted Avould be to consign them to an opera- 

 tion, Avhich, while it Avould alloAV of their being made useful for some 

 purposes, would prevent the spread of their deleterious influence. Pecu- 

 liarity of form and constitution will also be inherited. This is a most 

 important but neglected consideration, for however desirable or eA'en per- 

 fect may have been the conformation of the sire, every good point may 

 be neutralised, or lost, by the defective structure of the mare. The essen- 

 tial points should be good in both parents, or some minor defect in either, 

 be met and got rid of by excellence in that particular point in the other. 

 The unskilful or careless breeder too often so badly pairs the animals, that 



