HOW TO KNOW HBI. 59 



it is entirely remedied, so far as my experience and ob- 

 servation go, are exceedingly rare. There is nothing 

 certain about it. Such breeding is, in spite of every 

 thing one can do, unreliable, and too much the matter 

 of luck. The only sure way, as it is the only business- 

 like way, is to have perfection in both parents ; and then 

 the great law, that like produces like, will tell in your 

 favor, and insure you success. Beware of choosing for 

 the sire of your colts an excessively long-backed horse, 

 or one faulty in the construction of his hind-quarters. 

 Never be led away and enticed by the gloss of his coat, 

 the fineness of his neck and head, the splendid develop- 

 ment of his chest and shoulders, into breeding from 

 him, if he is poor in the muscular formation of his quar- 

 ters. It is in his haunch and thigh that strength and 

 speed lie ; and here every thing should be long, broad, 

 and full. If you are a breeder, you can disregard this, 

 and because of cheapness, or facility of service, content 

 yourself with an inferior sire ; but I wish you to dis- 

 tinctly understand, in this case, that you are not to blame 

 the principles of breeding for the result of your folly, 

 but your own foolishness in discarding them. With 

 here and there an exception, your colts will be what 

 the parents are, — imperfect animals ; which is all you 

 have deserved. You have just what you bred from over 

 again ; and this is all that was possible for Nature under 

 the circumstances to give you. The men who cry 

 "that breeding does not pay" are men who make it 

 impossible to pay by the substitution of ignorance in 



