480 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



by maltreatment depreciates his value, in many cases, fully 

 one-third in the present generation, and is the cause of untold 

 evils in the next. Here lies one great obstruction in the way 

 of the improvement of the American horse ; while, if we may 

 judge by the accounts of foreign veterinarians, the case is 

 still worse in Europe. 



In many farming communities, perhaps nearly all of them, 

 it is seldom that either the mare with foal or the young 

 colt receives such treatment as is essential to' perfect health, 

 or such as is conducive to the best interests of the owner. 

 The aggregate amount of debility, suffering, and disease, oc- 

 casioned by the ill-usage of horse-flesh, in all its hideous 

 forms, is greater than can adequately find expression in words. 

 Perhaps seven -tenths of all the ailments which befall the 

 horse, in civilized communities, is either directly or indirectly 

 the legitimate fruits of the negligence and brutality of man. 

 Many a scrub of a colt would have been foaled plump, healthy, , 

 and admirably developed, if the mother had been properly 

 cared for during the months preceding his birth. How many 

 fine colts there are, too, whose future is ruined, or whose 

 prospects are, at least, greatly marred, by mistreatment of 

 themselves or the dams, or of both; and how many good 

 horses has every observant farmer seen thrown into a bad 

 condition, from which they very slowly or never recovered, 

 by the same agencies. 



Did the evil extend no further than the animal which be- 

 comes the victim of these abuses, we might forbear some of 

 our words of reprobation ; but such is not the case, and we 

 must often see it carried, not merely into the future of the 

 original sufferer, but into that of his or her progeny. If the 

 mother is sadly abused during gestation, the foal will come 

 into the world feeble and, perhaps, ill-grown, and can hardly be 

 brought up by any subsequent treatment to the fair standard 

 of his race. The race, instead of having been improved, is 

 thus actually thrown back, and years or generations will be 

 required, under the most favorable circumstances, to repair 

 the mischief done. 



