2 HORSE SENSE. 



tempted science witliout sense, logic without reason; a move backwards, 

 instead of forwards: a tearing dow^n of the work of improvement that 

 those before have labored for generations to establish. Very serious, 

 if not irreparable, damage is often done by one injudicious out-cross. 

 Then how important it is that we should have some systematic way of 

 investigating all of our breeding problems. 



STATE OR GOVERNMENT LAWS CONTROLLING SERVICE 

 STALLIONS. 



If the principles of common-sense breeding cannot be maintained 

 by mutual consent, through a state breeders' association, or other so- 

 cieties, tlien we should have an enactment of law that will prohibit the 

 us of any but the best of sires for public service. The public demands 

 horses of size, style, substance, action, symmetry of conformation, with 

 as nearly perfect feet and legs as possible, and how are we to comply 

 with this demand unless we make a strenuous effort to breed what is 

 wanted? To do this, no unsound, blemished, ill-shaped, irregular-gaited 

 or bad-dispositioned stallion should be permitted public service. We 

 have enough good sires and dams to make a great showing, if they were 

 selected and brought together in their proper relation; but so long as 

 the force of this matter is not fully considered, the crossroads, nonde- 

 script stallion will be used, and the country, as well as the individual, 

 must suffer the irremediable consequence. 



NATURE'S LAW OF "LIKE PRODUCING LIKE." THE TRUE 

 PRINCIPLE. 



That fundamental natural law of "like begetting like, or the like- 

 ness of some ancestor," must never be lost sight of in any of the lines 

 of breeding. The most common error committed is, that the remote 

 ancestral inheritance is lost sight of by most breeders; they confine 

 themselves to an examination of the immediate ancestors only, when 

 an acquaintance with the remote progenitors is of much greater im- 

 portance in what they are trying to accomplish. 



If the progeny would always take after the immediate parents, then 

 the question of breeding w-ould be easy, and almost anyone could make 

 progress. But when we see the produce taking back after some remote 

 ancestor possessing undesirable qualities, then it is that we often hesitate, 

 and even doubt our own observations. 



HORSE-BREEDERS MUST HAVE A DEFINITE OBJECT IN 

 VIEW. 



Breeders to be very successful must know positively all about the 

 breeding animals that ihey are using, and to do this successfully they 

 must be familiar with the records and performance of these animals. 

 Many a breeder, from neglect to register his animals, has lost untold 

 advantages to himself and others who would like to use his breeding 

 stock. The registry is the only safe means of perpetuating the good 

 qualities of the breeds, and is the only safe guide to purchasers in tracing 

 the antecedents of their own or others' animals; and until we direct our 



