18 THE HORSE BOOK. 



the mares are inferior to the inferior stallion 

 there can be no hope of salvation by his use. 



If, as has been insisted, the sire and dam had 

 each a set share in contributing to the inheri- 

 tance of the offspring, then breeding would be 

 a business of rule of thumb — which it is not. 

 We do not know how these respective shares are 

 arranged. AYhat we do know is that the joint 

 individuality in varying proportions is trans- 

 mitted to the offspring more or less definitely 

 and this supplies the reason for the selection of 

 high-class parents as the foundation for the 

 further work of development by suitable envi- 

 ronment. In this discussion I have not taken 

 into consideration the transmission of equine 

 speed, as that is an elusive spark, is not trans- 

 mitted as conformation is and has no bearing 

 on the breeding of animals other than the race 

 horse, though subject in all ways to the influ- 

 ence of environment. 



Admitting that a horse is a composite of all 

 his ancestors, a long pedigree is desirable only 

 insofar as it shows that these ancestors were 

 good individuals and typical of the breed con- 

 cerned. A pedigree showing a heterogeneous 

 mass of individuality is of doubtful value. In 

 an animal possessing such a pedigree the ten- 

 dency will be to breed unevenly for the reason 

 that his ancestors were not even. The force of 

 hereditv is weakened in such cases because of 



