46 Cross Country with Horse and Hound 



up was so pronounced as to call my attention particularly 

 to this subject. The first colt was a decided improvement 

 on either sire or dam as to harness or road work, while 

 the second one was barely up to and certainly not beyond 

 them. The third colt by the same horse was a better 

 roadster, but smaller than either the first or second, and I 

 attributed this to my overdoing the matter in my desire 

 to educate the third colt. The mare's muscles were not 

 relaxed enough to give the colt proper room for develop- 

 ment, and it never attained the size I believe it would 

 otherwise have reached. 



What makes a colt a better roadster than any of its 

 ancestors ? What power elevates a foal to a greater degree 

 of proficiency and usefulness in cross-country work than its 

 original stock ? I believe it is clearly within the bounds 

 of reason, and to be demonstrated by any one with an op- 

 portunity to test it, that it is owing to the imprint of a 

 desire. If the sins of the fathers may be transmitted to 

 the second and third generation, why not the virtues of the 

 mothers ? Many mothers have children that are reproduc- 

 tions, not of what they themselves are, but of what they 

 temporarily were in thoughts, moods, and actions. The 

 occasional use of a brood mare for a short cross-country ride 

 during the period of gestation does the mare no harm, and 

 can hardly fail to imprint upon the future generation an 

 influence for good. 



My personal observation of this has been so striking that 

 I do not hesitate to say a little schooling of this sort may 

 help the future colt more in the part he is to play in the 

 " noble science " than months of schooling after he is old 



