HORSES FOR SMALL HOLDINGS, 51 



animal, as a general rule. In a good farm horse, a com- 

 biuatioji of sufficient powers of draught, with activeness and 

 energetic and quick walking action, is essential in all cases, 

 but horses used for farm work may vary to a considerable 

 extent in regard to tlieir size and weight. 



Horses for Farm Work — In selecting horses for work 

 on fanns or small holdings, the nature of the soil and 

 the conformation of the country should be taken into 

 account to a certain extent. A stiff and heavy clay soil re- 

 quires considerably greater powers of draught in the horses 

 employed in tilling it than a light and shallow soil. Conse- 

 quently, in the case of the former kind of soil, it is necessary 

 that the horses selected should be hei'/y and powerful, and 

 size and weig-ht are the chief consideration. For lisht classes 

 of soils, sucli as sandy loams and chalky lands, a lighter stamp 

 of draught horse is tlie most suitable, and it is undesiral)le 

 that the horses should be very big and weighty, the chief 

 essential in the case being activeness. Tlie more active farm 

 horses are the better, because the more quickly will they 

 get over the ground, but at the same time, the desire to 

 employ active and quick-stepping horses must not lead a 

 person to select animals that lack sufficient weight and power, 

 and are too light for the soil they are recjuired to till. To 

 put the matter briefly, it may be stated that " Heav}^ land 

 requires heavy draught horses, medium land requires medium 

 draught horses, and light land requires light draught horses." 

 It is a bad and uneconomical plan to employ horses that are 

 bigger and weightier than the nature of the soil tilled actually 

 requires, because the bigger and heavier a horse is, the more 

 food does it consume, and the more does it cost to keep. 



Horses for Hilly and FlAt Districts. — As regards 

 the conformation of the country in reference to the selection 

 of horses for farm work, a somewhat lighter and more active 

 stanqo of horse should be selected for a hilly country than for 

 a flat or undulating country. In tilling soil in hilly districts, 

 the horses must possess a considerable degree of agility, in 



K 2 



