THE GENESEE FARMER. 



lY 



j.mt to a horse of inferior stamp to herself. Thas, 

 with little or no trouble or cost, a class of mares is 

 in the hands of Yorkshire farmers which elsewhere it 

 would require much expense and research to gain. 

 With but little of outwai-d show to recommend tlicm, 

 tliey breed exceUeut huntei-s, when put to a suitable 

 thorough-bred horse; whereas mares of similai- aj> 

 pearauce in other comitries would only produce stock 

 fit for harness — if, indeed, they were good for any- 

 thing. The reason is, that in the latter case the ciul 

 or other inferior crosses would reiij^pear, and thus 

 bafHe the calculations of the breeders. 



Perhaps mares such as the Yorkshire farmers use 

 are, on the whole, the safest for the agiiculturist to 

 breed from. Although not so high bred as some 

 otlici's, they are less expensive to purchase, and re- 

 quire less judgment in their choice than those of a 

 more ambitious character. They possess one reconi- 

 niendatiou which the farmer should never lose sight 

 of — I mean power. Let his object be to produce a 

 a colt which, if it fails as a hunter, will be useful in 

 harness; or, if some accident should unfit him for fast 

 •work, will at any rate take his share of work on the 

 farm. 1 know no better test of success than this, viz., 

 that the colt which loses a portion of its conventional 

 value, should yet retain its real usefulness. Always 

 make strong, well-set-on forelegs a primary object. 

 They should be placed forward, so as to be an effi- 

 cient support to the animal; and the shoulder ought 

 to stand backward, in order to allow the legs liberty 

 of action ; but it must be somewhat round and full, 

 not thin and confined, which some pereons conceive to 

 be a fine shoulder. Never breed from either mare or 

 stalUon with a decidedly bad shoulder. An animal 

 may dispense with almost every other point of excel- 

 lence, and yet be of some value; but if it has a bad 

 shoulder, it bears so thoroughly tJie stamp of worth- 

 lessness, that nothing else can make amends for this 

 fundamental malformation. If your mare is tolerable 

 in her shoulders, but not very good, endeavor to find 

 a stallion which is jjarticularly excellent in this res- 

 pect. The forelegs and shoulders being right, action 

 usually follows. But this being a very important 

 point, do not take it for granted, but subject it to 

 your strictest scrutiny. For my oyvn part, I almost 

 think as highly of action in a horse as Demosthenes 

 did of it in reference to an orator; at any rate, not 

 even the most fabulous combination of beauty, breed- 

 ing, temper and shape, would induce me to buy a 

 horse which did not possess it. 



The foot ought to be taken up straight, by a grace- 

 ful bend of the knee, and set down again flat, with- 

 out any deviation either outwards or inwards. The 

 most common faults of action are a sort of shovelling- 

 movement forwards, with the knees almost straight, 

 and a sideways motion, either outwards or inwards, 

 with one or both feet. But it is quite possible for 

 the knee to be too much bent, and the foot to be ap- 

 parently pushed backwards when taken up instead of 

 forwards, thus causing it to be set down too near the 

 place wdience it w^as raised. Objectionable, however, 

 as such stand-still action may be in a hack, I should 

 prefer it in a brood-mare to the opposite defect. The 

 great reason why action in the mare is so essential is, 

 that she having the roadster blood ought to supply 

 't; whereas, it is not always possible to find it m a 



stallion; it is, indeed, very rare to see a thorough 

 bred horse whose action is such as would be desiror 

 ble in the park hack, the roadster or the hunter. 

 The racing man cares not, provided his horse's head 

 is first seen at the winning-post, in what form he 

 moves his forelegs. The qualities which win fame for 

 the racer are speed, endm-tmce, and pluck. The con- 

 formation most conducive to speed uepends more on 

 the back, loins and hindlegs than on the forelegs; it 

 is therefore by no means uncommon to find horses, 

 wiiose performances on the turf have been above me- 

 diocrity, with forelegs such as would not wear for 

 three uionlhs on the road, and with action such as no 

 man would willingly endm'e in his hack or his hunter. 

 Thorough-bred horses, with every point such as the 

 breeder would desire, combining power and beauty, 

 equally excellent in their forelegs, then' ribs, and their 

 hindlegs, are not to be met with in every neighbor- 

 hood, and even when found will seldom cover half- 

 bred mares at all, and then only at exhorbitaut prices. 

 These are the magnates of the stud, which will not 

 condescend to mates of descent less illustrious than 

 their own. If, then, you cannot secure their services, 

 you must avail yom-self of the best within your reacL 

 Supposing your mare has the forelegs of the action 

 which I have recommended, you may safely jjut her 

 to a horse which has tolerable forelegs, provided he 

 is in general power, in pedigree, and in performance 

 such as you desire. I mentioned in a former letter 

 that I once put some mares of my own to " Tomboy;" 

 his forelegs were by no means first-rate, and his front 

 action was decidedly scrambHng and bad; but my 

 mares being excellent in both those points, their stock 

 showed no traces there of their sire's deficiency. To 

 breed colts with bad forelegs and insufBcient bone, is 

 to encumber your land with stock neither useful noi 

 saleable. With mares of first-rate excellence in that 

 respect, you greatly extend the range of stallions 

 which it is safe to put to them. 



I shall not enlarge upon other points of the mare 

 in detail, for the reason that their selection may in 

 general be left to the discretion of the breeder; and 

 also, because there are many of them which in prac- 

 tice will be more frequently supplied by the horse 

 than the mare. I must say, however, that I should 

 not like to breed from a mare with a bad head or a 

 small eye. Natm-al soundness, especially in the feet, 

 is very important, and so is good temper. With 

 mares, as with cows and ewes, there is a certain char- 

 acter difiScult to describe, but which the experienced 

 breeder knows by instinct, as belonging to those likely 

 to produce good stock. It is not the largest, or the 

 most showy, but those which have a certain refine- 

 ment of form, and a gracefulness of outhne (which 

 are as characteristic of the well-bred female as power 

 and muscle are of the male,) which will most faith- 

 fully reflect in their offspring then- own merits, and 

 those of its sire. Many a large, showy mare, on the 

 contrary, will be provokingly uncertain in her pro- 

 duce; one year biinging a foal as much undersize as 

 next year it is overgrown. Such a mare ought to be 

 discarded as soon as possible. 



By observing the course which I have recommen- 

 ded, farmers who exercise ordinary judgment will 

 make as safe an investment as they would in the 

 breeding of any other kind of stock. Their colts will 



