16 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. 



panying influences have done much to cause 

 the divergence which now exists in races that 

 were once uniform, selection by the hand of 

 man has also been actively at work, in some 

 cases co-operating with the influences of cli- 

 mate, thereby accelerating the transformation, 

 and in others counteracting its effect. We have 

 an illustration of this in the horses of Canada. 

 It is quite evident that the causes that have 

 given us the tough, shaggy pony of Lower Can- 

 ada, if continued without interruption for a 

 succession of generations, and accelerated by 

 the efforts of breeders in selecting animals for 

 the purpose of reproduction, with the same 

 object constantly in view, would in course of 

 time give us a race as diminutive as the ponies 

 of the Himalaya Mountains or of the Shetland 

 Islands. But this climatic influence has been 

 retarded and counteracted by Canadian breed- 

 ers, who have rejected the smaller specimens 

 for breeding purposes, and have constantly 

 drawn upon the large draft breeds of Europe 

 for fresh crosses. To such an extent has this 

 infusion of fresh blood been carried, especially 

 in Upper Canada, or Ontario, that the influ- 

 ences of climate have been overpowered and 

 the progression during the last twenty-five 

 years has been decidedly in the opposite direc- 

 tion. The efforts of Canadian breeders in this 

 direction have been aided materially by the 



