STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 97 



lessened. He may possess all the good points 

 above enumerated, and yet be so deficient in 

 energy and so heavy and sluggish in his move- 

 ments as to come very far short of a perfect draft 

 horse. Each of these qualities being desirable, 

 it follows that the horse possessing all of them 

 in the highest degree is the most desirable one. 

 I do not propose to enter into a discussion as 

 to the comparative merits of the various draft 

 breeds. All have crossed kindly with our native 

 mares, and all have marked substantial im- 

 provement, at least in the size of our draft stock, 

 and some of the very best results in the pro- 

 duction of work horses have been attained by 

 a commingling of the blood of two or more of 

 these imported strains. 



I do not believe it is possible that a horse can 

 be bred which will combine all the desirable 

 qualities; the horse-of-all work is a myth* that 

 cannot be realized. The general farmer needs 

 a horse that combines a good degree of both 

 action and weight, but the horse that suits him 

 is not the heavy draft horse that is required in 

 the trucks and drays of our cities. On the 

 other hand, there has always been, and always 

 will be, an active demand for road horses, with 

 speed, style, docility and endurance as the qual- 

 ities principally sought after, but too light for 

 general farm work. Each of these types it will 

 pay to breed, just as it pays to raise the various 



