110 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. 



and a " four-minute horse" could have beaten 

 her. Both endurance and procreative power 

 are largely matters of condition, and draft-horse 

 breeders seldom have their horses in that con- 

 dition which is favorable to great excellence in 

 either. For the reputation which has, to some 

 extent, attached to them as soft and unable to 

 stand up under hard work, and as being rather 

 uncertain foal-getters, the breeders of these 

 horses have only to thank their own pernicious 

 system of extravagantly high feeding; and un- 

 less they abandon or considerably modify their 

 practice in this regard the reputation of all our 

 draft breeds is likely to suffer still further. Lib- 

 eral, and even generous feeding, with plenty of 

 exercise, is essential to perfect development; 

 but feeding horses as we do hogs or steers, 

 merely with a view to adding so many pounds 

 to their weight, is a pernicious custom and 

 should be condemned. 



A well-informed writer in the North British 

 Agriculturist some years ago animadverted very 

 severely upon this pernicious system of over- 

 feeding, which prevails in Great Britain to even 

 a greater extent than in this country; and his 

 remarks are so pertinent that I quote from the 

 article as follows: 



The number of useful horses sacrificed to forcing and feed- 

 ing- for show and sale appears to be on the increase alike in 

 England and Scotland. Old Citadel, and other frequent 

 prize-winners among thoroughbreds, hunters, and cobs stand 



