196 TffJS HORSE 



better and presumably a higher -priced male, since he 

 had learned to progressively and logically unite better 

 blood, better food, better quarters, kindness and 

 selection, harmoniously, giving to each factor its 

 appropriate place and value. Evolution does not go 

 forward by leaps and bounds, but by slow, almost 

 imperceptible changes from generation to generation. 

 The breeder of domestic animals would do well to follow 

 Nature's modes of action. 



So far, the selection from the offspring has been dis- 

 cussed, but of quite as much importance is the selection 

 of the parents through which, in part, the betterment of 

 the offspring is to be secured. If it is desired to secure 

 offspring which when mature will reach sixteen hands, 

 the result would be reached far more certainly by 

 breeding a *female of fifteen and a half hands to 

 a male sixteen and one -fourth hands high, than by 

 breeding a female of fourteen hands to a male seventeen 

 hands high. The progeny of animals radically different 

 is seldom satisfactory. It is better to take two or three 

 generations in which to attain the standard than to 

 attempt to reach it at once by breeding very small and 

 very large animals together. At the beginning, judi- 

 cious selection is of prime importance. The one great 

 mistake in horse-breeding is that of breeding large 

 stallions to small mares; that is, little pains is taken to 

 select such females as give promise of uniting harmo- 

 niously in the offspring with the blood of the male to 

 which they are bred. It all comes to this, that moder- 

 ate variations through generations produce qualities 

 which are likely to be permanent and potent. 



