34 The Horse Farrier. 



majority have been of medium size. Shortness of legs 

 with compactness of form is indispensable to great 

 endurance. The size of the muscles of a horse, other 

 things being equal, determines his power. In selecting 

 a stallion, aim to get one that excells in the points that 

 the mare is deficient in, and you wish to avoid in the 

 offspring. Let him exhibit courage and endurance, rath- 

 er than speed. No one stallion is best adapted to all 

 mares ; determine, with a matured judgment, which 

 class of animals your mare is best calculated to produce, 

 whether a roadster, coach horse, or draught animal, 

 and having determined this, use a stallion best cal- 

 culated to produce the thing reasonably expected, 

 bearing in mind the rule that " Like will produce 

 like." Breeding, to be successful, must be a matter of 

 study. One point, says Youatt, is, absolutely essential, 

 it is " compactness" — as much goodness and strength 

 as possible, condensed into a little space. 



Next to compactness, the inclination of the shoulder 

 will be regarded. A huge stallion, with upright 

 shoulders, never got a capital hunter or hackney. 

 From him the breeder can obtain nothing but a cart 

 or dray horse, and that, perhaps, spoiled by the op- 

 posite form of the mare. On the other hand, an up- 

 right shoulder is desirable, if not absolutely necessary, 

 when a mere slow draught-horse is required. 



The condition of the stallion, is too often over- 

 looked by the most of our farmers. By condition is not 

 meant a high state of fatness, but on the contrary, it 

 indicates the greatest health and strength, reducing 

 all superfluous fat, bringing the flesh into clear, hard, 



