CHOICE OF STALLION. 21 



shape, temper, soundness and constitution, than it is in any 

 other of the horse family. 



To breed from a small horse with, the hope of getting a 

 large colt; from a long-backed, leggy horse, with the hope 

 of getting a short, compact, powerful one ; from a broken- 

 winded, or blind, or flat-footed, or spavined, or ringboned, 

 or navicular-joint-diseased horse, with the hope of getting 

 a sound one ; from a vicious horse, a cowardly horse, — 

 what is technically called a dunghill, — with the hope of 

 getting a kind-tempered and brave one ; all or any of these 

 would be the height of folly. The blood sire (and 

 the blood should always be on the sire's side) should be, 

 for the farmer-breeder's purposes, of medium height, say 

 16 2 hands high, short-backed, well -ribbed up, short in 

 the saddle-place, long below. He should have high with- 

 ers, broad loins, broad chest, a straight rump, — the converse 

 of what is often seen in trotters, and known as the goose 

 rump ; a high and muscular, but not beefy crest ; a lean, 

 bony, well-set-on head ; a clear, bright, smallish, well- 

 placed eye ; broad nostrils and small ears. His fore legs 

 should be as long and as muscular as possible above the 

 knee, and his hind legs above the hock, and as lean, short 

 and bony as possible below those joints. The bones can- 

 not by any means be too flat, too clear of excrescences, or 

 too large. The sinews should be clear, straight, firm, and 

 hard to the touch. From such a horse, where the breeder 

 can find one, and from a well-chosen mare (she may be a 

 little larger, more bony, more roomy, and in every way 

 coarser than the horse, to the advantage of the stock), 

 sound, healthy and well-limbed, he may be certain, acci- 

 dents and contingencies set aside, of raising an animal that 

 will be creditable to him as a scientific stock breeder, and 

 profitable to him in a pecuniary sense. 



