GENERAL RULES. 37 



All, therefore, tliat the breeder has to do in this instance is, 

 to satisfy himself that the horse is really tliorough-hred — 

 that is to say, traceable on both sides of his pedigree to 

 English stud-book race-horses — and that he has the virtues 

 and has not the defects of form which have been previously 

 subjects of discussion. Next to this, there must be a har- 

 mony in the size, and, to some extent, in the forms of the 

 animals. The putting small mares to gigantic horses, or 

 colossal mares to ponies, in order to give size to the off- 

 spring, will never answer, but, on the contrary, will result 

 in the production of rickety, mal-formed produce. The 

 mare, as it has been said, may be with advantage some- 

 thing larger, longer, and more roomy than the horse, but 

 not too much so. 



We should say, a mare of sixteen hands, and propor- 

 tionate strength, should never be put to a stallion under 

 fifteen hands, and from thence up to fifteen and two inches ; 

 nor a mare over sixteen hands to one short of fifteen and 

 a half, up to fifteen, three, hands. Still less should little 

 mares be put to tall horses, or low mares to leggy horses, 

 in order to give height. If the brood mare be low, but 

 long and roomy, it is no bad fault ; but the way to give 

 size to the progeny is to select, not a tall or leggy horse 

 for the stallion, but one of singularly perfect symmetry, 

 not much higher than the dam, — though an inch or two 

 inches will do no harm, provided he be not long in the 

 legs especially from the knee downward, — short-backed, 

 close-coupled, and generally strong built — particularly so 

 in those points where the mare is the most defective. 



We stated above that there is no greater blunder than 

 to breed an animal rickety and defective in one point, to 

 another imperfect in that point, or even unduly developed 

 in it, with the expectation of curing both defects in the 

 progeny. One often, however, sees both mares and horses, 



