The Best House for the Fakmeu to Bkeed 135 



ordinary farm luares weighing from 1,200 to 1,400 pounds, the 

 resulting foals, if properly fed in their youth, have every right to 

 attain a poundage considerably greater than they have as a rule 

 developed. 



IMPOETANCE OF PKOl'Eli FEEDING EARLY IX LIFE 



The American farmer, however, has with few exceptions failed 

 to recognize the necessity for feeding his young horses well during 

 their first two seasons -^ especially during the first. Hence the 

 generalized use of the pure-hred draft stallion has given us the 

 chunk as the commonest of all the horses bred on the farms of 

 this country. 



Feed is the great determining factor so far as the horse of 

 draft blood is concerned. I was the first to formulate the now 

 well-understood postulate that a horse makes one-half or more 

 than one-half of his ultimate growth during the first year of his 

 life, and hence any breeder who wishes to rear horses of true 

 draft size must not only use the right sort of parent stock, but 

 must have his foals weighing from 1,000 to 1,200 pounds when 

 365 days old. In just so far as that mark is missed will the 

 animalfall short of being a real drafter. Proverbially averse to 

 feeding their foals grain while sucking their dams, and with 

 any decent liberality during the ensuing six months of cold 

 weather, most foals l^y draft stallions out of common farm mares 

 weigh from 600 to 800 pounds at one year old, and not much more 

 at two years than they should have weighed at one, if true draft 

 size had been the object sought. That is why we have never 

 raised more heavy horses — the farmers have not fed the foals 

 and yearlings so as to develop a sufficient avoirdupois. They 

 have not, in the main, desired very heavy horses either to work 

 on their land or to sell. 



UNIFORMITY OF TYPE AND SIZE DESIRABLE 



It follows then that if the great majority of our most useful 

 horses have come to us in this manner, resulting from the use 

 of big stallions on smaller mares and an insufficient scheme of 

 feeding, there is room for an effort to supply this chunk of uni- 

 form shape, size and excellence. Personally I have watched the 



