224 The House Imdistuy i\ New Yoim< State 



There is one thing the eastern farmer should take into con- 

 sideration when he is figuring the cost of his horse. When an 

 animal is bought from the West, there is always an element of 

 risk that has to be figured in the deal, that the eastern farmer 

 has to pay for when he purchases. 



There is also some risk after the animal is taken to the farm — 

 he has to be acclimated. In other words, he is usually not at his 

 best the first season, and frequently the buyer is not fully satis- 

 fied with his purchase. This could be eliminated by the farmers 

 growing their own horses. 



Another point that is of still greater moment : for a man to get 

 the greatest possible service from a horse at the least amount of 

 risk, he must be thoroughly acquainted with the animal. He 

 must know his peculiarities, just as one must be thoroughly 

 acquainted with a man to fully appreciate him. 



o^B beco:mes attached to a horse raised ox the farm 



Again, one becomes attached to a horse raised on the farm, and 

 will give him better care. The horse, in turn, will be in shape to 

 render moTe and better service. When one goes out and buys a 

 horse on the market he is very apt to think of him and use him 

 as a machine rather than an animal. 



There is no other farm animal that has such an influence over 

 the farmer and his children growing up as the really good horse 

 raised on the farm. Good horses have kept more than one man 

 on the farm when he has been tempted to move to town. Hun- 

 dreds of boys that have now grown to manhood, were they to give 

 their life history, would say that no one factor had so much to 

 do with holding them on the farm as the horses. The writer is 

 one of these. The good horse is what kept him on the farm when 

 he was tempted to leave — not the horse bought and brought on 

 the farm, but the horse grown on the far.m — the horse his own 

 hands had fed and cared for. If we are desirous of having the 

 boys stay on the old farm, get them a good matched pair of mares 

 of quality. It will do more than any amount of persuasion on 

 our part, and at the same time will stop a big leakage in the 

 operating expense of the farm — buying horses from the West. 



