418 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. Book HI. 



idea can be more erroneous either, than the too common one of breeding 

 a good hunter from a blood-stallion tind a cart-mare ; nor can anything 

 be more ridiculous than to suppose that the qualities of each will be so 

 equally blended in their offspring as to constitute a happy medium 

 between both, thus producing a colt in which the speed and liveliness 

 of the sire shall be combined with the strength and endurance of the 

 dam. On the contrary, we shall see a perceptible degeneracy in these 

 respects ; the mongrel breed rarely possessing in any considerable 

 degree the power or size of the one, or the spirit, activity, and fine 

 bone of the other, but rather exaggerating the defects of both parents. 



It frequently occurs that horses, as well as other domesticated 

 animals, breed back, not to the sire and dam, but to some remote 

 ancestor of the stock, by which accident some old defect, that was 

 supposed to have been got rid of, is unexpectedly revived. This, 

 which is known as atavism, is more commonly observable in breeds 

 that have been crossed than in those in which the original blood has 

 been preserved pure. It is therefore advisable, when the mare has any 

 good points, to select a stallion as similar as possible in form, for then 

 it will be probable that the foal will possess them in still greater 

 perfection. 



The horses passing under the denomination of hunters, and the 

 common crosses for roadsters and hacks, can by no means prove so 

 generally profitable to the breeders as when they confine themselves to 

 one particular stock. When all contingencies are taken into considera- 

 tion, the length of time the colts are obliged to be kept on hand and 

 maintained the unavoidable difficulties and dangers of the serious 

 operations of cutting, breaking, backing, docking, and nicking, and the 

 fickleness of taste in purchasers, where as much depends on appear- 

 ance as real merit, this branch of breeding must be attended with 

 much uncertainty. Independently of these general considerations, it 

 must be borne in mind that different counties differ much in the 

 circumstances that render breeding profitable ; l and that in many, 

 horses of size, and other desirable qualities, cannot be produced 

 without incurring an expense amounting to more than their real 

 value. Therefore, our advice is, breed animals best adapted to the 

 locality they are destined for, and breed from the soundest and best 

 you can command. 



A brood mare having been obtained, corresponding in size, frame, 

 bone, and strength with the ideas of the breeder, and found, upon 

 careful examination, to be perfectly free from natural blemishes and 

 defects, the choice of a stallion becomes an object of attention. In him 

 should centre all the points and qualities that it is possible for a good 

 horse to possess ; for, notwithstanding the influence of the mare on the 

 constitution and nervous system generally, the produce, whether male 

 or female, much more frequently acquires and retains the shape, make, 

 marks, and external conformation of the sire than of the dam. This 

 justifies us in rejecting stallions with the slightest appearance of 



1 See John Sebright's Essay on the Improvement of the Breeds of Domestic Animals, 

 pp. 11 to 14 ; and Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. ii., p. 185. 



