THOUGHTS 



ON GENERAL BREEDING. 



Now in relation to breeding for general purposes, that is to say 

 to breeding the general horse, with a view to profit, on the part 

 of the breeder, and to practical utility and the improvement of 

 the horse-stock of the country at large, I shall proceed to give a 

 few brief suggestions, and experiences of my own. And first, I 

 shall lay down two axioms, which I consider to be as self-evi- 

 dent, as it is that the nearest line between two points is a right 

 line ; and those who cannot adopt them with me, will, I fear, 

 find nothing that they will admire, or that will be of use to them, 

 in what follows. They are these — 



First. That the excellence of any and every breed of horse, 

 and of every individual horse, consists in his possession of the 

 greatest attainable degree of pure thorough blood, directly trace- 

 able to Barb, Arab or Turk, that is compatible with the weight, 

 bulk, and strength, in hauling, required for the purposes, for 

 which the horse is intended. 



Second. That to be of advantage, the pure blood must come 

 chiefly from the sire's, not from the dam's, side. 



This second axiom or rule, is a deduction from no theory, or 

 set of principles, but a fact proved by the breeding experience 

 of ages. However pure the blood of the dam, if she be stinted 

 to an animal of inferior blood, the progeny will be inferior to — 

 what they should be — the half-blood. 



French physiologists opine, not without strong reasons for 

 their faith, that the pure female animal, once impregnated by 

 an inferior male, from some unknown impression on her nervous 



