THE HORSE : ITS KEEP AND MANAGEMENT. I03 



go over at knee. I have seen small cart mares fairly 

 free from hair upon the legs trot like a pony, and when 

 such animals as these are put with thorough-bred horses it is 

 wonderful what colts they throw. Some of the best nags 

 and hackneys are bred from a light cart mare and a 

 thorough-bred horse. The only difficulty is they are 

 sometimes a little wide in the jaw bone. Occasionally too, 

 they are rather wide across the hips and hind quarters, 

 showing a little too much of the mother, but this is not 

 always the case. If they are bred from again with a good 

 hackney they will throw some splendid stock. 



I find many small farmers who have only two or three 

 horses make a great mistake. If they want to breed from a 

 mare, and they can get a horse lent them to put with her 

 for about 30/- or jP^2 they will at once say that is the 

 horse for their mare. But if they are asked ^5 5s. for 

 a good animal they say it is too much. This is a great 

 mistake. In nine cases out of ten, when bred from 

 thorough-bred horses, if the colts were sold at six years 

 old they would make from ^10 to ^20 more than when 

 an ordinary horse is used. At the same time it would 

 not cost i/- more to keep them. I am pleased to say 

 farmers appear to be waking up to this fact more than 

 they did a few years ago, and do not seem to mind paying 

 a little more money as long as they can get a horse to suit 

 their mare. 



Now it sometimes happens that a gentleman gets 

 hold of an extraordinarily good mare, which has plenty of 

 pluck and durability, and the owner feels no money would 



