192 STABLE MANUAL AND HORSE DOCTOR 



CHAPTER XIV 



BREEDING FOR GENERAL PURPOSES 



It is proven that in respect of diseases there are few which 

 affect either of the parents constitutionally that the foal 

 will not inherit, or, at leasfc, a predisposition to them. 

 Even the consequences of ill usuage or hard work will be 

 entailed in the progeny. We have proof upon proof that 

 blindness, roaring, thick wind, broken wind, spavins, curbs, 

 ring-bones, and founder, have been bequeathed, both by 

 the sire and the dam, to the offspring. It should likewise 

 be recollected that, although these blemishes may not 

 appear in the immediate progeny, they frequently will 

 in the next generation. Hence the necessity of some 

 knowledge of the parentage both of sire and dam. 



Peculiarity of form and constitution will also be 

 inherited. This is a most important consideration ; for 

 however desirable, or even perfect, may have been the 

 conformation of the sire, every good point may be 

 neutralijied or lost by the defective form, or want of blood, 

 of the mare. When breeders are careful that the essential 

 points should be good in both parents, and that some 

 minor defect in either shall be met, and got rid of, by 

 excellence in that particular point in the other, the result 

 is creditable to their judgment, and highly profitable. The 

 unskilful or careless breeder will often so badly pair the 

 animals, that the good points of each will be in a manner 

 lost, the defects of both will be increased, and the produce 

 will be far inferior to both sire and dam. 



That the constitution and endurance of the horse are 

 inherited, no sporting man ever doubted. The qualities 

 of the sire or the dam descend from generation to 

 generation, and the excellencies or defects of certain horses 

 are traced, and justly so, to some peculiarity in a far 

 distant ancestor. 



In breeding the half- or three-quarter-bred horse, 

 different men go on different principles. The generality 

 put a half-bred mare to a thoroughbred sire, a mode that 

 is mostly attended with the best success. Some use the 

 thoroughbred mare and half-bred sire, while others breed 

 from sire and dam half or three-quarters bred. In several 



