HORSES AND MULES 



309 



breeding mare. These defects or the 

 tendency to develop them, may be inher- 

 ited in the progeny. The farmer should, 

 therefore, take every possible precaution 

 in order to reduce the number of de- 

 fective and misfit colts to a minimum. 

 Besides the defects just mentioned, at- 

 tention should be given to periodic 

 ophthalmia, cataract, "glass eye," St. 

 Vitus's dance, heaves, string halt, broken 

 wind, roaring, navicular disease, skin 

 tumors, curb, sprung knee or hock, calf 

 knee, flat hoof, and too upright pasterns. 

 No aborting mare should be bred nor 

 stallion with maladie du coit or venereal 

 disease. 



Coarse hair on the sides of the legs 

 indicates spongy bone and a pre-disposi- 

 tion to grease heel and lymphangitis. 

 The hoof is a very important point in 

 breeding horses. The horse can't work 

 without good hoofs, and, in general, his 



and the right kind of food, but is to be 

 protected so far as possible against flies, 

 severe storms and other conditions which 

 may affect the animal unfavorably. 

 While the adequate nutrition of breed- 

 ing animals is a necessary prerequisite 

 to the best results, all breeders know, 

 that neither the mare nor the stallion 

 should be too fat. It is unfortunate thai 

 the exhibition standard seems to require 

 the overfat condition. Fat develops 

 around the reproductive organs in both 

 sexes and tends to sterility or at least to 

 weakness of progeny. Over-feeding con- 

 stitutes a drain on the vital powers and 

 particularly on digestion. 



Unlike steers and swine, horses are 

 not fed simply to get increase of weight. 

 Horses must produce energy. The feeds 

 which cause a large accumulation of fat 

 do not contribute sufficiently to the vigor 

 of the animal. The excess of fat 13 



Fig. 222 BROOD MARES AND COLTS AT IOWA AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 



wearing qualities and period of useful- 

 ness depend directly and primarily upon 

 the quality of his hoofs. The quality 

 of the hoof is a matter which is largely 

 determined by breeding. The character 

 of the feed and soil also exert an in- 

 fluence. Bran, oats, barley and other 

 nitrogenous feeds are necessary to the 

 best development of hoofs. For this 

 reason, corn should not constitute the 

 chief grain feed for the young and grow- 

 ing colt. Geological conditions may also 

 exercise some influence upon the growth 

 and soundness of the hoof. Swampy 

 land, with succulent vegetation and 

 "flat," mineral-free water is unfavorable 

 to the production of dense, tough, good- 

 wearing hoof horn. 



"The well-born but incompletely nour- 

 ished colt fails to develop and at ma- 

 turity is no less a weed than the ordinary 

 scrub or native animal." The develop- 

 ing colt is not only to be fed enough 



merely a burden and must be trained off 

 before the stallion loses the flabbiness of 

 muscle and gets into good condition. 

 Neither brood mares nor stallions should 

 be underfed or in a half-starved condi- 

 tion at the time of breeding. Exercise 

 or a reasonable amount of work is good 

 for both sire and dam. On the farm 

 they may be worked without unfavor- 

 ably affecting their fecundity. 



The mixed breeding indulged in by 

 many farmers is by no means always due 

 to carelessness or indifference on their 

 part. In some neighborhoods it is prac- 

 tically impossible to obtain the same 

 breed of stallion for service year after 

 year. Alexander calls attention to the 

 fact that often after a good start has 

 been made in the process of grading up 

 in a given neighborhood, the stallions 

 used up to that time may be taken away. 

 In such an emergency, some farmers use 

 a grade stallion or one of a different 



