110 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



a horse. Most especially must the breeder have an eye to his legs and 

 feet ; for here, if at all, the mule is apt to be a failure — having a horse's 

 body, ready to take on flesh beyond his requirements, mounted on legs 

 that are too slight of bone and too small of muscle, with feet below the 

 standard size for highest usefulness. 



The cut on preceding page is a portrait of a large and powerful Poitou 

 ass, an animal much valued in that district of France for breeding heavy 

 draft mules from cart mares. The one here represented has been de- 

 scribed as being fourteen and one-fourth hands high ; greatest girth, 

 seventy-seven inches ; girth behind the shoulders, sixty-six inches ; length 

 of ear, fifteen inches ; ears, tip to tip across, thirty-two inches ; with 

 hoofs much larger than those of the common ass. Compare him with 

 the small, light ass, now in too common use among us. The differ- 

 ence seems to be almost one of kind ; and with these representations in 

 his mind, no observant stock-grower can be persuaded to put up with a 

 poor pretense of a jack for the ser\ice of his mares. 



As for the treatment of mares that are to be thus bred, no farther 

 directions need be laid down, since it must be substantially the same as 

 that prescribed for the breeding of horse foals. The like instructions 

 relative to weaning, feeding, and sheltering the colt must also be carried 

 out ; and too much importance cannot be attached to beginning early the 

 work of familiarizing him with man. He should be taught to regard his 

 keepers without fear, to allow himself to be haltered, and readily to 

 submit to direction aiUd guidance. If this is done, he will be easily 

 trained, when the proper time shall have arrived ; and if properly handled 

 and judiciously taught then, he will be not only a useful, but a trusty 

 and agreeable animal. 



