10 GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF 



in their selection. The main principle in 

 stock-breeding is to insure that any defective 

 point in one parent shall be compensated 

 by a corresponding excellence of that point 

 in the other; and it should be remembered 

 that a deficiency is more likely to be made 

 good when not only the alternative parent, 

 but the strain from which it comes, has 

 excelled in that particular point. 



With regard to the age at which horses 

 should be allowed to breed, it stands to reason 

 that the most vigorous, and therefore the 

 most useful, foals are to be expected from 

 parents in the prime of life; but what this 

 is depends very much upon the way in 

 which they have been treated, particularly 

 when young. The general impression as to 

 horses' ages is, I cannot help thinking, an 

 erroneous one. How often do we hear of 

 horses alluded to (generally, it must be 

 admitted, by the inexperienced, but some- 

 times by persons who, one would think. 



