536 A HISTORY OF THE PERCHKE80N HORSE 



ally disinfected. Arrange the quarters, if possible, 

 SO that the oolts may go in or out at will, except 

 in stormy weather, when a gate may be used to 

 keep them within shelter, where they will be out 

 of drafts but supplied with an abundance of fresh 

 air. If the gate to the shelter opens out on several 

 acres of grassland where the colts may play tag and 

 nibble a little lunch between their two regular daily 

 feeds of grain, there will be some very happy and 

 probably very profitable colts. And profitable colts 

 are the controlling and compelling argument in favor 

 of the use of draft mares on the farm. ' ' 



A. L. Robison & Son. — From this firm we have the 

 subjoined remarks touching the management of 

 mares and foals: 



"At the outset it may be said that the man who 

 would succeed in the management of Percheron 

 mares and foals must have mares of correct pattern, 

 and they must all be of that one pattern. The more 

 nearly they are alike in bloodlines the better, and 

 they must be mated with a sire of the same type 

 that has likewise descended from an ancestral line 

 of which he is a typical specimen. It -is a thankless 

 task wasting good feed and faithful care on mares 

 and foals that do not resemble some one definite 

 standard. The greatest mistake young breeders 

 make is in picking mares here and there that strike 

 the fancy. Years later they may awake to the fact 

 that the diverse types or uncongenial bloodlines, or 

 likely both, have foiled their attempts to produce 

 such colts and fillies as the breed needs. With a 

 foundation uniform both in pattern and ancestry 

 one is assured that the offspring will be of the same 

 sort. Then there is the foundation on which skillful 

 feeding and care will build finished horses that are 

 a monument to competent management. 



