CHAPTER XXV 

 PRINCIPLES OF HORSE BREEDING 



The development of the various breeds of horses dates 

 back to the middle of the eighteenth century. About 

 1760, Robert Bakewell assumed the management of the 

 estate on which his father and grandfather had resided 

 at Dishley Grange, Leicestershire, England. Young 

 Bakewell conceived the idea that he had only to select 

 the most valuable strains, such as promised the greatest 

 returns to the breeder, and that he should then, by care- 

 ful attention to progressive improvement, be able to 

 produce a breed from which he could derive the maxi- 

 mum advantage. He made excursions into different 

 parts of England, in order to inspect the different breeds 

 and to select those best adapted to his purpose. In this 

 study Bakewell separated the characters of form, func- 

 tion, quality, as well as propensity to fatten, consider- 

 ing them as his units of selection. Thus Bakewell recog- 

 nized the two cardinal principles of animal improvement 

 — similar produces similar, and the form bears a close 

 relationship to the function — based upon which he orig- 

 inated a system which has resulted in the development 

 of our specialized breeds of horses. 



VARIATION IN HORSES 



Variation is the basis of improvement among all farm 

 animals. If characters were absolutely fixed and un- 

 changeable, then no improvement could be secured. The 

 size of the draft horse could neither be increased nor 

 diminished, and the speed of the trotter would remain 

 constant from generation to generation. Thus the off- 

 spring would be no better, or poorer, than the parent. 



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