270 MANAGEMENT AND BREEDING OF HORSES 



to insure a living foal, the farmer being given his choice. 

 To get at the relative value of these propositions we -will 

 consider some data compiled by Sanders which, accord- 

 ing to our own observations, seem to be approximately 

 correct. This data was obtained from the German studs, 

 in. which 1,000 stallions served 42,000 mares, with re- 

 sults as follows : 



per cent. 



Mares served 100.0 



Mares in foal 67.7 



Live foals dropped 53.3 



Mares aborted and miscarried 4.8 



Mares dying or missing 9.6 , 



According to this table a stallion will make as much 

 money for his owner by standing at $io for a service as 

 he will at $15 to insure the mare in foal, or at $20 to in- 

 sure a living foal. These sums are approximate, and 

 they serve as a very good guide in deciding which of the 

 three conditions to accept when they are optional with 

 the farmer. 



Lien laws. — Many of the states now have laws grant- 

 ing a lien on mare and foal, resulting from the services 

 of a properly recorded and advertised stallion. These 

 laws make the mare or foal, or both, holden for the 

 service fee. These laws differ widely in the various 

 states and the horse breeder should become familiar with 

 the provisions made by the statutes of his own state. 

 The wording of some of these statutes is not clear, and 

 in such cases the advice of a lawyer should be sought. 



Soundness. — Both sire and dam should be free from all 

 forms of unsoundness or diseases that are hereditary, 

 transmissable or communicable to the offspring. While 

 absolutely perfect animals can rarely, if ever, be found, 

 and few horse breeders can afford to reject breeding 

 stock for small and unimportant defects, yet not until 

 both mare and stallion are free from unsoundness can 

 we hope to raise the excellency of our horses to the 



