CHAPTER XLII 

 STALLION LAWS AND REGULATIONS 



While the American horse breeders have produced the 

 fastest trotting and pacing horses in the world, little 

 progress has been made in the draft horse breeding in- 

 dustry. This lack of progress is due, in part at least, to 

 the indifference of breeders in choosing stallions for 

 service, preferring to take their mares to a grade stallion, 

 rather than pay a little higher service fee, or go a 

 greater distance in order to secure the service of a pure- 

 bred stallion of merit. The necessity of some move that 

 will bring about an improvement in the quality of the 

 horses raised on our farms has been realized for some 

 time. Without doubt, France and Belgium, the leading 

 draft horse producing countries of Europe, owe their 

 reputation to the government regulation of stallions 

 offered for public service. This served as a stimulation, 

 and in recent years many of our own states have enacted 

 laws regulating the public service of stallions and jacks, 

 with the hope of raising the general standard of the horse 

 and mule-breeding industry. 



State stallion laws. — The first state law to regulate the 

 standing of stallions and jacks for public service was that 

 of Wisconsin, which went into effect January, 1906. 

 Since then many other states have enacted similar laws. 

 Although each of these laws varies more or less in detail, 

 they have for their chief aims, first, the barring of all 

 stallions and jacks from standing for public service which 

 are affected with any unsoundness or infectious disease; 

 and, second, the providing of a means whereby the public 

 may be able to know for a certainty whether the animals 

 are pure bred or grades. It is claimed that such regula- 

 tions serve as a protection to many, as the average 



430 



