44 THE HORSE 



same type as the stallion; difference in size does 

 not matter very much, as long as the type is rea- 

 sonably similar — though, of course, the difference 

 should not be excessive. It is only when the two 

 parents are somewhat alike in type and points 

 that they assimilate nicely and the points of one 

 are modified or strengthened, as the case may be, 

 by those of the other. It is in this way that good 

 points are fixed and perpetuated and along no 

 other road can much progress be made in breed- 

 ing. The folly, therefore, of mating extremes, in 

 the hope that the good points of one will offset 

 the bad points of the other, should be apparent ; if 

 a weedy, long-backed, and loosely put-up mare be 

 bred to a very chunky and compact stallion — her 

 exact opposite in type — the resulting foal is very 

 rarely a happy medium between the two; sym- 

 metrical, well-proportioned animals are not pro- 

 duced in that way. 



And, likewise, if both parents have good points, 

 the mating of extremes is unwise ; it would be fool- 

 ish, for instance, to breed a thoroughbred mare 

 to a draft stallion or a heavy draft mare to a 

 thoroughbred stallion — although, if we are to 

 choose between evils, the latter is the less objec- 

 tionable of the two. 



Some years ago a farmer came to me with a 

 mare that he wanted to breed. I had three stal- 



