A GOOD HORSE 19 



short backs, good shoulders, limbs, and feet, and 

 well-developed hind-quarters — stood up better 

 and lasted longer under their work than the 

 others; and this, too, was often irrespective of 

 size. But that breeders did not realize this — or, 

 what is more likely, that they often sacrificed 

 points to mere size — was evident. For the city 

 was willing to pay good prices for its stock and 

 our horses were selected with care, and yet a large 

 percentage were too long in the back and too up- 

 right in the shoulder; a great many had rather 

 poor feet. With a greater range in regard to 

 size these defects could, to a large extent, have 

 been avoided, but our work called for heavy teams 

 and we rarely bought a horse weighing less than 

 sixteen hundred pounds. 



It is in the power of man to breed horses large 

 or small and of either a good or a bad conforma- 

 tion. But he greatly errs who is careless in the 

 latter respect or who argues that good points are 

 not always important, whatever the type. For 

 good points were not the invention of man, but 

 were learned by him through centuries of use and 

 study of the horse. They are based upon the 

 mechanism of the animal and were first decided 

 upon by One whose judgment does not err and 

 whose wisdom, whether in matters of horseflesh or 

 otherwise, we cannot question. 



