892 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



a long time, her locomotory apparatus will have become 

 specially developed, while the generative organs are certain 

 to have atrophied more or less from inaction, and it is open 

 to doubt if they can ever be developed to the same extent 

 as they would have been if she had produced a foal at an 

 earlier age. The thoroughbred mares, Signorina and La 

 Fleche, will serve as instances of this liability to disappoint- 

 ment. Very high feeding also, over an extended period, 

 undoubtedly militates against success at the stud. In the 

 case of the successful show female, we think the unhealthy 

 forcing to which they are subjected is chiefly to blame, 

 especially if long continued. 



This forcing of show animals until they arrive at an 

 actually diseased state of fatness is a source of great 

 damage to many of the best representatives of all breeds, 

 and it is a great pity that something cannot be done to 

 check it. 



Almost every breeder of experience will be able to cite 

 cases of exceptionally prepotent females, and in most cases 

 we think it will be found that they are not above medium 

 size and show a great deal of quality. We do not regard 

 size in itself as a disadvantage in a female, but it is seldom 

 associated with sufficient width, roominess, and quality, and 

 any tendency to coarseness or legginess should be avoided, 

 as such animals are scarcely ever a success at the stud. 



Another question on which we must touch, and on which 

 there appears to be a good deal of difference of opinion, 

 is the relative importance of the influence of the sires and 

 dams respectively in determining the permanent character 

 of the stock as a whole. 



There can be little doubt that the influence of any sire 

 must be greater than that of anj' particular female owing 

 to the larger number of his progeny, but we think that the 

 true character of a well-established breed lies in the females 

 as a whole ; and although a sire can exert great influence, 

 the established character of the stock will not be materially 

 changed by one sire. 



It is a very common error among a certain class of 



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