510 Breeding and Management of Horses on a Farm. 
his slock is bred the more money will it in all probability realize 
for him. There are numbers of gentlemen at the present day 
who, in purchasing a hunter, look to become possessed of an 
animal that will not only carry them well through the season, 
but likewise become qualified to run, with a good chance of suc- 
cess, for one or two heavy hunter-stakes, and who on this account 
will not buy an animal of inferior pedigree ; and consequently it 
must ever be to the farmer's advantage to breed such horses for 
the field as are likely to suit the greater number of purchasers ; 
and if he himself has no private opportunity of disposing of his 
stock to gentlemen, he may be well assured that those dealers 
who are on the look-out for first-rate hunters are perfectly aware 
ol the great superiority which a good pedigree never lalls to 
bestow upon any horse destined for the field, and the additional 
advantages, independent of the chase, that may be derived from 
the possession of a speedy, thorough-bred hunter. 
For this reason, in breeding horses for the chase, never on any 
account put ^our mares to half-bred stallions. The produce, in 
nine cases out of ten, will disappoint your expectations, and will 
probably only realize a moderate sum that will do little more 
than return the expenses of breeding and rearing, instead of 
repaying you possibly four or five times your outlay. 
There arc, perhaps, but few agriculturists who wish to breed 
hunters who do not imagine that by selecting a good-sized, roomy, 
and well-shaped mare, and by putting her to the first thorough- 
bred horse they may meet with, they have done everything needful 
to secure to themselves a foal of considerable value. Such men, 
however, imperfectly acquainted as they are with the history of 
the turf, may have erred materially in the selection of a stallion 
for the procreation of stock likely at some period to shine in the 
field. Thus, there are numbers of flashy-looking, pampered 
stallions travelling in everv county during the breeding season, 
whose blood will be immediately known to the man versed in 
racing lore to be greatly deficient in the great requisite of stout- 
ness, and he will consequently, if a judicious breeder, reject all 
such horses, however tempting may be the low price at which 
they cover ; whereas the farmer, unskilled in the annals of the 
turf, and delighted proljably with the expectation of obtaining a 
nearly thorough-bred colt or filly at little expense, and which he 
Jiojics may turn out an animal of considerable value, does not 
scruple to put his mares to a horse of inferior quality, provided 
he have a thorough-bred pedigree of any kind. This system is 
tantamount to the supposition that a horse of full blood must 
ijjsu facto be an animal likely to l)eget slock of a superior descrip- 
tion ; whereas those who have paid even a very moderate share of 
allcnlion to the subject of breeding, must be aware tliat there is 
