Breeding and Management of Hoi'se.^ on a Faimi. 525 
cannot be used so soon after foaling, unless for the purpose of 
merely carrying the farmer over his ground, as all quick work 
would be likely to injure the secretion of milk, and should conse- 
quently be avoided. Gentle harness-work, however, of a light 
description will not hurt her, but she must not be coupled with 
slower horses, or allowed to do too much of the work herself. 
There is one great advantage gained by early accustoming brood- 
mares to do a little work accompanied by their foals, which is that 
the latter very speedily become familiar with man, and are soon 
rendered docile and tractable by being constantly handled, and 
therefore seldom prove troublesome to break in. 
With these few remarks I shall close the subject of breeding, 
and proceed to the consideration of the management and feeding 
of horses on a farm. Although well aware that there are many 
points connected with the propagation of the best species of horses 
of every breed, which might be dwelt upon at much greater length, 
the main object I have in view is not to fetter down the intelligent 
farmer by absolute rules, which cannot be applicable to every 
case, but to give him an insight into those points of the horse and 
those principles of breeding, a due attention to which cannot fail 
to ensure a proportionate degree of improvement in his stock. 
Before, however, I entirely dismiss the subject of breeding the 
horse for heavy draught, there is one point to which I should wish 
to draw attention, since I believe it is one which for some years 
past has tended not a little to reduce the superiority of our breed 
of cart-horses, and has moreover been lauded by some veterinary 
practitioners, receiving from them that degree of authority which 
sanctions the farmer in continuing a practice not altogether, in my 
opinion, to be recommended. I allude to crossing our breed of 
cart-mares with the cumbersome, ill-proportioned, and slow Fle- 
mish stallions that are yearly imported into this country, and the 
best of which may be seen perambulating the streets of London in 
the drays of certain brewers, who approve of their general appear- 
ance. I have many times noticed these horses, and can safely aver, 
not only that I never yet saw a really well-formed one, but that 
they are decidedly the very worst breed of draught-horses I ever 
beheld. I never yet saw one whose feet were not flat, and whose 
fore-legs, below the knee, were not of the worst description ; 
the tendons at the back of the joint tied in, and the whole shanl; 
utterly disproportioned to the bulk of the horse. Indeed, there is 
scarcely one in twenty whose legs can do much more than support 
his unwieldy carcass, and were it not for the large crests and 
heavy necks of these horses, — points which some people imagine 
confer a stately appearance on them, — there would be very few 
imported into this country. However, as many farmers are in- 
duced to make use of the first showy-looking stallion that is 
