Horse-h eedin<j for Profit, 
71 
prices tliafc one sees quoted for pedigree Shire, Clydesdale, 
Suffolk, Hackney, Cleveland, and other horses must depend on 
a long association with the breed, success in the show ring, 
and a large outlay. My desire is to regard the subject from the 
point of view of the cultivator of 100 to 300 acres, — from 
the point of view of men in a similar position to the Yorkshire 
farmers, who have made horse-breeding pay from time imme- 
morial. 
In horse-breeding counties, such as Yorkshire, Durham, 
Cumberland, Lincoln, Norfolk, and Devon, the breeder has an 
advantage such as is derived from an old-established industry 
over the comparatively isolated breeders of other counties. 
Horse dealers live in his district, the London and foreign buyer 
visits the fairs and the farms, whilst elsewhere the diffi- 
culty of finding the ready purchaser at the right time is the 
most serious obstacle that the breeder has to contend with. 
This fact, and the fear of incurring the risk of losses, which, if 
they occur, are from the value of the stock very heavy, as well 
as a general idea that young horses require great attention and 
are somewhat mischievous in their habits, are the chief dis- 
couragements that militate against more extensive enterprise 
in breeding. But these considerations, even when allowed the 
fullest weight, ought not to deter the farmer from pursuing 
what under favourable conditions must be, over a course of 
years, a most profitable pursuit. 
No doubt the innate passion for horseflesh in Yorkshiremen 
has had a good deal to do with their success in producing market- 
able horses; but, after all, the desire to make money is so strong 
a force that, if horse-breeding could be clearly shown to be 
lucrative, the British farmer would soon be induced to attempt 
it, and in the attempt it would be found that the keen interest 
in horses that would spring up would be equal in many other 
parts of England to that which exists in the counties I have 
just named. 
Before a farmer begins as a breeder, he ought to satisfy 
himself as to (1) the class of horse for which there is the most 
continuous demand ; (2) what horses, on the average, command 
the best prices ; (3) whether any of the breeds that it would evi- 
dently pay best to raise could be bred from animals that earned 
their livelihood in work on the farm. If the last condition is 
fulfilled the certainty of profit is assured. How do the various 
classes of horses with which we are acquainted suit themselves 
to these three conditions ? Let us take the cart-horse, which 
naturally claims the first consideration. 
The breeding of good sound cart-stock should pay, and pay 
