ON BREEDING. 
en 
backwards, is a sure mark cf an unsafe goer, and generally of a 
slow one also. 
The form of the pelvis should also be particularly attended 
to, it being requisite that this cavity should be large in the 
female, that she may be able to bring forth her young without 
difficulty. In many instances the life of the mother has been 
endangered in parturition: it is, therefore, of great importance 
that brood mares should be what are commonly called “ roomy 
mares,” particularly as they make the best nurses. 
The formation of the head also requires attention, as nothing 
indicates the good qualities and good breeding of an animal so 
much as a small head. The “ caput argutum ” of Virgil has 
hitherto been translated “ a small or a slender head but theie 
are few words in the English language that better express their 
meaning than the Newmarket technical phrase, “ finished head,” 
sometimes called a “ killing head,” which is thus aptly and 
beautifully described by a living Poet: 
u The projecting eye 
That to the stander near looks awfully; 
The finished head , in its compactness free, 
Small and o’erarching to the lifted knee; 
The start, and snatch, as if it felt the comb, 
With mouth that flings about the creamy foam ; 
The snorting turbulence, the nod, the champing, 
The shift, the tossing, and the fiery tramping”*. 
The head and neck contribute more than all the other parts 
the body to give a graceful appearance. To obtain horses with 
light heads and necks, particular care is required in selecting 
mares possessing those requisite qualities; for if the offspring- 
bears any likeness at all to the mother, it is chiefly confined to 
the anterior parts of the body. The well-known adage, that 
“ like produces like” is certainly very applicable to breeding ; and 
he who has paid the least attention to the subject must be 
aware, that there is a greater chance of obtaining animals pos¬ 
sessing certain requisite qualities from a sire and dam who 
possess them in an eminent degree than by breeding from 
those whose qualities we arc ignorant of. Thus, for breeding- 
race-horses, both sire and dam should be “ excellent goers”— 
equal, if not superior to all their contemporaries, before they 
should be considered as fit and proper subjects to regenerate 
anew the qualities they possess. Notwithstanding, many capi¬ 
tal runners have proved bad stallions, whilst many good stal¬ 
lions have proved bad runners. The same may be said of 
mares: many “ excellent goers” have failed as brood mares; 
* c 
Story of Bimini. 
