ON BREEDING. 
1 I 
shaped as their parents ; but if a small ram be put to larger 
ewes, the lambs will be of an improved form *.' 1 
Many breeders who have been aware of the impropriety of 
putting large stallions to small mares, from seeing its bad effects 
in various ways, have fallen into the contrary error, by crossing 
what they call a larye “ roomy ” mare , which is generally of the 
heavy cart breed, with a thorough-bred horse. 
Dmn vitant stulti vitia, in contraria currant. Hon. 
Whilst fools one vice condemn, 
They run into the opposite extreme. 
Their object is to obtain a carriage-horse. Thus, by attempt¬ 
ing to avoid Scylla, they fall into Charybdis, 
“ Inciditin Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdem.” 
Or, in plain English, “ he leaps out of the frying-pan into the 
fire.” Ihis heterogeneous connexion always produces a being as 
bad as possibly could be generated, possessing a heavy fore¬ 
hand, supported by a pair of slender fore-legs, and having all 
the natural sluggishness and inactivity of the draught horse, 
without any of his strength; and all the bad properties of the 
blood horse without any of his speed. In short, an animal 
suited to no useful purpose ; a fit subject for the kennel, or to 
become 
“ Luxurious food, 
The venison of the prescient brood.” 
The very distinction of breeds implies a considerable difference 
among animals in several respects. On looking through “ Na¬ 
ture's vast and varied range,” we observe the whole earth teem¬ 
ing with rational harmonies ; but man—ephemeral, laborious 
man—in attempting to establish a permanently distinct breed, by 
bringing together a male and female of qualities and habits es¬ 
sentially opposed to each other, would, if allowed, very soon 
produce a race of monsters: but fortunately the resistance of na¬ 
ture overcomes our feeble efforts, 
“ Like a arcncrous horse. 
Shews most true metal when you cheek his course.” 
By studying attentively the exterior conformation of the dif¬ 
ferent breeds of horses, the peculiar character bestowed upon 
each, with their wants and habits, together with the admirable 
fitness for the climate and soil they inhabit, we shall have con- 
* Cline’s Observations on Domestic Animals. 
