18 
PURE BRED DRAFT HORSES 
Johnstone 5 also adds some important considerations in the selection 
of the stallion. He brings out the matter of looking into the teeth, and 
as has been referred to under the stallion laws, he likewise gives im¬ 
portance to examining the eyes and testicles. A full normal set of 
testicles is required. With regard to testing the virility of the stallion 
Carlson® advocates that the semen be examined under the microscope. 
He also points out that the testicles should be well developed and even 
in size. According to him, the smaller, shorter penis is to be preferred 
inasmuch as more complete services are obtained thereby, the semen be¬ 
ing discharged into the uterus. Carlson further brings out that a stallion 
with tallowy deposits around the generative organs is to be discriminated 
against. 
As has been referred to, vicious disposition is discriminated against by 
the Nebraska Stallion Law. Carlson 0 likewise rejects the dangerous 
individual or even one that is difficult to handle. 
The pedigree of the individual should be carefully examined, bearing 
in mind the relative merits of the ancestry and above all the authenticity 
of the records. 
Under the caption rejects, outside of actual unsoundnesses, Johnstone 5 
may be quoted: “Avoid long couplings, light ribs, weak loins, light flanks, 
narrowness of conformation, calf-knees, sickle hocks, straight pasterns, 
and small, steep, flat, shelly or low heeled or mulelike feet. Very light 
bone also should be left for some one else, also crooked top lines, low 
backs, dropping rumps, ewe and short straight necks, sour or ‘fiddle’ 
heads, sow ears, dish faces and small piggy eyes . . . The legs should 
be smooth and clean from the knees and hocks down to the coronet and 
so to the hoof which should be of fine texture without ridges, cracks 
or breaks.” 
4. Age to Breed 
Carlson 0 prefers that the colt be started to serve at three years of age, 
and says that if he is to be used as a two-year old no more than 8 or 10 
mares for the year should be covered, with an interval of five days be¬ 
tween services. With regard to the two-year-old, Johnstone 5 gives similar 
opinion, but adds that he should be vigorous and well developed. He 
restricts the three-year-old to 25 to 30 mares, and the four-year-old to 40 
to 50 mares. The mature horse is limited to two services daily and in 
exceptional cases may be allowed to serve three times in a day. An 
average of three covers, according to Johnstone, suffices to beget a foal, 
and assuming that a stallion settles one-half of the mares, therefore, the 
three-year-old will on the whole render 45 services during the breeding 
season of fifteen weeks, or three services to the week. According to the 
same inference, the four-year-old will make 75 covers, but since his season 
may be extended to 115 days, his services will be called for at 3 times 
every two days. Dimon 40 says that if the two-year-old is at all to be used 
the services should be light, the three-year-old to be limited to 15 
or 20 services, and the four-year-old to 30. According to Berg¬ 
man, 41 the two-year-old may be allowed 15 mares, the three-year-old 
50, and the aged sire as many as 80 to 120 mares during the breeding 
season of four months. Curryer 42 mentions that from one to three 
covers for the first week <and four or five times the next comprise a good 
schedule in starting a stud horse for the season. Then once a day, but 
never more than two times, may be permitted. Two services a day, how¬ 
ever, should be indulged in only occasionally. While the same authority 
also indicates that with stallions that were idle during the winter the stud 
work may be so regulated that an individual is allowed only two services 
a week throughout the season. Axe 38 is of the opinion that stallions 
should be started in the stud as a three-vear-old, ibut remarks that the 
