II 
MANAGEMENT OF THE MARE 
1. Selection 
For breeding purposes Truman says that “plenty of length and width” 
should be the principal points to be looked for in the selection of the mare; 
while shortness and stubbiness of body form, straight joints and blem¬ 
ishes, should be guarded against. Shaw and Hudson describe desirable 
brood mares as “tidy, short-backed animals, with plenty of quality,” and 
of “known breeding from prolific strains,” discriminating against indi¬ 
viduals that are characterized by “coarseness, puffy legs,” and those “that 
have failed to reproduce successfully.” Following the qualifications stipu¬ 
lated by Peters, the brood mare should possess “soundness, type, size, pedi¬ 
gree,” while Cooley calls for “bloodlines, quality, femininity, size good feet 
and bone, action.” Stericker’s principal points include “good disposition 
(as colt often gets that from mares), good legs and feet, short back and 
intelligent head.” According to Thompson, the mares to compose the 
breeding herd should be of “good disposition, easy feeders, ‘wide-barreled, 
good feet and legs, good heads, broad-chested,” and Hine wants “correct 
conformation, good bone, big and flat.” On this subject, Ritchie writes: “I 
rwant a mare sound, good size, with clean, flat bone, good feet, lots of 
quality and a good mover and lots of pep,” but, on the other hand, he 
points out that “crooked legs, no quality, unsoundness, poor movers and 
deadheads” should jeopardize the value of a mare for breeding purposes. 
Mares should be “good, big, sound, and, if old, they should have been good 
breeders”—these constitute the main points for which the Lefebure Sons’ 
Co. look. Moon looks for “bone size, style, action, good head and eyes, good 
feet,” in the brood mare, and to simplify the matter Good advises that the 
same points as are desired in the stallion should apply in the mare, the 
only difference to be considered being in the femininity which the mare 
should possess in lieu of the stallion’s masculinity. Considering Augstin’s 
stipulations in the selection of the brood mare, the individual must pos¬ 
sess “soundness” and must be “roomy-built, of quiet disposition and 
motherly looking.” At the Gossard Breeding Estates, the following points 
are emphasized: “soundness, size with quality, good, strong back and 
loins, and of feminine appearance.” Hains places “size, quality, action and 
soundness” as the principal points to be looked for in the brood mare, 
while Henderson favors “good, nice, roomy, good-boned, good-footed 
mares.” According to Peterson, “mares that are sound, of good type, with 
lots of size, wide and deep,” should be selected for breeding purposes. Be¬ 
sides soundness, says White, the mare should also be long, roomy, femi¬ 
nine, must possess good feet and legs, especially in the case of the hocks 
and the pasterns, which should be sloping. “Good conformation, sound¬ 
ness and capacity,” briefly speaking, should, in all, describe the ideal 
brood mare as promulgated at the Santa Anita Rancho. Again, soundness 
is pointed out as a point to be insisted upon in the selection of the brood 
mare, according to Edmonds, and, furthermore, she should also be of good 
type and have the feminine look. Dix characterizes the brood mare as 
one that is “large, roomy, sound, with good underpinning.” Raboin states 
that similar qualifications should hold true for both the stallion and the 
brood mare, excepting that in the latter the body should be more roomy. 
According to Hooper, the matter of selecting the ideal brood mare should 
be focused to her “kinship to great horses”; that she should be a descend¬ 
ant of a noted dam, and, no less, she should be of right conformation and 
