Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-05-24
For the Gazette.
BREEDING HORSES.

Farmers are probably less careful in
their practice in breeding horses than
cattle, sheep or hogs, although the eX-
pense Of keeping, the risks from acci-
dents, diseases, etc, being much great
er in handling horses than any other
stock, would suggest the necessity of
most diIigent care and attention in their
breeding.
What constitutes excellence in 81 horse?
How limited the number of those who
are called HHOrse Men," that is, those
whose special business is to deal in hOr-
ses, can give an intelligent answer to
! the question: Most men decide accord
I ingtO mere Whim or fancy, without any
{ settled opinion as to the proper form,
4 quality or blood of the animal.
/ No man can be an intelligent judge
| of excellence in horses, who does not
/ understand the form, and the quality Of
/ the bones and muscles of a thoroughbred
horse. BY thorough bred, as applied to
i horses, we mean the English race horse,
/ or horse whose descenti is derived from
Arab, Barb or Turkish stock. These
/ horses exceed all others in beauty Of
/ form, intelligence, activity, speed, en-
] durauce, and in proportion to their size,
/ far exceed all others in strength.
/ Horses are wanted for action, and not
/ for secretng fat, or forming flesh, like
an OK. A solid, dense bone and muscle,
with as little fat as possible, are what
/ we want for action, strength and eudur-
/ ance and all these we get from the
! thoroughbred horse. It is this blood
] that gives speed and endurance to the
! horses called American ROadsters, -
which are, be it remembered, very far
/ from being an established or distinct
/ breed but have IN every ms tG7lce Of re-
/ markab ble excellence, a strong infusion
of this Eastern blood. Tt is, indeed,
/ claimed that the powerful Norman draft
I horse is indebted to this blood for his
II a.
and ear, as we'll as the clean and mus
/ cular excellence of his legs
/ The breeders of thoroughbred horses
/ probably do not, as general thing, re-
: aIiZe from IT any eXUraVagant profits;
( the great benefits result to the cOmmun-
ity at large, by crossing this breed on
/ the common stock of the cOuntTy-and
/ it is undOu btedly true that If the pure
/ blood were not kept up the excellence
of all our horse stock would very rap
idly deteTiOrate.
Much skill, capital and taste are re-
quired to breed and keep up the excel
lence of thoroughbred stock of any
Il kind; and the breeding of horses for
ordinary purposes, the crossing of the
pure bred with the cOarser stock, re-
qUires much more skill to produce the
best results than is generally supposed.
Draft horses are in good demand, and
the Norman horse, for this purpose, is
probably the best we have, unless we
except the Scotch ClydesdaIe. In breed
ing to these horses, q common practice
is to select large, coarse mares, and the
produce of such cross is almost certain
to be an ugly, ungainly and clumsy an
imaI. A much better practice would
be TO breed these large horses to small,
active mares, indicating as much blood
as possible to obtain.
The cross of a bIoOded horse like
''BELLFOUNDER TRUSTEE upon mares
got by these draft horses, must produce
very desirable animals. This horse,
among the last of the get of old Bell
founder, who was himself so nearly a
thoroughbred horse that he was by
many regarded as such; and the dam a
large, fine thoroughbred mare by clan
Trustee, half brother to the matchIess
mare FASHION, in point of blood certain
ly promises extraordinary excellence as
and for rOadsters. We should expect
the produce of this horse from good,
fine mares, indicating blood, to be su-
perior for saddle and light harness, and
from large draft mares, we should ex-
pect ex ceIIent animals for general pur-
] poses. They would have sufficient size
and strength for ordinary draft pUr-
II poses, with enough blood and style to
make ordinarily good rOadsters.
1t seems to me that the farmers oil
Delaware county can hardly fail in OBJ
tanning from this horse satisfactory
progeny, and the enterprise exhibited
by his public spirited owners in making
this purchase, ought to be rewarded by
j a liberal patronage. I have known this
horse from a colt, and have frequently
seen Clay Trustee, Old BellefOunder anC
the dam Of BeIlfounder Trustee.
SCIoTo.