The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1883-06-21
Breeding Horses.

It is q well established fact that many
of the acquired diseases to which horses
are subject afterwards become heredi-
tary and descend from parent to prog
eny. Curbs, spavins, ringbones, heaves
and the long list of defects to which
every horse is liable from improper and
hard usage, often become constitutional
and inherent in the blood of dams, and
their progeny are liable to become in
oculated in the germ to the most distant
posterity.
To the miserable practice of breeding
from are which too often come into
the category of 'those unfit for work,
hence will do to breed FROM" is due
in part the existence of the vast num-
Der of unsound horses which are to be
found OF nearly every farm, and which
are heard wheeling and coughing at
the hitching posts about the corner
groceries. / am well aware that to the
care and usage to which horse-t1esh is
subjected may be attributed much of
the unsoundness and ungainly move
ments possessed by the average equine
of our time. The remedy for this lies
right in our own hands. The road to
Improvement in this matter is direct
and lies straight before us.
The market demand is for good-sized
and 'tgood-stepping'' horses. l don't
mean by good-stepping competitors for
the honors of the turf; but such ami
mails as shall develop to good roadsters
so the owner can, upon occasion, go
to the village for the doctor or anybody
else he wants to see, and not be obliged
to work his passage Dr. use up too much
precious time. If the horse can strike
q three-minute gait it won't hurt
his salable qualities at all. but he
may be a good horse for all essential
needs and not approximate to that time.
The general farmer cannot afford to
breed merely for speed. That should
be left for those who have taste, time
and means to devote to this work, which
at best is but a lottery. If a farmer has
a heavy horse which is sound and all
right, he has no difficulty in disposing
of him. With the small animal, unless
he has speed to offset his diminutive
proportions, he'll find customers will
pass him by and seek for those of more
size.
Light horses, as a rule, are not profit
able to use upon the farm. Often a fine,
heavy horse will do the work upon a
farm where two lighter ones would be
required to do the same work. 1t is
true a large horse will usually consume
more feed than a small one; and so he
will do more work and the ratio of
difference in work is far greater than
the difference of cost of keeping, for
eight times out ten the old mare will
out-eat a 300-pound heavier horse which
is just bordering on his teens. "But
my lighter horse is spryer and a get
around faster than your big, lummoxy
fellow" you say. That doesn't always
follow, neither is it more than an excep-
ton to a general rule; close observation
will reveal the fact that the rule will
apply as often the other way. l believe
it to be the part of economy that we raise
larger, sounder and better styled horses.
1t may cost a little more in the outset,
because we should use the best males as
well as good mares, but the improve
ment and consequent enhanced value
will more than repay the increased cost.
L. F. abbott, in Rural NeW Yorker.