Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1884-11-06
Should Farmers Breed TO Thorough
bredH 0rSes9


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This is question discussed by The
Canadian Breeder, and our reader,
will discover that the principles laiC
down apply as well to the whole na
ton OF horse breeders ia the UGited
States. The editor says:
10 answer this question intelligent
ly one must know something of the
farmer 10 question. If he has a fine
lot of pure heavy draught mares he
Will OF course make more money by
gong on with the production of pure
Clydesdales, Shires, or SuffolKs. But
10 take farmers throughout Canada as
they come, there are very few heavy
draught mares to be found on their
farms. They have more of the more
tinely-bred smaller sized animals, such
as if crossed with good sized, stout,
heavy boned thoroughbred will be
very apt to produce a thoroughly
good general purpose" horse in the
literal sense of the term.
The great want among Canadian
horses is more of the warm blood OF
the race horse. In all the lighter
clssses of horses people look for fine
blood-like top, graceful carriage, and
light elastic motion. Coach horses
are brought over from the old country
and bred to our common cold-bioOded
mares with the most pitIful results.
The foal has, perhaps, a fine gt@ceful
outline and looks well when standing
still, but ask him to move, and a Gal
loway bull would make a show of
him, so far as action is concerned.
He has the same heavy wooden ac-
ton that character;zes the heavy
draught horse, tn )Igh his gait may
be a tritle smoother and more uniform.
There is no spring, 10 go" IN him
he is essentially a mechanical horse.
He will at all times eat more than he
will earn no matter how cheap hay
and oats may be, and the only way
his owner can get even on him. is
by selling him to some one who can
not tell good horse from fairly exc
cuted counterfeit.
There is always some sort of a mar
ket for these &atcatchers, y but it is
equally true that there are always
fools who can be swindled by conf
dence games, and no respectable
breeder likes to sell animals that will
not give his customers satisfaction.
And it is not merely the production
of her ses that will sell well that the
breeder should look to. He who
would keep up with the times must
keep improving. To do this he should
always be trying to breed up toward
a higher standard.
Any horseman knows that for his
bulk the thoroughbred can do more
in the way of muscular effort than
anything else of the horse kind. Ht
is of material superior to that in any
other breed. His whole makeup is
superior 10 that Of the cold bloodeC
animal. Break him thoroughly tC
farm work and he will do third more
in the same length of time OF a giver
amount of food than any cold blood
ed horse of the same weight and same
degree of maturity. In stating this
fact it is assumed of course that tbs
horses are handled by horsemen
There are, Of course, some who handle
horses, who, though human beings
are not possessed of either mental o.
moral qualities at all equal to those o.
the average thoroughbred horse, anC
as a rule such men have a bad tim,
with thoroughbred horses, while thor
oughbred horses have still wors'
time with them.
Assuming, however, that horses b'
handled by horssmea, what we have
already stated viii always be found K
be true. And the more this higf
quality is infused into our horses tht
better, so long as other important anC
necessary qualifications are not sacrl
feed. We must preserve marketable
size at all hazards, and substance mus
not be overlooked The limbs toe
must be kept strong, and the hoof,
must not be allowed to become 50 brit
tie or so thin that they will not sus-
tain the weight of the 'superstruc-
ture.n Let the breeder keep these pro
visions constantly before his eyes, anc
then the more warm race horse blood
he has infused into bis stock the bet
ter. Every cross will give more cour
age, more quality, finer finish, greater
endurance, more activity, higher
speed, more graceful carriage, and {
longer period of vigor and useful
ness.
We do not advise farmers who have
heavy mares of Clydesdale, Shire, o.
Percheron blood to leave off the
lucrative employment found IN th'
production of draught horses; but
there are very many mares in thii
country that are not large and coarse
enough to be proftably crossed with
these enormous draught horses, anC
if these were persistently bred to bis
stout thoroughbreds the result weulC
be many thousands of dollars in th'
pockets of Canadian farmers ant
horse breeders every year.
These Died Of Laughter.