The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-02-27
Horses for Farm Work.

Breeding frstclass horses for farm work is an
easy matter on farms that have large pastures,
for colts can be raised at a small cost where the
farmer is fortunate in possessing good grazing
fields and plenty of grass. But in raising a colt
everything depends upon the purposes for which
it is intended. Some farms are so situated that
the horses used thereon must possess strength
as well as the ability to move quickly. The size
Of our horses has been greatly increased of late
years by the crossing OF our native stock with
the Clydesdale and Norman, but the object was
heavy draught rather than speed. Such horses
are not well adapted for carriage service or for
the saddle. Pie average farmer, on the score OF
expense, desires to keep his horses for general
work, and in order to improve his stock he must
select, for the purposes of Improvement, animals
that combine as many desirable qualities as pos
sible.
The chief requirement at present is a breed of
walking ~horses-horses that move quickly at a
walk. Such a strain has not been established,
but a foundation has been laid by selecting the
Denmarks. Not that Denmark was particularly
noted for fast walking, himself, but that quality
seems to be inherent, to a certain degree, in his
descendants, just as the sons of Hambletonian
are famous as %trotterS, while their sire possessed
no record at all. Denmark was a thoroughbred,
sired by imported Hedgeford, who also sired
Blue Bonnets, the dam of the noted racers,
Lightning, Thunder, and Lancaster. By care
fully breeding to the s~peediest travellers of this
strain, the walking gait may be bred in our
farm stock as well as we can increase the power
W 1 % AINLNI OdNtO VI blOU Oh lllO IOdNlG-
Many farmers make mistakes in breeding to
trotting sires with aview of procuring good farm
horses. The trotter will improve the character
of the ordinary stock, but ~trotters are not al
ways bred from trotting sires, %Itrequires train
ing and years of practice sometimes to develop
a t%rotter, and the farmer usually has no time to
devote to such matters. Few t%rotting sires are
SO fortunate as to produce a first class trotter.
The great Smuggler, the fastest of trotting sires,
has been almost forgotten, owing to his failure
as a sire, and but few fast colts or FLIES can be
credited even to Harold, the sire of Maud S.
The attempt to breed colts adapted to both the
road and the farm sometimes results in nothing
Of value for any purpose.
An experienced breeder of farm horses gives as
his opinion that the best animal for the farm is
that produced by crossing the thoroughbred (the
running horse) on large, coarse mares. If the
mares are partly Norman or Clydesdale, so much
the better; but the use of the thoroughbred in
sures stamina, endurance and vigor. The small
but hard bones of the thoroughbred are heavily
covered with muscle, and the horses of that
breed are famous for speed, courage and power.
The cross produces a horse very similar to the
Clevelands. and such horses are not only well
adapted for nearly all purposes on the farm, but
do not fail till well advanced in years.