The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1886-12-06
The MARE.
Something OF Whnt She Should be,
Tor Breeding, and How Mated.

Something OF What She should be,
Tor Breeding, and How Mated.
The breeding of horses rests upon the
same general principles that the breed
Ing of cattle does, though as n rule. it
is more practicable to obtain good mares
than it sometimes is to procure good
COWS. 1t may not be always best to
sacrifice an entire herd of poor cows for
the purpose of replacing them with
better ones. 1t is often better and per-
haps we might say generally wiser
writes the editor of the Western Rural,
to use such cows as we have and breed
up. Usually, however, there are but
few, sometimes but one mare on the
farm to breed, and it 10 frequently the
case that they or she could be replaced
with practically better breeding stock
at iuconsiderable expense, Suppose,
for instance, the mare Is not very valu-
able from whatever standpoint she may
DO looked at, but that she is diseased or
vicious. 1t can hardly pay to breed
from such an animal 1t is dangerous
in the first place to do so, and then we
might really find better breeders that
could be purchased at n very low figure.
Through prevalent unaccountable
carelessness in breeding horses, care
lessness that is never found in other
lines of intelligent breeding. the laws of
heredity are largely dsregardcd. If
the mare is good for nothing else, she
is too often considered good enough
for breeding purposes If she is too
vicious to handle with safety, she may
still he considered useless as breeder.
Now. heret,ity is stern fact and its
operation is frequently wonderful,
going sometimes to IN extent that is
almost ipcrcdible and the possibility OF
the mare producing her Ike even to
the slightest defect, should always be
considered. We have known very
valuable mares that had become diseas-
ed and were still used rs breeders. In
such case, such course IN ght be adj
missible. There is chance-a bare
chance-that the colr might escape the
operation of heredi airy laws. for n
number Of years at lest. and have all
the merits of the dam without her de-
fects But II there is nothing peculiar
Is valuable In such ,aare 1t is folly 20
treei from her. And a vicious animal
should never be used for breeding. 1t
docs not pay to have a vicious animal
on the farm. and it certa My does not
par To attempt to multiply such AMI
rnab.
tbs a trite saying that like produces
like and that as nearly rs practicable we
shosld select for breeding such mare
~ suis rs In all particulars. Then
with q carefully selected sire we shall
substantially get our idea OF perfection
every time. But It Is q common thing
h usc om small native mares and q
horse Of one OF the draft breeds That
IL proper enough, provided the mare is
not too small. We should not advise
the use Of heavy draft stallion upon
au unusually small mare. But the av-
crage common mare, II she Is sound
and Of good disposition, may be used
and ought to be used for the purpose OF
breeding up. There is more, however.
in the selection Of the stallion than
.here Is in the selection of the mare. IL
would be n valuable piece of legislation
; if we could have law. MIXING it Sc
rious oilensc to represent horse other
} than what he really is. III country is
full of horses that ought never to be
used for service They are nothing but
scrubs and yet, with bogus ped grees,
they are represented to be iirst-class
horses. Such stations have been II
great hindrance to the development of
our horse interests. Men who have de-
sired 10 Improve their stock have been
induced TO use horses like these, and OF
course, have been disappointed by the
result; and perhaps have given up all
further effort in that line. Thus they
~ tae country at large have been