St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-09
RIGHT KINOOF HORSES

1t will not be long now before the
horse breeding season commences. and
already farmers are examining the
stations in their districts with view
to making selections for the approach
ing season. Others are on the road Wis
lting the stables of the great importers
and purchasing stations to place upon
the stand in their respective towns.
To both buyers and breeders the Farm
ers' Review has word or two to say
on this subject.
AS the progeny of our native mares
and imported draft stations is primarily
intended to do practical work-and hard
work at that-let US pick practical
parents for the progeny. There are a
lot of dude" stations upon the market
and already on the stand for breeding
purposes that our readers will do well
to let severely alone. The kind of
horse we refer to in the term dude" is
the washy, wasp-walsted, weasle-like
specimen which stands on his toe-nails
most of the time and is more of a
success at neighing than anything else.
He lacks stamina, constitution, vitality,
bone, muscle, powerful personality and
prepotence. He may dance down the
street fretting and Tuning, aping the
airs of some steed fit for warefare, but
for psactical work he is as the dude"
compared with the sensible, respectable,
brawny wageworker or tiller OF the
soil. For such horses as these we
have no use in this country:
they are as Objectionable as the
"scrub'' sire. The stations best adapted
for our requirements are those of mus
cular build and hardy, wearing consti-
tuition and bone. But they must be gen
tlemen. Powers not always personified
by mere weight and elephantine pro-
portions of body. We want muscle
rather than fat: bone that is as the best
tempered steel compared with pig iron /;
tendOnS that are taut and tried, devel-
Oped and durable, instead of fiabby and
fat, incapable of eXerting force OF bear
ing strain.
The dude" stallion is merely the
animated shadow of the practical, bust
ness-like sire. There is not enough of
him for work of any kind. He is the
exact opposite of the phlegmatic obese
beast of much fat and minimum muscle.
Both are highly Objectionable. Look
out, then, for the horse that comes be-
tween these two varietieS-the gentle
man" horse of great muscle, good size,
style and substance, in conjunction with
bone of proper strength and quality,
puolClHo WIFI plSiity Ok SPIN W tilClI.
sound feet, hardy constitution, perfect,
powerful action walking and trotting,
good breeding and pure blood.
BY pure blood we mean that it should
be free not only from family faint, but
alse from all actual impurities as hered-
itary disease. Buy no horse whose legs
are covered with small running sores
glands are swollen throughout the body
and whose joints are chronically puffed.
Choose clean-legged beasts to breed
from or buy. Run the hand over the
legs and feel if the bones are round or
fiat, spOngA or flinty, healthy or dis
eaSed. Choose the fat-boned horse
every time in preference to the one
that apparently has stronger bone be-
cause rOunder.
Round bone. as a general rule. is
spongy; fiat bone, on the other hand. is
more likely to be sound and durable
The round bone is usually found as a
pillar supporting the immensely fat
body of the phlegmatic horse. The fiat
bone, on the other hand, most commonly
accompanies much muscle to draw
great weights, and this latter purpose
it is that we wish our draft horses to
fulfill.
it is not difficult matter to feed a
horse so that if fat be the criterion of
quallty ne Is surprisingly merltOrlOuS.
But the mere abundance OF adipoise
tissue should not be taken as a sufficient
voucher for good quality. Fat goes on
to the ribs of most horses easily, but not
on to the bones or legs. A fiat leg bone
cannot be hidden by fat, however fat
the body of the horse may be. The
quality of the leg, then, may be taken
as the true index of the quality of the
horse in breeding condition. A round,
''f1eshy' leg on very fat horse would
indicate that he belongs without doubt
to the objectionably phlegmatic class to
which we have already referred.
In addition to these things, the feet of
the horse should be taken into cOnSld-
Grafton. They should not be fiat, shelly
and ACKNOWLEDGED, but should he of
good size. plenty of depth, healthy,
tirm-teXtured material and we'll spread
at the hells. The buyer should also be
careful to note that the horse he pur-
chases is sound in wind and eyesight
and free from sideboues, ringbones,
spavins, curbs, and such troubles as
stringhalt, ''shivers," etc. In short, it
is we'll before purchasing to learn what
constitutes unsoundness in horse and
be able to apply the knowledge to prac-
tice. For the breeder it is equally i'm
portant to select the right sort of horse
to breed TO and mate with him the most
suitable mares.