Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1891-11-06
HORSE SENSE.

From tho Live Stock journal.
One very important step in the ha-
proyement Of a breed of horses is the
getting rid Of the foolish ones. Horse
breeders, asa class, do not appreciate
the Importance of breeding for brains.
An intelligent roadster is a real COM
fort, while a foolish one is always a
nuisance. No aggregation Of other
desirable qualities will atone for the
lack Of good horse sense. In whatever
capacitya horse is used, from the
humblest to the highest, brains, like
blood, will tell. Good sense does not
always follow high breeding. Thor
oughbreds are notorious foolish, and
the best Of our trotters are not level
headed enough to be agreeable road
horses. This is largely a matter Of
education, it is true, but to a consider
able degree, it is also a matter of
breeding Horses that are used for
generations for special purpose may
be expected to become animals of one
idea, It's said that all thorough
breds know is to run over fiat course.
They have courage, but lack level
hcadness. An occasional brainy excep-
tion only proves the iule.
The courage which goes with level
headeness is the drivers best lnsur-
ance against accidents. 1t is not the
horse that knows the least, but the
one that knows the most that trusts
his driver in the greatest degree, sup
posing always that the driver is worthy
of his confidence. A horse that has
no confidence in himself has no conf
dencc in his driver and the vice versa.
While intelligent horses may be spoil
ed through faulty education, and rat
tlc-brained ones may be improved by
careful training, it is important to
keep this point steadily in view in
breeding. Since parents transmit
their qualities, the prime requisite of
intelligence should invaribly be de-
manded in both sire and dam. If
none but the most sensible stations
and mares were allowed to perpetuate
their qualities intelligence and cour-
age would soon become character
istics Of the whole race of domestic
horses. The Arabs have always put
great stress upon breeding for intell-
igeace, and the result of their efforts
speaks for itself. We see something
OF the same. kind in the universally
recognized intelligence of the saddle
horses Of Kentucky and Tennessee,
andin the Morgans of New England
always in intimate association with
man, relied upon in every emergency,
has been cultivated and
fOstered in these animals, while vice
and foolishness has been eliminated |
by careful selection. In breeding |
-rotters we have not been so judiOus.
In our anxiety to get extreme speed |
many mares and stations have been |
used for breeding simply because they |
we're fast, although they may have
been bad and unintelligent. Now that
-he foundation is fairly laid for what
will undoubtedly prove the most use
'ul breed Of horses on earth, it is time
% still furtherperfect it by breeding
)ut vice, awkwardness, and every
'orm Of foolishness, and breed for
brains and beauty. This we can ac-
by a conscientious effort to
levelop the intelligence and increase
he brain power of stock horses and
hen carefully breeding to the animals
which show this royal quality of horse
ense in the highest degree, 1t is
rhine to patronize a slackwithered
or to perpetuate the danger
,us tendencies Of a vicious mare.