Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-04-27


ian blood, bred within the standard,
was saved entire, and used for breeding.
with little regard for individual merit
Eastern farmers read of the high prices
paid for Kentucky and Ohio bred Ham
bletonian trotters, or young unbrnken
colts and fillies, and felt that their long
cherished superior Morgan roadsters
had ceased to be profitable. Syndicates
were formed and large sums of hard
farmer-earned money were paid for
young, untried, undeveloped HANDLE
tOnian sres. Many of them outside
the standard rules, many others by
potent, well-tried sires but from dams
of cJld blood which destroyed all chance
for speed in their progeny. Large,
never-to- be-realized hopes were built on
their produce, which in turn was kept
for breeding purposes and by honest
breeders scattered broadcast over the
land at extravagant prices. In fact,
every rural farming district became a
dumping ground into which large breed
]
their culls and worthless trash by means
of active commission agents and other
devices sometimes not too honorable.
/ The ever-credulous farmer did not hest
sires, but lured on by the oily tongues
of interested parties they paid their
money and took their choice. "Oh my
countrymen What change came
over the horse stock of the farming
country. Instead of the handsome,
sound, trappygated, stout-built, great
/ little Morgans and their near relatives,
we had numerous dull-mettled, homely-
headed, coarse horses of every grade
and quality except the good and desra-
ble,-many suitable for no purpose un-
der heaven or among men. The coun-
/ try was filled with scrubs of less value
foI any useful purpose than the old
time stock which they displaced.
The most frequent mistake of the past
has been too great reliance on pedigree,
when the individual sire was lacking in
superior quality. Another mistake too
often repeated is that of using a sire of
superior excellence descending from
some noted ancestor through near mixed
ancestry, some individual forming the
same being of cold, non-producing
strains of blood, wholly lacking the eX-
celence of the sire that way produced.
I In ic q
freak and his get will show large num-
Der representing sthe counterpart of his
cold-blooded ancestors and perhaps an
I OCCASIONAL representation of himself or
{ lis better Ancestry. 10 insure success,
/ rich pedigree and individual merit of
, high order must be present in both sire
and dam. Also each individual ances-
tor for at least three generations must
have the like qualities, combined with
rich breeding. The individual excel
lence Of each animal forming "A link in
the ancestral chain is the correct meas
ure of the value of pedigree. Bear this
in mind when selecting sires for breed
ing purposes. When both dam and sire
and each Individual ancestor for three or
four generations possess in high de-
gree every essential quality desired In
the foal, there is little doubt what the
produce Will be. If speed is desired
breed mare that has it, or the dormant
necessary elements of it, to the sire
that has it. and if both sire and dan
have an honest speed Inheritance you
are reasonably sure of speed in the
foal. The same rule applies with equa
force for the production of any desirable
quality.
a sire may have world of speed com
bined with perfect symmetry, size and
purity of gait and both his sire and dan
be grand representatives of these quail
ties, yet if his second dam be deficient il
any or all of them, his get will be sub
ect to the law of a.avis m and the coun
terpart of the second dam will frequent
" be found in his produce. Atavisn
is a well-recognized formative power il
the reproduction of all animal life, es
DeCldllN ~ III lllC HlSu HClNC OISdHlLd
!, ton of the equine race; consequently /
scrub animal in the pedigree of eithe
sire or dam, though far remote, is sur,
to be duplicated in some of their pro
geny. The scrubs of the country to
great extent owe their defective quality
to the use of such enormously supposed
to-be well-bred duplicates for sires ant
dams. Space forbids taking up in de
tail each and every controlling inhuenc,
in the breeding problem. But the breed
er of horses may rest assured that ONLY
correct combination in due proportion
of the numerous small active forces a
| command will lead to success. He mus
include among these forces his owl
natural and acquired ability for tn,
) business. as well as every condition con
nected with all the surroundings.
, Never attempt to antagonize, but eve
strive to work in accord with natura
lou, which m he an available aid INNS