The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1892-1907, 1894-06-23
AGRICULTURAL WORLD
The Hard, Practical Utility OF
Horse-Breeding.
HEIR BRUcHARD Won orrrIaEs

1bS StoA Master II the Imperial 0ta1 q
Germany ssss Hers - Investigate
the Mstheas 81 Breeding, Raising asA
Trai.i.s Hsrsss 1. Ansries.
Before We can probably breed horses
We must learn the hard, practical utility
Of horse-breeding and raise horses for
some useful class in the industrial world.
The great American trotter, that W
boosted the greatest horse on earth be-
cause he could 60 mile in les time than
any other, finds no sphere Of usefulness,
and, - We have often said before, il the
laughing stock Of European horsemen,
who want horses Of size, strength and
endurance, with beauty Of form to &c
them for the army or for the city streets,
where horses are priced for the work
they can do. not for the speed they can
do. Our readers will be interested in
the following letter to m exchange by
Herr Bruchard Won Oettigen, the stud
master Of the Imperial Stud Of Germany,
sent here by the government to investi-
gate the methods Of breeding, raising
and training horses in America. Herr
Won Oettigen has visited every stock
farm of prominence in America-North,
South, East and West: al could learn
. great deal more in . week in England
than year in this country, he said. II
do not mean by this to in any way reflect
upon the thoroughness Of your breeders,
but must say that they are careless.
They do not seem to look upon horse
breeding a. . business, one to be studied,
and out Of which study they may learn
what means to use in properly mating
animals. have seen . great many Of
the farms where foale have been permit
ted to nurse for eight months; while
this in itself may be very good for the
foal, it is very bad for the coming foal.
Then your method Of breeding lie entirely
different. You mate anything with
speed. Your breeders seem to have very
little idea of . proper ration for the
growth of the animal. They feed too
much corn, which makes . soft, spongy
bone, instead of having . finer bone,
with bran and oats. Some Of your breed
ing farms are on . scale Of magnifeence
that could not be afforded by the royal
house Of Europe. For instance. in Palo
Alto there are over $50 men to take care
Vi t1lc u0fHCEs uLE u = Skuku v. &u0
the expense must be something terrific.
The kindergarten system Of educating
the trotter lie q good one as far as il guee,
but it only fits them for . good speed
sustained for . mile. That in my opin-
ion lie where your breeders are making .
serious mistake. Everything is made
eubservient to the one-mile record. Tho
horse IL fitted, trained and worked with
the idea to knock of few seconds on .
smooth track with . bicycle sulky. OF
what use lie such an animal? II he could
not 20 fast, he would not bring over $50.
Understand that am not disparaging
the trotter in any way, for American
skill has certainly done more in . fight
with time for q short distance than any
horse in the world. / am looking solely
on the utility Of such q horse. He lie not
useful, because his bones are bad, his
joints are often too small, and when
large enough have inherent disease. He
is not fitted to overcome difficulties, and
is only useful in the sense of winning
races. A trotter in the European sense
must be able to 20 over any kinds OF
roads, up hill or down hill, before any
sort Of wagon, drawing 500 to 400 pounds
at twelve or fourteen mile An hour gait.
We do not in any way endeavor to
smooth the way OF difficulties for the
sake Of . record. We want horse that
can get out and do his work without any
nursing. Then, another thing, We hear
very little Of team records for trotteFs in
this country. do not mean. Of course,
q sensational performance made BY the
favorite driving pair Of some few gentle
men, but am talking about the country
as q whole. With us there are four-in-
hand trotting races for gentleman driv-
ers, and it takes q good man, tell you,
to keep your horses on the trot up to
their work every minute Of the four
miles, the distance usually gone over"