The Van Buren press., 1898-08-06
FARMER AND PLANTER.
HINTS TO HoRsE-BREEDERS.
Few Suggestions that Forty Years of
Observation Have Proved to
be Valuable.

y
ers at this very important season Of
the year, we will endeavor to give your
readers few suggestions that over 40
years Of close observation have firmly
tablished as valuable. viz:
First-It requires six years from the
time Of breeding until we have the
animal of marketable age generally
sought for.
second-The best time to go into the
business of horse breeding is when
stock is cheap-little or no demand in
the market-when selections of the de-
sired types and blood can be carefully
made with the adaptation of both sires
and dams to be coupled together for
the most uniform results. with the
view Of improving all the good quail
ties Of our horses and eradicating
their defects at a reasonable outlay OF
money.
1hird.-To maintain any Of the spe-
eitic types of horses, we must confine
ourselves in the selection of breeding
animals to the desired type, let it be
draft, coach, carriage or road horses,
and never try to improve either type
by crossing one type with another, for
the reason. BY SO doing, we are in
great danger Of losing the good quail
ties of both. and all subsequent breed
ing will be more or less guess-work;
an irreparable loss that many genera
tions will not eradicate.
Fodrth.-While we may eonfine all
our horse-breediug 10 a specific type.
we can not expect to overcome the inn
perfeetions of many of the individuals
of the type without very careful selec-
tions of the brood mares and stations
that should be mated together for the
improvement of that type, and herein
lies the great secret of the improve
ment of all the types of our best
horses.
Thousands upon thousands of far m-
ers in the last decade have had some
experience in cross-breeding, or rather
"haphazard- breeding. from which the
country became flooded with a great
mass of horsehesh that they them
selves did not want and there proved
to be no sale for at living prices,
which should be a lesson for US in all
future efforts in horse breeding.
The rapidly increasing demand for
good. sound horses of any of the we'll
defined types should induce every own
er Of good brood mares to make spe-
cial effort to meet them with the best
stallious TO be found.
The service fees should be a minor
consideration when the proper stall
lion is found that shows decided i'm
provement in the offspring with gem
orally uniform results.
1t is not only the size, style and ac-
ton of the stallion that should gain
him patronage, but his ancestral in
heritanee. his ability to impress upon
his offspring the meritorious qualities
Of the family, with uniformity that
will guarantee to the owners of brood
mares that are nearly the counterpart
of the stallion, as nearly all mares and
stations generally are) such results as
will insure an active demand for the
produce. Almost all mares and stall
lions have some weak or defective
parts or parts of their organization,
and here is where the greatest consid-
Grafton and good judgment should be
exercised IN the selection of the stall
lion for every individual mare, as
the weakest part of the horse
is the estimate of his ability,
just the same as the weak
est link IN the chain is the estimated
tensil strength of the chain. What
ever weakness or defect in the mare to
be bred is known to her owner land he
should know, the corresponding part
must be particularly strong in the
stallion she is to be bred to. While the
similarly strong parts Of each will be
greatly increased, the weaknesses and
defects are greatly multiplied. What
ever is lacking in the mare should be
made up in the stallion, and vice versa.
We will have defective ones enough
with very careful selections, and what
must we expect when we pay little or
no regard to them? We can not afford
to spend our time, trouble and expense
of raising horse to mark age
that is not eagerly looked for by the
buyers.
We too often take a general and
casual glance at the confirmation of
the stallion and utterly fail to give
him a critical examination in detail.
His body may not be too long or too
short, but he may be lacking in girth
at either heart or flank. The ribs NAV
be well sprung, and too often fat and
too much space between them He NAV
be of good carriage at one end and
poor at the other. lie may have "a
fairly good ear, but coarse Roman
nose; but a straight face line and wide
between the eyes with a clean bonY
head is very rarely associated with
clumsy ear and thick heavy neck.
The shoulders and quarters should be
well clothed with muscles, giving
width and depth at both ends of the
body.
The most careful examination and
comparative consideration should be
bestowed on the feet and legs of the
animal-the running g-gear--means of
locomotion-as his whole life of use
fulness consists in his moving and
working power and not in his flesh as
food, like that of cattle, sheep and
hogs No matter how large or small
the horse, how his fnely-groomed coat
exhibits its varied hues in the sun
light, how much style or spirit he ex-
hibits, without good feet and legs
properly hung to his body he is COM
paratively n worthless animal to what
he otherwise would be.
If the brood mare has curby legs the
stallion should have broad, clean