Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1902-02-06
Is There Place for the Generai-Pur-
pose Horse7

Is There . Place for the Generai-Pur-
pose Horsef
From Farmers Review: I propose
to discuss this question from the
standpoint and in the interest of the
small farmer of. say. 100 or 200 acres,
who raises few colts yearly primar.
lily for his own use, and, secondarily.
to sell. And, Of course. our point Of
view Is quite different from that OF
the dealer, the city buyer and user or
the stallioner. / will Just give my
idea Of the general purpose horse. He
should be a solid colored horse. deep
blood bay preferred. weight anywhere
from 1.100 to 1900; he must be COM
pact, have q short back. .long square
quarters. long sloping shoulders with
long neck set right on top Of the
shoulders. round body. breast full and
rather broad, with good limbs under
him and a clean head indicative OF a
good disposition. He must be q tough
and hardy fellow with vim and cour.
age, and all the style and action ono
can get, ditto speed; but l would place
first fast walk and an easy, friction
less trot. In short, would have him
as near a model coacher as possible
without sacrificing anything Of rugged
strength and endurance.
Now. is there any place on our farm
for this horse? Well, should smile!
There is no place anywhere, except the
speedway. that he 10 not par excellence
the horse. At the heaviest farm
work he will knock the stunning out OF
the drafter. and for road work he will
be good enough for any farmer. and
he il always salable. The average
horse of this class will generally sell
for a profitable price anywhere and ev'
erywhere. The fine drafter 10 noble
fellow and love him, but We small
farmers can't afford to raise him for
what our market will pay. This may
not be orthodox in theory, but know
1t will figure that way In practice.
With the mares we have and the stal.
lions available to most of us, We raise
so many that won't quite pass. which
we hardly know what to do with. that
an occasional prize, even II we get
$500 for him, won't pay the bills. The
trotter and the thoroughbred are
worse. We get motley mixture Of
insists, which are Of no use In any
place-not even for bolognas.
How is this horse most easily pro.
duced? I think this horse 10 more
easily Appropriated in = profitable
way than any other. We may produce
him either by line breeding or by
crossbreeding. Right here l must d.
gress q little. believe the Creator
holds us responsible for the right use
Of everything he entrusts to our care
our talents, our farms, and our breed
ing stock. II q farmer does not leave
his farm better than he got it he com,
Ilits a sin. II l breed horses II 10 my
duty to improve my stock as much as
my circumstances will permit. This
alone would prevent me from cross
breeding, though l believe II sk.llfully
followed very satisfactory results
could be attained almost Immediately;
but for breeding purposes the stock
would not be worth more at the end OF
ones life than it was at the start
For the small farmer think the ESQ
called) French Coacher is the horse
First. more of the qualities wanted are
inherent in the breed and can reason.
ably be expected to be reproduced than
in any other variety Of horse known.
consider him quite good general
purpose horse. but he don't seem to
be prepotent in style and action. l
know Of only one family Of horses
which are. Second. q fairly good stall.
lion Of this breed Is available in al.
most every neighborhood.-Wm. s.
Fehr, Stephenson County. Illinois.