Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1904-04-13
Timely Words For
The Horse Breeder

Interest in horse breeding has in
creased In the southwest until the
farmers are now considering the ad Wis
| ability Of raising draft horses, says
Farm and Ranch of Dallas, Tex. These
are the horses for the average farmer
to raise for market, since they do not
require the special preparation for mar
ket in the way of training, ETC., that
| light horses or coach horses do and are
less damaged by blemishes, which fire.
quently appear, even on colts that are
carefully cared for The draft horse
can be broken at the age Of two years
and made self supporting until he is
mature and ready for market. Follow
definite plan. in breeding. Every
farmer should attempt to produce
horses of some definite type such as
the market demands, and this can only
be done ~ jdeetdfng % Jtlies breed or
type one cares to raise and then reso-
lutely sticking to it. IN $.
In speaking Of the draft horse Pro-
lessor Kennedy of the Iowa State col
legs, saysioY ,opo,.o;54 70; 4
The type Of draft horse that the mar
horse. Weighing LOGO
pounds or over in ordinary working
condition deep bodied broad, close.
coupled. massiye horse with powetful;I
IONS and hind quarters. >sfIe should be
deep and wide, In the chest. to insure a
rugged constitution; IFS legs should be
well set, with clean, dense bone, sloping (
pasterns and his feet should be large,
round, wide at tile heels and Of fair
depth, especially at the heels. 1t is
well to remember the old Scotch motto:
Feet and legs. bone and feather.
Tops may come. but bottoms never.
For without good feet and legs the best
bodied draft horse in the world would
be practically useless. Good action Is
alsola prime requisite, for with all 9TH
er. things equal the horse that can walk
four miles per hour with ease Is Of far
more value than the one that cannot
take this pace, and good action is also
invariably associated with good con-
The Cost of n Horse.
A correspondent asks Stockman and
Farmer what 1t costs to raise horse
This is very proper question, and Ii
5 one that deserves more consideration
han 1t receives. If every man who
reeds mare would sit down and fig :
ire what it will cost him to raise her {
reduce to three years old, he would {
ONE to one of two conclusions-to !
reed to get horse of some good sell I
1g class or type or not breed at all. {
tut this Is not answering our friends l.
ueStiOn /
Anew years ago number of people II
Awaited TO our readers their esti- q
lates on this question. and based on c
re then prevailing prices of grain and il
rage, allowing SIS for service fee. the Il
neral conclusion was that about $75 V
presented the cost of three-year- II
d to the breeder. At present prices a.
would cost more. and probably 500 OF
a fair estimate This is for farmers RI
no raise grade colts and work the re
ms. Certainly breeders who keep Dl
cir mares for breeding purposes only "
ID must keep or patronze high priced pl
lllions cannot raise colt for any III
ing like this amount of money. In
Granting that the tbree-year.old re
SITS 500, it is poor business to breed
kind that Is not worth more than on
DO when grown. The right kind of ne
'ee-year-old-draft. coach or roadster m
)e-is worth twice that today. We on
al be glad to have some more ex- Sc
renee on the cost of raising horses Gn
4 especially TO have breeders criti- de
G the above estimates. de
A Giant Missouri Mule. ny