The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1907-11-08
tam a1d
THE SCARCITY OF HORSES.

Our eastern cities, towns and coun-
try districts are filled with poor, mis-
cradle horses that are made to do
work for which they were never in.
tended, and as result about every
other horse is diseased. The brew
cries do one good work at least in
always keeping their horses in excel
lent condition and getting kind suit
ed to the work they have to perform.
How surprised we should be to see
an OK hitched to Tunabout, or a
Shetland pony pulling contractors
cart! Yet high-spirited discarded
carriage horse is no more suited for
heavy work than the OK is for driv-
ing. There is nothing more distress.
ing than to see poor nervous locked
tailed horse hitched to q city ash cart,
being devoured by flies
In England horses are thought more
of and used less than they are over
here. Heavy cart horses are treated
as such and not expected to go off a
walk. Here, as soon as the teamstef
empties his cart he puts his team
into a trot regardless of the weight
of his horses and the chances of in
juring their feet on the hard pave
ments. Many man buys his farm
team from city sales stable, with lit.
tie regard to its suitability to the work
to be done, price being the chief con-
sideration. One has only to pass
thYor1oh 40 orIyo% Sf mt nitx "
to realize the truth of this.
Strength is not the sole requisite
in farm horse. He should be able
not only to pull pillow, but to trot
to market with high spring wagon
The horse best suited for such Work
is medium between drafter and
roadster; he may be of light draft
stock or of the heavy coach type. This
latter type can often be bought from
city sales stables. The writer per-
sonally knows farmer who uses
nothing but city carriage horses of
the heavy type on his farm.
In DR.. Curryer's book, Horse
Sense" the important points of farm
horse are given in a very few words:
Courage, determination, quickness in
taking hold of loads, intelligence, and
the ability to walk fast" The ques.
ton is where to find horses possess
ing these qualities. AS / have said,
they can oftentimes be picked up in
the city stables, but by far the most
satisfactory way will be to raise them.
Speaking on this point DR.. Curryer
says:
THE advantage to the farmer in
breeding draft horses is that they
require less care in handling and
training, because they are not so hot
blooded as the carriage and road horse
generally, and will, therefore, go to
market with less preparation. Then
again, slight injuries from wire fences
and trit1ing blemishes through acct
dents, reduce the market value less
than in the highly finished type Every
farmer who has brood mares Ssniing
toward the draft type, should not fail
to select the best draft stallion obtain
able to breed to. 1t costs no more to
raise well-formed, muscular, strong
Reconstructed horse than a monde
script weakling, good-for-no.hing.
Perhaps the most important point,
and one frequently forgotten in breed
ing horses, is to breed to type. Once
having decided what type of horse you
intend to raise, never let anything
change your mind. Don't breed your
mares to Percheron this year and
then change to French coach next
and to trotter next, and so end in
getting colts that are useless. The
same thing holds true with all domes-
tic animals. Keep in mind the matter
of soEndness, size, form, quality, per-
lection and disposition. See that the
stallion that serves your mares is as
near perfect as it is possible to be.
Also remember that to get size we
must have large roomy brood mares
as well as large sires.-E. K, in The
Country Gentleman.