The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-09-02
With the Small Farmer
True Size in Horses

- W. AAA
| The editor of Canadian Farm dis
cusses the terms, scale and size as ap-
piled to the horse as follows:
Audible all over the continent of
North America is the cry for more
size" in draft horses. We hear this
! breed attacked for its lack of weight
| that for its lack of bone, the next
for it's lack of quality When we see
a horse which fills, the bill Of the good
judge in point of size, bone and quail
| ty We hail him as cOnquerer-get
the band out, so to speak-and num-
| Der him among the great Not so long
ago the writer heard of a world heater
IA, wonder-which combined within
! himself all the good qualities spoken
Of by writers on the hoi:sa from Youatt
to Hayes. A personally conducted in
| terview disclosed a lathy, gander-
shanked individual about 10 hands
high, none too good in his middle and
| none too thick through anywhere. HIS
head and neck were we'll nigh fault
| less, and his bone was sufficient though
not extraordinary Nevertheless there
was room for a score of horses be-
tween him and great one, for the sim
pie reason that he was a wonder only
when viewed broadside on. He lacked
the essential of scale.
What Is Scale?
cation of many pounds avoirdupois
scale as the correlation of, sufficient
weight. There is a difference between
scale and weight" horse may
| weigh enough and yet be deficient in
scale He may weigh we'll over the ton
and yet be a lathy, three cornered
brute without the first recommends
ton of good horse about him.
/ Again a horse appreciably lighter may
possess scale enough. Everyone knows
that the long-legged horse is seldom
good one, though this is not always
true. Still when il con IS to selecting
| stallion the teaching of the traces
must not be neglected. 1t is not to be
expected that any stallion can trans
NIT qualities which he does not himself
possess. If he is not "close enough to
his work" in the harness, he will have
to be mated to mares that are extra
! ordinarily good in this respect before
he will succeed in the stud
1t has been suggested by many
managers of fairs and shows that a
standard of height and weight should
be adopted. This would mean that all
stations not up to those standards
would be debarred from showing. This
may be all very well in its way, but
its way is so impracticable Given the
height and weight, and a duffer be-
| tween, what then? Suppose now We
establish arbitrary lines-set the
height standard at 172 hands and the
weight of ton. Any stallion that does
not meet both requirements must
stand down and some big, unorganized
brute may sift to the top, the best of
bad lot A real good one, meeting
| these specifications, will, of course. win.
but he would have won in any case.
/ what would these managers have
gained by the establishment of the ar
bitrary limits?
Time was when this writer sold
| many horses. Nine out of ten buyers
demanded ton horse" Few of them
| got them. A ton means 1000 pounds
| IN North America. A fairly good farm
team weighs 1900 pounds and makes
f, good every day in the year This
| means that the buyer wants at the 60
off a stallion which weighs about four
fifths as much as the two horses he
works at home. A net result of this
demand is that vendors load their stall
hons with every possibl ounce of fat
that may be crowded beenath their
skins. What does that sort of weight
amount to? True, it is good to see that
the Animal is healthy enough to make
and carry such an enormous load of
adipose tissue, but again, what does it
amount to Show and sale yard stand
ards of weight Iare generally deceptive.