The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1912-12-31
UnSOuNDNESS
AND HEREDITY

Most Of the states that have stall.
lion laws classify certain unsound-
ness as heritable, and will not per-
NIT stations possessed Of such un-
soundness to stand for service. Many
writer's have drawn q sharp theoret-
| ical distinction as to the heritability
| of such conditions, and have spoken
OF a pre-disposition to the disease as
! the thing inherited. A careful con-
sideration of the physiology Of many
unsoundnesses shows that both OF
these contentious are wrong in their
extreme theory, unless predisposition
is a remarkably elastic word. II also
shows why 1t will never be possible
to totally remove unsoundness, be-
cause 1t is neither in nor outside of
the hereditary condition of any ami
NAL.
When a man works in the hot sun,
the skin of the body adapts itself
to the mans needs, and forms much
more pigment, tanning the man, as
| IL were. When a horse Is trained
for the race track, its music power
adapts itself in a certain way to meet
racing conditions. When a hog re-
covers from hog cholera, there is
found in it's blood certain antitoxins,
which the blood has formed to adapt
itself to and repulse the choleric con-
ditions. And so II Is in the case OF
curb. When a horse with a weakly
supported hook forms this unsound-
ness under strain beyond its strength
II simply follows the laws of adapta-
ton illustrated in the preceding ex-
amples.
vital one in the development of every
species. Those individuals that can
most readily meet adverse conditions
with an effective response are the
ones that will survive and be the
leaders Of their race. Thus a defin-
lite method Of response has come to
meet certain conditions
Let us return to the example of
the curb. We say there are two
kinds of curb, one associated with a
normal conformation. which is not
an unsoundness, and one found with
insufiiciently supported or sickle
hooks, which is always an unsound-
ness. Why distinguish between the
two? Both are results of the same
more or less severe strains that have
passed the limit of strength Of the
process. both have come about under
This law of adaptation has been a
hook. Both are attempts to make
up for his lack of strength by increas
ing the bearing surface of the joint.
1t is true that by so doing they stiff
fen the action of the horse, but
strange as it may seem to one who
looks on unsoundness as disease,
the hook with the curb is actually
stronger than it was before the curb
was formed. This does not mean
that the horse is necessarily strong.
err but simply that the Joint itself
Is. The horses action and activity
may be so interfered with that the
added strength Of the hook may not
be compensated for.
What Is true Of curb is true OF
spawn. ringbone and sidebone. Eye,
wind and pulled unsoundness scarce
ly fall in the same class, but the bone
unsoundness are merely danger sig
nails that show where the breeder
has failed.
i The problem then Is not one OF
breeding this class of unsoundness
out OF the horses constitution. 1t is
to breed horse with better mechan
ical strength due to more perfectly
formed joints and heavier bone. II
Is not that We must select against
unsoundness, but that We must Sc
lect for mechanical efficiency. It is
doubtful whether We want to get an
animal free from the possibilities OF
developing spavis, curb and ringbone
because this method of adaptation
may permit service from a horse
that would be ruined forever when
over strained. What we do want is
an animal that has the mechanical
strength from an ideal body. The
stock judge and breeder is not, as
many would have us think, a man
expert in finding little blemishes and
faults He is the man who, looking
past these, can see the mechanical
perfection of everything good e.
N Wentworth Iowa Ctata roIIoos