Page:Hints to Horse-keepers.djvu/100

92 though still warm—than his native land, and perhaps of crossing with the species first described. The third is the Arabian jack, which is to the ass what the thorough-bred is to the horse,—taller in height, lighter in limb, slenderer in bone, with a high-carried head, shorter and always erect ears, and a higher and more sprightly spirit, than any other of the ass species. It is said by those who have seen and examined this animal in its native land, and who are competent to judge, that it bears so close a resemblance to the wild ass, Dziggtai, Equus Hemionus, of Persia and Mongolia, as described by Pallas, the naturalist, that it is not to be doubted that it is descended from that swift and beautiful creature. Were the saddle, or harness before pleasure vehicles, the object of mule-raising, this jack or his representative, the Maltese jack, which is evidently directly sprung from him, with little or no degeneracy or deterioration, would, unquestionably, be the best sire. But for draft mules for heavy work, these jacks are too slender in the limbs, and especially too long in the pasterns to make eligible sires. In our opinion the Maltese jack should never be chosen as a sire for working mules in this country; but if he be, he should be bred to close-ribbed, strong-boned, stocky mares; Canadians we should prefer to any other form. It is our belief, however, that the Andalusian jack, if it can be procured, is the most eligible sire for the United States; but as it is understood to be difficult to procure this race, it would be perhaps advisable to commence from the commencement, and proceed to breed our own jacks for the purpose of breeding our own mules, instead of having recourse to the constant importation of male asses. This, in the end, would prove to be not only the surest but the cheapest method; and it is confidently believed that a superior jack to any now existing, for American breeding