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 CHAPTER II

HOW TO BREED A HORSE.—CHOICE OF THE MARE. SIZE, SYMMETRY AND SOUNDNESS MORE IMPORTANT THAN BLOOD—POINTS OF THE BROOD MARE—DISEASES HEREDITARY—CONDITION OF THE MARE—SHOULD HAVE MODERATE WORK WHEN WITH FOAL—FOOD AND CARE DURING GESTATION—HEALTH AND TEMPER—GENERAL RULES. now come to another and by no means secondary part of the business; that is to say, to the choice of the mares. And here we say that the first thing to be looked for is, not blood nor performances, but size and symmetry, accompanied, as a matter of course, by constitutional and structural soundness. Blood from the sire, beauty from the dam, is the golden rule of the breeder. We know it is commonly said by farmers, concerning some miserable, undersized, ewe-necked, cat-hammed wretch of a mare, broken-winded, ring-boned and spavined, "Oh, she will do to raise a colt out of!" So she will! But what will the colt be? The breeder had better, for all purposes, especially for his own pecuniary benefit, have shot her at once; for the colt will not be worth the mare's grass, let alone the price of the stallion's services. When we say that blood is not to be looked for, we mean not as a primary necessity. Of course, it is to be looked for, thus,—that a fine mare, having the breeding points finely developed, got by a prime thorough-bred horse, is a preferable animal for a dam, to an equally fine mare who has no thorough 2