Page:Hints to Horse-keepers.djvu/45

Rh All, therefore, that the breeder has to do in this instance is, to satisfy himself that the horse is really thorough-bred—that is to say, traceable on both sides of his pedigree to English stud-book race-horses—and that he has the virtues and has not the defects of form which have been previously subjects of discussion. Next to this, there must be a harmony in the size, and, to some extent, in the forms of the animals. The putting small mares to gigantic horses, or colossal mares to ponies, in order to give size to the off-spring, will never answer, but, on the contrary, will result in the production of rickety, mal-formed produce. The mare, as it has been said, may be with advantage something larger, longer, and more roomy than the horse, but not too much so. We should say, a mare of sixteen hands, and proportionate strength, should never be put to a stallion under fifteen hands, and from thence up to fifteen and two inches; nor a mare over sixteen hands to one short of fifteen and a half, up to fifteen, three, hands. Still less should little mares be put to tall horses, or low mares to leggy horses, in order to give height. If the brood mare be low, but long and roomy, it is no bad fault; but the way to give size to the progeny is to select, not a tall or leggy horse for the stallion, but one of singularly perfect symmetry, not much higher than the dam,—though an inch or two inches will do no harm, provided he be not long in the legs especially from the knee downward,—short-backed, close-coupled, and generally strong built—particularly so in those points where the mare is the most defective. We stated above that there is no greater blunder than to breed an animal rickety and defective in one point, to another imperfect in that point, or even unduly developed in it, with the expectation of curing both defects in the progeny. One often, however, sees both mares and horses,