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The Horse Book

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A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE AMERICAN

HORSE BREEDING INDUSTRY AS

ALLIED TO THE FARM

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By J. H. S. JOHNSTONE
Assistant Editor of **The Breeder's Gazette*

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Chicagro

5anders Publishing Company

1908

COPYRIGHT 1907.

SANDERS PUBLISHING CO.

All rights reserved.

PUBLISHERS' PREFACE

In the year 1885 Mr. J. H. Sanders, founder
of Tlie Breeder's Gazette, brought out a little
volume entitled ''Horse Breeding,'' which for
a period of nearly twenty-five years has
stood as the standard authority on the subject
to which it was devoted. It passed through
many editions in this country, besides being
translated and republished in Germany. The
*' whirligig of time," however, has now ren-
dered it desirable that the old work be sup-
planted by something more modern; hence the
appearance of this volume at this time.

Since the death of Mr. Sanders Sr. in 1899
the heavy end of the editorial work in connec-
tion with the horse department of The Breed-
er's Gazette has been carried by Mr. James H.
S. Johnstone, former editor of the Chicago
"Horseman." In his capacity as Assistant
Editor of Tlie Gazette during the past eight
years, he has had exceptional opportunities for
perfecting his already broad practical knowl-
edge of the hoirse. It was believed, therefore,
that no writer upon this topic in the United
States at this date was better equipped to im-
dertake this task.

It will be noted that in the preparation of
this volume no effort has been made to deal
with the horse as relates to the race course.

3

4 PREFACE.

Tlie work is designed primarily to be of prac-
tical value to those who have in view the pro-
duction of the types of horses in general re-
quest upon the farms and in the market places
of the United States. Fuirthermore, it has not
been deemed advisable to encroach to any ap-
preciable extent upon the special province of
the veterinary surgeon. It is submitted, there-
fore, as an aid to those who are engaged in the
breeding and handling of the every-day horse of
commerce; and in that field it is believed that
^^The Horse Book" will meet an actual need.
The author desires us in this connection to
express his special indebtednes to the present
Managing Editor of The Breeder's Gazette, M^.
Alvin H. Sanders, for valuable suggestions in
the preparation and revision of the manuscript.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PART I.

Page.
Chapter I. — Origin of the Horse 7

Chapter II. — Heredity as a Force 13

Chapter III. — The Stallion — Desirable Points and Faults 21

Chapter IV. — Embryology — Impregnation — Conception 35

Chapter V. — Management of the Stallion 48

Chapter VI. — Management of Brood Mares and Foals 70

Chapter VII. — Fitting for Sale — Market Classes — Trade Terms. 108

Chapter VIII. — Fitting for Show and Showing 131

PART II.— THE BREEDS.

What is a Breed ? 149

DRAFT TYPES.
The French Group. — Percheron, Boulonnais, Nlvernais, Bre-

tonnais, Ardennais and Mulassiere 154-165

The Belgian 166

The British Group. — Clydesdale, Shire and Suffolk 170-183

The Light Breeds. — Thoroughbred, Arabian, Standard-bred,

Morgan, Orloff 186-198

The Coach Breeds. — French Coacher, German Coacher,

Cleveland Bay and Yorkshire Coacher 197-212

Hackney and Hackney Pony 213

The Saddle Breeds. — Five-gaited Saddler, Three-gaited

Saddler, Hunter, Polo Ponies 220-229

The Pony Breeds. — Shetland, Welsh 230-233

Range Horses 234

Three famous Stallions — McQueen, Holland Major and

Brilliant 238

PART III.
HYGIENE — UNSOUNDNESS — DISEASE 242

APPENDIX.

Stallion lien laws of all states and territories where such

legislation has been enacted 272

List of stud books recognized by the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture 298

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page.

Extremes meet Frontispiece

Restored fossil skeleton of Eohippus Facing 8

Asiatic White Ass 9

Prjevalski's Horse 10

Burchell Zebra 11

Skeleton of pulling draft horse 27

Breeding Hopples 65

Mares and foals in pasture 93

Finished drafters ready to ship Ill

The Armour champion draft geldings 114

A Mulassiere stallion 155

A Percheron type — Imported 160

A Percheron type — Bred on the Western Range 162

Type of the Boulonnais 164

A Nivernais type 165

An Ardennais type 165

Type of the Bretonnais drafter 165

A Belgian type 166

A rugged Clydesdale 173

A Quality Clydesdale. — Type popular in Scotland 176

A Quality Shire 178

A Shire type popular in England 179

Shire mare and foal 180

A Suffolk type 183

A typical Thoroughbred 186

Lou Dillon, 1 :58 i/o 190

Dan Patch, 1 :55 ' 191

Famous sire of roadsters and speed 192

Trotting-bred heavy harness horse 193

French Coacher. — Trotting type 202

French Coacher. — Carrossier type 204

A German Coacher 206

Yorkshire Coach stallion 211

Hackney. — Under 15.2 hands 213

Hackney. — Over 15.2 hands 214

A small Hackney Pony 218

Hackney Pony. — Medium size 219

Five-gaited Saddle stallion 220

A five-gaited Saddler on parade 222

Three-gaited saddle horse 226

Heavy-weight hunter 227

A light-weight hunter 228

Colorado-bred polo ponies 229

The Celtic Pony. — An aboriginal type 230

Group of Shetland Ponies 231

Scotch Highland Garron 232

A champion Welsh Pony 233

Band of Range Horses 234

Cayu.se or Indian pony 235

Brilliant 239

McQueen in his 23d year*. 240

vi

PART I.

CHAPTER I.
ORIGIN OF THE HORSE.

Every animal as we see it today is the result
of a long and tedious process of evolution.
Time, geologically speaking, is measured in
ages, and as we find the first definitely accepted
ancestor of the horse preserved in fossil form
in the Eocene formation of the rocks we may,
according to the general belief, place the date
of this ancestor somewhere about three and one-
half millions of years ago. Succeeding and
higher forms persist through the newer forma-
tions in the earth's crust until we reach the
Prehistoric and Historic horses, the remains of
the former being found upon the earth 's surface
and the story of the earliest of the latter being
preserved in rude sculpture. None of the geo-
logical or Prehistoric prototypes of the horse
was large, the greatest height having been prob-
ably about 13 hands. It is impossible to trace
the descent of the horse without the use of sci-
entific terms, and for such use I crave indul-
gence.

Ancestor to all hoofed or ungulate animals is
the Phenacodus primaevus, which has therefore
been established as the progenitor of the horse.

8 THE HORSE BOOK.

This was a small animal having five digits or
toes on each of its four limbs. Its second, third
and fourth toes were furnished with hoof-like
protection and its fossil remains are found in
Europe as well as in America. It lived in
swampy regions and the subsequent hardening
of the ground rendered necessary the evolution
of a foot of the type possessed by the horse of
today.

Strangely enough, though there were no
horses on the American continent when it was
discovered by the Spaniards, the genus was
evolved here and is believed to have crossed into
Asia over ground that at some remote period
connected the most northwesterly portions of
our continent with the most easterly confines
of Siberia. Profs. Marsh of Yale and Osborn
of the American Museum of Natural History
have been chiefly instrumental in tracing the
geological history of the horse.

Next in line of descent to Phenacodus is
Eohippus, which name may be translated as
meaning the dawn or beginning of the horse.
This was about the size of a fox, about 11 inches
high, and in it the first toe had entirely disap-
peared and the fifth was represented only in
vestigial form in the hind legs. Protorohippus
followed, probably about 18 inches high, much
like its predecessor, but lacking the fifth toe on
all its legs. Orohippus following presented an
appearance closer to that of the horse and had

Restored fossil skeleton of Eohippus, similar in size to
whippet dog, eleven inches high

Photo from American Museum of Natural History

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ORIGIN OF THE HORSE. 9

four toes in front, the fourth disappearing, and
three only behind. In Mesohippus there are but
three toes, the fourth being represented by a
splint. In Miohippus there are also three toes
and a very rudimentary splint, the second and
fourth toes disappearing, thus leaving this an-
cestor of the horse to walk on his third or middle
toe. In Protohippus the second and fourth toes
are smaller still. In Pliohippus these toes are
represented by splints, which in a still more
rudimentary form exist to this day.

In Pliohippus we see the first real soliped or
solid-footed animal in this descent, and the ani-
mal was distmctly of a horselike type. Thus
may we trace the evolution of the one-toed horse
from his five-toed ancestor. Besides the splint
bones we have in further evidence of this evolu-
tion from a soft-footed ancestor the footskin
which entirely covers the soft structures of the
horse's foot from the horny box which protects
them — the hoof, which was evolved to withstand
the resistance of the hardened ground. There
are various other proofs of the descent as out-
lined, but these need not be dealt with here.
There are some other intermediate links, but
the line followed gives the main steps in the
evolution of the horse as arranged by Marsh.

Pliohippus was prevalent in all the great con-
tinents. How the horse was extinguished in
America we do not know. It was, however, in
Asia south of the Altai Mountains in Mongolia,

10 THE HORSE BOOK.

and directly in the line of the supposed migra-
tion that what is considered to be the wild type
of horse was discovered by Prjevalsky, a Eus-
sian traveler. Since 1881 several specimens of
this species have been brought into captivity
and its habits studied in the region to which it
is indigenous. This species attains a height of
from 12 to 13 hands. Between Pliohippus and
the Prehistoric horse there is a gap in the line
of descent differently filled by various authori-
ties. It was at this period that the genus
branched into the 'three species now represented
by the horse, the ass and the zebra.

Of the Prehistoric horse we read the record
in his fossilized bones found in caves, left there
by the men of the Older Stone Age, the Newer
Stone Age and the Bronze Age. Horses seem
then to have been used only as human food and
it cannot be determined when they were first
made subservient to the will of man to carry
him or to work. Some of the Prehistoric horses
partook largely of the character of the ass and
it is probable that Prjevalsky 's horse corre-
sponds quite closely to some of the later forms
of that step in equine evolution or forms a sort
of a connecting link between the Prehistoric and
the Historic races.

Scientifically the horse, the ass and the zebra
form what is known as the genus Equus. The
Nubian Wild Ass is the nearest the original
type of ass and from it all our domesticated

ORIGIN OF THE HORSE. 11

asses are descended. The Mountain Zebra oc-
cupies the same position for that species. Spe-
cific differences between the horse and the ass
are many, but the chief perhaps are that the
ass has but ^ve lumbar vertebrae, the horse
six ; the ass has chestnuts on two legs, the horse
on all four; the ass brays, the horse neighs.
Position is accorded Prjevalsky's horse as de-
fined in part because it has only five lumbar
vertebrae, yet its other characteristics place it
among the true horses.

Crossing is freely accomplished among mem-
bers of the three species of this genus. The re-
sult of such crossing is termed a hybrid. The
most common is between the horse and the ass
and this mating appears to have been made at
a very early date, though in which direction we
do not know. Progeny of the male ass and
mare is called a mule, that of a stallion and a
female ass a hinny. Progeny begotten by the
male zebra from mares is now comparatively
common and is termed zebroid. In all cases
these hybrids are absolutely sterile. Allega-
tions to the contrary have been made, but proof
without flaw or loophole is so far wanting.

War and the chase having been, beyond that
of food for man, the primal uses to which the
horse was put, and as improvement would
naturally follow domestication, we must look
in Asia or North Africa for the first advances
toward the strength to carry men and later in

12 THE HORSE BOOK.

speed. The Arabian, now said to be of North
African origin, is probably the oldest estab-
lished type of improved horse, his ancient pre-
eminence being due to the military prowess of
the peoples erstwhile inhabiting a wide but ill-
defined area in Eastern Asia. Westward in
Europe horses grew larger and when the
Saracenic invasions brought the famous clouds
of eastern warriors under the crescent of
Islam into France and Spain, the strains in-
terlocked and the foundation for the modern
equine superstructure was mortised together.
From Spain Cortez brought the first horses
ever landed on American soil when he began his
romantic conquest of Mexico, on March 24, 1519.
Conditions proved ideal for their multiplication
and to the mounts of the mere handful of Span-
ish cavalry which followed the fortunes of the
Great Conquistador may be traced the inception
of horse breeding on this continent.

CHAPTER 11.

HEREDITY AS A FORCE.

Heredity is the biological force which tends
to enable parents to transmit their physical and
psychological characteristics to their offspring.
In improved domestic animals this force has
little strength of itself. As a factor in success-
ful breeding it is not so powerful as environ-
ment. Unless this force is properly directed
and suitably environed its effects in improve-
ment are negligible. The natural tendency of
all improved live stock left to itself is toward
degeneration, not improvement. Hence in con-
sidering the amelioration of animals we must
pay due heed to the breeder ^s personal equation.
One man succeeds and another fails, both using
the same foundation stock. A very complex
problem is faced by the breeder. There are no
hard and fast rules by which success may be at-
tained. Natural opposition, always trending
downward, must be overcome. Superior indi-
viduality and good pedigree are necessary to
the production of high-class animals, but they
are of comparatively small value unless they
are surrounded by proper conditions and the
forces of heredity are directed aright. The
longer I live and the more I see of men and

13

14 THE HORSE BOOK.

horses the less weight do I grant to heredity
and the more to environment and the personal
equation.

Heredity has been supposed to fix type. It
does with certain conditions and it does not
without. Wild animals are of truly fixed type ;
improved domestic animals are not. The Nu-
bian lion is the same today as he was 1,000
years ago; he will be the same tomorrow and
1,000. years hence, if the conditions under which
he lives remain the same. There has been no
admixture of alien strain in his blood. He is
not a composite and therefore he is immune
from variation, the law of which no one under-
stands, the operation of which no one can fore-
see, which is sometimes in advance, generally
in retrogression.

All improved breeds are of recent origin and
all are composites. The good, the bad and the
indifferent are to be seen in them all. If we
accept the types of the wild animals as fixed,
then we must admit that the types of improved
animals are not fixed. Compare any of our im-
proved breeds with the wild goose or the buffalo
for an illustration. Admitting that heredity is
one of the fundamental principles with which
the breeder has to deal, we must grant that any
animal is an aggregation of the essential ele-
ments of all his ancestors, the influence of the^se
ancestors decreasing as they become more re-
mote. Nevertheless the tendency to revert to

HEREDITY AS A FORCE. 15

the characteristics of some ancestor is uncon-
querable and this atavism, as it is called, must
be reckoned with always as well as variation.
These tendencies must of necessity be met with
more frequently in improved breeds of recent
and composite origin and varying environment
than they are in wild animals which have bred
without alien blood and without change of sur-
roundings for an indefinite period of time.
Hence improved animals bred and selected for
many years with one fixed object in view must
more strongly transmit their characteristics to
their offspring than those which have resulted
from hap-hazard matings.

Natural selection is governed by the inexora-
ble law of the survival of the fittest. Matings
of improved stock are often ordered at random,
without due regard to true fitness, and be it
said for the great mass of breeders compara-
tively seldom with a definite ideal in view. Even
the greatest breeders have never collectively
directed their efforts along exactly the same
line. Therefore we have types and types within
the same breed. An inexorable law, always
without change, has ordered the selection of
parents in the wild races. Crossed this way
and that within itself, an improved breed pre-
sents sometimes as many types as there are
great breeders and the great luajority of the
animals within the breed can not be called typ-
ical at all — they lack the touch of the master

16 THE HORSE BOOK.

hand. There has been continuity of effort only
here and there. Environment has been vastly
different. Thus must we reach the inevitable
conclusion that the personal equation and en-
vironment, as directors of the forces of hered-
ity, are the chief factors in domestic animal
breeding', while the propagation of the wild ani-
mals is governed by ah inexorable law which
knows no change. The cases are not similar.

All this forms a condition, not a theory.
There is nothing in it to discourage any one
from undertaking the breeding of improved do-
mestic animals. Its lesson simply is that when
he undertakes that work the breeder must make
up his mind to face a problem full of complex-
ity in which the natural tendency is downward
rather than upward. Too much stress has hith-
erto been laid on the force of heredity, too little
on the personal equation and environment.
The travesties on our improved breeds which
one sees on every hand are proof enough of this
contention.

Size in draft horses and action in high-step-
pers are soon lost whenever the environment
which produced these characteristics is changed.
The Percheron, the Clydesdale or the Shire al-
lowed to breed indiscriminately on the range
ceases after a time to be a draft horse and be-
comes a range horse, because his range environ-
ment is stronger than the draft inheritance be-
queathed to him. On the other hand we may

HEREDITY AS A FORCE. 17

take the instance of the range-bred polo pony as
proving the converse of this proposition. Com-
mon range mares are mated witli Thoroughbred
stallions and the foals are suitably environed.
In this way we breed the best polo ponies on
earth. Allowed to run on the range with their
mothers these foals, not subject to the environ-
ment which makes polo ponies, develop into
common rangers.

Approaching the problem of what heredity
will do for us, parents will transmit a measure
of their joint individuality to their offspring.
Thus if we mate a stallion and a mare both pro-
nouncedly droojDing in the rump, the foal will
almost to a surety exhibit that faulty conforma-
tion. Hence it follows that when either parent
has some undesirable characteristic great care
should be exercised to select the other very
strong in that particular point. These undesir-
able factors in conformation seem to be trans-
mitted with greater force and certainty than
those which we most desire. If we use stallions
and mares of low grade we are merely inviting
the production of doubly inferior progeny.
Heredity is not altogether impartial in this mat-
ter. The best stallion will only beget a certain
proportion of his offspring good. The inferior
stallion will beget progeny, a large majority of
which will be bad — this of cours2 presupposing
that the mares will average with the horse. If

18 THE HORSE BOOK.

the mares are inferior to the inferior stallion
there can be no hope of salvation by his use.

If, as has been insisted, the sire and dam had
each a set share in contributing to the inheri-
tance of the offspring, then breeding would be
a business of rule of thumb — which it is not.
We do not know how these respective shares are
arranged. AYhat we do know is that the joint
individuality in varying proportions is trans-
mitted to the offspring more or less definitely
and this supplies the reason for the selection of
high-class parents as the foundation for the
further work of development by suitable envi-
ronment. In this discussion I have not taken
into consideration the transmission of equine
speed, as that is an elusive spark, is not trans-
mitted as conformation is and has no bearing
on the breeding of animals other than the race
horse, though subject in all ways to the influ-
ence of environment.

Admitting that a horse is a composite of all
his ancestors, a long pedigree is desirable only
insofar as it shows that these ancestors were
good individuals and typical of the breed con-
cerned. A pedigree showing a heterogeneous
mass of individuality is of doubtful value. In
an animal possessing such a pedigree the ten-
dency will be to breed unevenly for the reason
that his ancestors were not even. The force of
hereditv is weakened in such cases because of

HEREDITY AS A FORCE. 19

the diversity of directious in wiiicli it has been
enipk\ved.

To invoke the aid ol' heredity tiien as an
ameliorating agent we must select breeding
stock with lines of good ancestors behind them,
as well as good individuality in them. In such
the especial type desired must be more firmly
fixed than in those which have been promiscu-
ously bred within the breed or crossed out of it
altogether. The inheritance has been intensi-
fied in the one, diversified in the other. Taking
advantage of this intensification and subjecting
its results to proper environment we may pro-
ceed on our upward way. It is the intensified
inheritance of the pure-bred which triumphs
over the diversified inheritance of the scrub and
thus enables us to grade up our stock. Simi-
larly it is the diversified inheritance of the
grade which precludes his success as a sire, even
though he apparently possesses the character-
istics of the pure-bred.

I have conceived, as illustrating the relative
values of heredity, the personal equation and
environment the simile of a telephone system.
The wire strung between two poles may repre-
sent heredity. If it is struck by lightning it will
conduct the undirected force as it always has
conducted it and always will — no one knows
whither. Environ this same wire with tele-
phone apparatus at each end, direct the elec-
tricity in its proper volume and proportion and

20 THE HOKSE BOOK.

the result is a marvel of achievement. The con-
clusion of the whole matter is that heredity of
itself will do little for us if we do not direct
and environ aright the results accruing from its
limited force. The elements of success tem-
poral or moral must proceed from within the
man essaying to achieve it. The breeder who
succeeds takes the forces and the elements he
finds at his hand and directs them and sur-
rounds them to the attainment of a fixed ideal
which can be correctly formed only by careful
thought lighted by the lamp of experience and
reached only by a conquering course over obsta-
cles great and small.

CHAPTER III.

THE STALLION— DESIRABLE POINTS
AND FAULTS.

In selecting a stallion to breed from we must
remember always that it is the handwork of
man from which we have to choose. Therefore
if we desire to pick out one which may reason-
ably be expected to transmit his conformation
we must look for one which presents those char-
acteristics which have been favored of all men
ever since the work of improvement was begun.
There is for this reason one quality which I
count easily first in betokening promise of pre-
potence, and that is a good outlook — a high-
headed, bold, noble masculine presence. All
the ancient writers refer to the crest of the stal-
lion. The Bible clothes his neck with thunder
and makes him sniff the battle from afar. The
oldest sculptures show him as a stallion should
be in this regard. I never knew a stallion with
the head and neck of a mare to be a good
breeder. The bold outlook is possessed by the
winning show horses. It is possessed by their
sires. Men have bred for it, striven for it, even,
as history teaches, fought for it during thou-
sands of years. The horse that shows it is like-
ly to have it by right of inheritance — a reason-

21

22 THE HORSE BOOK.

ably fixed characteristic. I mark it the most
important of all when it is accompanied by
soundness and desirable conformation in other
points.

A lot of stock phrases have been trotted out
from time immemorial to govern the selection
of a horse. Some of them need puncturing.
One of the most glibly quoted is ^'no foot, no
horse.'' Experience of later day methods has
suggested another axiom to me which should
gain as wide a vogue — *'no top, no price.'' A
horse may be the soundest on earth and he will
not bring a good price unless he has a good top
to go with his soundness. Both top and bottom
are required. Bear in mind this new proverb
as well as the old one. No one should buy an
unsound horse, but neither should he buy a
sound one if he has nothing else to recommend
him.

We have also heard much about hereditary
unsoundness. I have never seen a foal unsound
at birth, but I have seen hundreds ruined by
faulty environment. What we must fight shy of
primarily is formation so faulty as to predis-
pose to unsoundness. A blemish which is the
result of an accident pure and simple and aris-
ing on a normal joint, for instance, will not be
transmitted. Narrow round hocks, from their
insufficient carrying capacity, are predisposed
to bone and bog spavins. Sickle hocks invite
curbs. Short straight pasterns and cramped

THE STALLION. 23

hoof -heads go with sidebones, and so on through
a list which need not be farther detailed here.
Faulty surroundings in youth are the main
cause for most of the unsoundnesses we see in
horses.

It has been maintained that the stock term
''quality" has never yet been properly defined.
My definition of quality is "refinement of
fibre." Letting that go for what it is worth, the
fact remains that we recognize quality in a gen-
eral way by refinement of conformation and tex-
ture of hair. Whether the hair dominates the
quality or the quality unseen dominates the hair
I am not prepared to say. Let us call the rela-
tion reciprocal. We have all heard a lot about
the clean flat ivory-like bone of some horses and
the meaty, coarse, spongy, round bone of others
— beautiful quality in the former, no quality at
all in the latter. To the first is joined a good
foot, to the second a poor one, and there is a
good reason for this, even if some of the terms
and beliefs quoted have no foundation in fact.

There is no such thing as flat bone, as the
term is used in the horse. The canon bones are
round. It is the tendon that gives the flat ap-
pearance. The bone in the quality horse is not
necessarily stronger than the bone in the other
horse. The roundness of the leg is produced by
the thickness of the skin and the presence of
tissues about the tendon. The Colorado Experi-
ment Station has found the bone of a common

24 THE HORSE BOOK.

ranger far stronger than that of a well bred,
high-quality native horse.

Texture of the hoof is dominated absolutely
by the character of the hair on the coronet. The
hoof is secreted by papillae the same as the
hair (also tubes), and in composition is a series
of tubes glued together by matter very largely
the same as the dandruff exfoliated by the skin.
If the hair is coarse the papillae secreting the
hoof will be coarse also, the structure of the
hoof being therefore comparable to the hair we
see on the legs and coronet. The larger the
tubes in the hoof, the larger is the space between
them to be filled with the connecting matter.
The more coarse, brittle and curly the hair
about the coronet, the more objectionable will
be the formation of the horny hoof. The finest
hair known in the entire equine family is on the
leg of the Thoroughbred. At speed the foot of
the racer sustains an impact with the ground
that would instantly wreck the foot of a draft
horse.

Quality, even if an intangible attribute, is in-
grained in the horse, but it is not always reeog-.
nized when it is seen. Many a rough looking
seemingly qualityless colt in the field exhibits
the most beautiful quality in the show ring.
Much of it is often the result of proper environ-
ment. Quality is a word to conjure with and
one, be it said, about which a measureless
amount of buncombe has been preached. Too

THE STALLION. 25

often it has been hidden beliind to cover up a
degree of ultra refinement which is far more to
be shimned than a tendency as nmcli in tlie
other direction. Every undersized runty little
fine-boned stallion is bragged up for his quality,
as though that was some sort of an excuse for
him. Now bear this in mind : if a horse has real
quality he has it all over him, not merely in his
legs. Quality counts for much in a horse that
is big enough, but watch out that it is real qual-
ity and not weakness masquerading under that
high-sounding title.

Another stock saying, which has been handed
down for more than a generation here to the
everlasting detriment of the horse, is that his
foot should be deeply concave. It is only neces-
sary to consult old papers and catalogues to
learn how much stress has been laid on this er-
roneous teaching. The blacksmith has appar-
ently taken advantage of this belief by invaria-
bly thinning the sole and cutting away the frog
and so assisting in making the foot concave.
Mark this fact well : the foot that is deeply con-
cave—and naturally it is rare— is a thing^ to be
avoided. The blacksmith should never be al-
lowed to put his knife on sole or frog except to
trim away ragged portions. What we want is
a strong, deep heel, a thick frog, a deep, stout
wall and as thick a sole as possible. If the sole
is concave it must be thin, for there is only so
much space in the foot anyway, and we need

26 THE HORSE BOOK.

as much thickness of sole as we can get. The
low, weak heel and meager frog is that which
we must avoid.

The -horny hoof is joined to the inner struc-
tures at the coronary band and by the horny
and sensitive laminae, some lining the horny
hoof, some rising from the footskin. These two
sets of laminae are interlaced together and they
are again interlocked so that in the ordinary
foot there are something like 750,000 points of
connection between the laminae, holding the
hoof in its place. The junction at the coronet
is a weak one. The interlocking of the laminae
practically holds the horny box in its place. The
whole column of the leg rests on the compara-
tively small coffin bone in the center of the hoof.
The coffin bone in turn rests upon the fatty
frog which overlies the horny frog and the sole.
The junction betwen the sole and the wall is
not a strong one. This supplies the reason why
the sole which is thick and never looks con-
cave is to be preferred, because of the greater
strength of its connection with the wall — hence
the blacksmith should never be allowed to use
anything but the rasp in leveling the foot to
take the shoe. The bars are merely an exten-
sion of the wall, designed to keep the heels
spread and should never" be mutilated, in fact
should never be touched with the knife.

^' Begin at the ground'' is another dictum
which has been repeated parrotlike from year

u

o
w ^

o —
"^ j-i

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05 ^

O o

^ I
i =^

o

THE STALLION. 27

to year. Don't. Stand off rather and take a
good look at the stallion. If he looks like what
is wanted and has the right kind of an out-
look to him, glance at his back and quarter,
loin and flank. If he is short in his back, strong
in his loin, full quartered, has plenty of space
to take care of his dinner, and his rib is long
and well sprung out from the backbone, then in-
spect his feet and legs.

AVidth in front and behind is essential, but
the legs should not be stuck on one at each
corner. A horse made that way always rolls
in front and goes wide behind. The legs should
be set well under the body and heavily muscled
outside. This heavy muscling gives the proper
sort of width. The quarters should be round,
the tailhead well elevated, the lower thighs well
filled, carrying the width of the upper quarters
well down to the gaskins, into which it should
round off nicely and then taper to the hock. The
forearms should bulge prominently forward
and outward and the muscle above and forward
of the elbow should be heavy and the chest
prominent and deep. The neck should spring
well from a pair of sloping shoulders, curve
abruptly to the crest and then still upward to
the ears. The lower line of the neck should
curve outward and then inward to the throttle
which should be as fine as possible for beauty's
sake. A horse is a poorly constructed animal at
the best. Such an enormous weight as the head

28 THE HORSE BOOK.

borne on the end of such a long and weak bony
structure as the neck is a poor piece of mechani-
cal engineering, only partially corrected by the
elastic ligament which stretches from the spines
of the backbone at the withers to the poll. If
the neck curves upward well and the bracing of
the muscles on the underside is adequate it will
be easier for the horse to keep his head where
it should be. Short stubbed necks are never
desirable.

The ear should be reasonably long, not coarse
and never drooping. The head should be wide
between the eyes, straight in its forward outline
and of moderate length. The muzzle is hardly
ever too fine in any breed and the jaws should
be of depth proportionate to the other parts.
The more prominent the eye the better. Over
all the head should be lean and bony, and it
should be joined to the column of the neck so
that the horse may hold it away up and out with
little effort.

The forelegs act merely as weight carriers.
The hind legs do the propelling. The knee
should be broad when viewed from in front and
deep when viewed from the side. The canon
and the tendon should be strong and the groove
between them as much accentuated as possible.
The pastern should be of good length and
oblique, sloping neatly into a smooth open coro-
net which joins a corresponding foot without
any roughness. The hocks should be broad from

THE STALLION. 29

front to back and of strong structure. The
set of those joints should be such that a plumb-
line dropped from the posterior angle of the
hip should strike the hock and traverse the en-
tire length of the tendon. This brings the
weight to bear downward in a perpendicular
line and gives the most strength. Quality of the
legs has already been discussed, as has the tex-
ture and character of the hoof. Avoid horses
that stand with their forelegs stretched out in
front of them or tucked in below them.

Action must necessarily be different in the
different sorts of horse and as such will be dealt
with specifically in considering the various
breeds. Generally speaking in all horses the
step at the walk should be straight forward,
each foot being picked up cleanly and showing
the shoe at each stride. At the trot the move-
ment should be bold and free, the legs carried
well together, especially behind. Very wide ac-
tion behind is a fault. Even in fast trotters
where it has been condoned it is now deprecated
as all the fastest are line trotters and do not
throw the hind legs outside the front. A horse
that stands *^ nigger-heeled'' or with his front
toes out, will usually strike his knees. The one
that toes in will go clear. Paddling or throwing
the fore feet outward toward the finish of the
stroke is very objectionable as also is the out-
ward or inward movem^ent of the knee. The
hocks should be kept close together, flexed

30 THE HORSE BOOK.

sharply and brought forward promptly well be-
neath the body. A wide-going duck-like motion
is bad.

Soundness of wind must be insisted on al-
ways. Make a pass at a horse as though to
punch him in the flank and if he grunts it is
well to let some one else have him. When a
horse can not keep that kind of a secret he will
most likely tell his troubles loudly at the end of
a smart run. Look well to his eyes, his teeth
and his testicles — see that he has a full normal
set of each.

In choosing broodmares the same general
qualifications must govern with the exception
that instead of the bold masterful masculine ap-
pearance of the stallion the mare should have a
distinctly feminine turn to her, though her
outlook should be lofty just the same. She can
do with a bit more range than the horse, so
long as she is strong-backed, deep in the flank,
roomy all over and good in her bone.

In grading up native stock with pure-bred
sires it is best to avoid extremes. ' If the mares
are small do not mate them with a great big lub-
ber of a stallion. Nature abhors extremes.
Rather choose a medium sized compactly built
stallion. He will give better results. If one
has none but small runty mares to begin with it
will pay to hasten slowly and lay the first-cross
foundation securel}'' in a uniform lot of fillies to
which a larger horse may be bred and size grad-

THE STALLION. 31

iially worked to iu that way. It is not often
advisable to try to si)an the chasm between the
l,()()()-ponnd mare and the 2,()00-pound stallion
at one leap. As size is attained from 1,500 to
1,600 pounds and upward the ton stallion is all
right, but with mares of 1,000 pounds or less a
horse of not more than 1,650 pounds will do
better work than a larger one. The same prin-
ciple applies in all horse breeding — the more
divergent the types of the parents the smaller
are the chances of breeding good horses from
them.

In choosing either stallions or broodmares,
outside of actual unsoundnesses, avoid long
couplings, light ribs, weak loins, light flanks,
narrowness of conformation, calf-knees, sickle
hocks, straight pasterns and small, steep, flat,
shelly or low-heeled or mulelike feet. Very
light bone also should be left for some one else,
also crooked top lines, low backs, drooping
rumps, ewe and short straight necks, sour or
"fiddle'' heads, sow ears, dish faces and small
piggy eyes. Sidebones, ringbones, spavins and
thoroughpins are most common unsoundnesses.
Each is easily detected. A splint does not
matter much in a young horse. The legs should
be smooth and clean from the knees and hocks
down to the coronet and so to the hoof which
should be of fine texture without ridges, cracks
or breaks. If in running your hand down the
leg you find a bump, look to it closely.

32 THE HORSE BOOK.

In purchasing a stallion, as that transaction
is usually carried through in this country, see
to it that whatever promises or representations
the seller makes are made before the bargain
is struck and the consideration passes. Any-
thing said after the consideration has passed is
not binding on the vendor. If a guarantee of
anything is to go with the horse get it in good
set terms, the plainer and more definite the
better. Always secure the pedigree certificate
at the time of sale with a definite assurance that
the horse bought is actually the one named in
the certificate. ^' Mistakes ^^ have been known
to occur in this very particular. A guarantee
of the kind holds the seller either to make the
horse fit the certificate or the certificate fit the
horse and leaves him in a bad place if he can
do neither.

A guarantee that a horse will prove an aver-
age foal-getter has come with the lapse of time
to be generally construed to mean that he will
beget 50 per cent of foals to mares covered. If
he does this the first season he will be doing
well enough. A stallion guarantee is usually
a jug-handled sort of an affair, compelling the
buyer to breed the horse only to regular breed-
ing mares, to keep a tally sheet showing proper
return of mares, to return the horse in as good
shape as when he was sold and to do yet other
things all within a stated time. In return the
guarantor agrees, in the event of the horse

THE STALLION. 33

not proving up to specifications, to replace him
with a stallion of equal value, and he — the
guarantor — sets the value. There is not a
great chance for the buyer in such a deal, but
somehow he manages to worry along from year
to year. Most reputable firms prefer to treat
their customers liberally and keep them satis-
fied on the ground, no doubt, that a pleased
customer is the best advertisement, for no
guarantor can be compelled at law to do much
under that sort of a contract.

The seller should put in writing all he prom-
ises to do and sign his name to his promises.
The law is peculiar in regard to commercial
transactions **on inspection'' and there is no
special protection for the man who goes into
a deal with his eyes open. He is supposed to
watch out for himself. A guarantee of abso-
lute soundness need never be expected. No
sane man would give such an one. Legal com-
plications must, however, alwa^^s be unravelled
by lawj^ers in the long run and therefore when
a buyer goes afield to bring home a stallion
he would better post himself at the fountain
head freshly on the intricacies of the law. If
he gets from the seller his bill of sale, a guar-
antee of average potency, the pedigree cer-
tificate and transfer and a definite statement
that the horse bought is really the one named
in the papers, he will be getting a1)0ut all that
is coming to him as the business is usually

34 THE HOKSE BOOK.

done nowadays. If lie is a competent judge he
can afford to go ahead on his own responsibility.
If he is not competent to make a good choice
it will pay him to invoke the aid of the seller,
who must know more about the animal than one
who has only known him for a few hours. Deal
only with reputable men. It is seldom that
such men will throw a buyer down when their
aid is claimed.

CHAPTER IV.

EMBRYOLOGY, IMPREGNATION,
CONCEPTION.

Transmission of life has always been one of
the greatest mysteries with which investigators
have had to deal. As the higher mammalian
animals are all the result of evolution spread-
ing over millions of years, so the development
of the life-transmitting agents must have been
brought about through evolution from mere cel-
lular fission of protoplasmic bodies up to the
present complicated process. It was not until
1677, as is commonly accepted, that the seminal
animalcules were discovered and it was not
until well into the nineteenth century that much
was known of their history and growth. Actual
physiological transmission of life, transmission
of physical and mental inheritance and the de-
velopment of the fetus in the womb, with all
the concomitant maze of mystery existing in
reversion, accidental sports and the transmis-
sion of acquired characteristics, form one of the
most intricate problems with which science has
to deal. It is impossible to go into any ex-
tended discussion of this subject here. There-
for the merest outline must suffice.
In the mare the two ovaries are situated in

35

36 THE HOKSE BOOK.

the lumbar region and connected with the womb
by the Fallopian tubes. In the ovaries the ova
or eggs undergo many well defined changes be-
fore maturity and are then liberated, usually
one at a time, occasionally more. This is the
germ-cell of the female.

In the testes of the male the sperm-cells or
spermatozoa have their origin in the semnifer-
ous tubules. These life-giving agents undergo
various changes from their inception to full
development. At maturity viewed under the
microscope they are threadlike bodies furnished
with heads and not at all unlike the *' wrig-
glers" one may see any summer day in a barrel
of rainwater and which produce mosquitoes.
These spermatozoa, having been matured, are
stored in the seminal vesicles and during copu-
lation are deposited in the vagina of the female.
In some instances the number of these sperm-
cells appears to be countless, in others not so
great, but in all there is what as yet seems to
be almost unaccountable superabundance of
them. With them is secreted a flux or lubricat-
ing medium in which the spermatozoa float, but
which in itself is not fertile.

Periods of heat are in the mare generally
though not always coincident with the ripening
and liberation of the egg. This passes into the
Fallopian tube and through that to the womb.
The spermatozoa have the power of motion and
when deposited in the vagina by the horse begin

EMBRYOIX)GY, IMPREGNATION, CONCEPTION. 37

to work forward. They enter the womb, usu-
ally in large numbers, and some penetrate into
the Fallopian tubes where, according to the
best authorities, the first stage of impregnation
takes ])lace. The egg seems to have a strong
attraction for the spermatozoa. Surrounding
the egg is a soft envelope which is readily
pierced by the comparatively hard head of the
spermatozoon, probably by several. One alone,
however, forces its way into the center of the
egg^ his tail is broken off and no more are al-
lowed to enter. This forms what is termed the
male pro-nucleus. In the egg at about the
same time the female pro-nucleus is formed and
those two moving together unite and complete
the process of impregnation. In the egg there
is a yolk which, after fertilization, is first de-
veloped to greater proportions than when im-
pregnation took place, supplies sustenance for
the embryo and later is absorbed. When it
is considered that there are no two things in
animal life exactly alike, and when it is known
that only one of hundreds, perhaps thousands,
of spermatozoa actually fertilizes the egg, it is
easily recognized how vast and uncertain the
problem of heredity really is.

Development of the fetus in the womb of the
mare has been more or less accurately worked
out. Description of the changes noted, how-
ever, belongs to the domain of the veterinarian
rather tlmn of tho breeder. It is pertinent to

38 THE HOKSE BOOK.

observe, nevertheless, that there is no actual
blood transmission directly from the dam to
the fetus — there is no direct communication be-
tween the maternal and fetal circulations. In-
stead the blood vessels of the placental mem-
branes (which we recognize as the afterbirth
after foaling) lie contiguous to the blood ves-
sels of the dam and sustenance is afforded to
the fetus by diffusion. Besides this there is
in the amnion or water bag a large supply of
fluid which is freely imbibed and absorbed by
the foal. It is thus easy to see how a very
slight disturbance of the juxta-position of the
blood vessels of the dam and membranes, or of
the organs secreting the water in the amnion,
may cause nourishment to be shut off and a
weak or dead foal be produced. The merest
disarrangement of the contiguity of the blood
vessels may work harm to the young and in
this way many a weakly ill-nourished anemic
foal may be accounted for when the owner
could see no reason why it should not have come
all right.

In order for a mare to conceive it is neces-
sary for the sperm-cells to enter the cavity of
the womb and the Fallopian tubes. As they are
microscopic in size they are necessarily very
delicate in structure. It is plain that if the
neck of the womb is absolutely closed they can
not enter. After impregnation has taken place
and the fertilized agg has descended into the

EMBRYOLOGY, IMPREGNATION, CONCEPTION. 39

womb, the mouth of the womb is closed by a
plug of mucus. If from laceration or other
accidental cause the mouth is unduly distended
it will not be closed and the egg will ixiss out
into the vagina and be lost. Mares suffering
from any affection of the genital organs, such
as leucorrhea (whites), which sets up a dis-
charge from the mucous surfaces, will rarely
conceive. These discharges are acid and de-
stroy the spermatozoa. Similarly any condi-
tion such as a heavy cold, strangles or the like,
which induces high temperature or fever, will
operate to kill the sperm-cells. These, with the
germ of contagious abortion, are the commonest
causes of barrenness in mares.

Any man reasonably intelligent can quickly
obtain a working knowledge of the genital or-
gans of the mare. Outwardly visible is the
vulva. This is the entrance to the vagina which
is a more or less cylindrical canal into which
the human hand may readily be passed with
the fingers placed so as to form a cone. A
short distance within the vagina will be found
a shallow depression on its floor and beyond
this a protuberance coming from beneath. On
no occasion or pretext should this be touched.
It is the meatus urinarius — the orifice through
which the urine is voided from the bladder.
It is fitted with a valve and is a tender and
delicate structure. Mares have been killed by
ignorant operators mistaking it for the neck of

40 THE HOKSE BOOK.

the womb and manipulating it. Leave it alone.
Pushing the hand still gently inward and past
the meatus the hard tough neck of the womb
will be encountered — a stick-like dependent
body about two inches in diameter and circu-
lar. This will be found with a hole in it in
most cases. If it is closed a little exploration
with the finger will discover a transverse inden-
tation in it. Gentle pressure of the finger will
effect an entrance and when one finger has been
inserted the orifice may be rimmed out to per-
mit the ingress of two fingers, when it is large
enough. If it is necessary thus to open the
neck of the womb it should always be done a
short time before service, because it will quickly
resume its contracted condition. It should be
needless to say that when such explorations are
made the nails should be carefully trimmed, the
arm and hand plentifully smeared with vase-
line. A hand on which there is any abrasion,
even a bad agnail, should never be employed
in such work. The benefit of ^ ^opening'' a
mare is not, as is generally supposed, so much
in providing free entrance for the spermatozoa,
but in removing toughened coagulated acid
mucous secretions collected in the mouth and
neck of the womb.

Impregnation of mares artificially, as it has
been termed, by syringe or capsule, is admitted-
ly a successful operation. As the s]iermatozoa
must first get within the womb before they can

EMBRYOLOGY, IMPllEGNATION, CONCEPTION. 41

reach the egg, it is of obvious advantage jjosi-
tively to place them there. The operation con-
sists merely in taking up the spermatic fluid in
the syringe (so-called impregnator) or capsule
and depositing it within the uterine cavity.
Once there the spermatozoa may safely be trust-
ed to meet the egg. Mares can easily be got
with foal yet never see the horse. Two or
three mares may be impregnated from the same
service, as the amount of spermatic fluid ejacu-
lated by the horse is abundant.

In order that the operation may be deftly
performed, it is necessary that the womb should
be open. If on examination it is found to ])e
closed, open it as described. After copulation
the withdrawal of the horse will bring much of
the spermatic fluid back into the depression in
the floor of the vagina to which' reference has
already been made. If the nozzle of the syringe
is inserted in the vagina at this point a suffi-
cient amount of the fluid may be drawn up into
it. If it is desired to operate on the mare that
has just been served, conduct the nozzle of the
syringe with the hand into the neck of the
womb, press the bulb, ejecting its contents into
the womb, and the job is done. If it is desired
to impregnate a second or a third mare from
the one service of the horse, have her held
handy by a sensible attendant. Blunderers are
little use for this pui-pose. "Wlien service has
been accomplished to the first mare by the liorse

42 THE HOESE BOOK.

have him taken away. Then taking up the fluid
with the syringe quickly, deftly insert the nozzle
in the vagina of the second mare, pass it for-
ward into the womb and press the bulb as be-
fore. The syringe used for this work is fitted
with a rubber tube about 20 inches long between
the nozzle and bulb. Care must be taken to
sterilize the apparatus thoroughly between op-
erations by cleansing in hot water.

With the capsule, which is made of gelatine
and readily dissolves on contact with the warm
moist tissues, the operation is quite as simple,
if not more so. Eemove the cap from the cap-
sule and taking the other part in the hand, in-
sert it in the vagina, scooping up the fluid into
it with the fore finger. When the capsule feels
full push it on up into the womb and leave it
there. When a second mare is to be impregnat-
ed, fill the capsule as before, withdraw the hand
holding the capsule, insert it in the vagina and
push it into the womb as before. There is no
occasion to be in any great rush. Be deft and
make every move count. Any reasonablj^ dex-
terous man may become proficient at either op-
eration with a little practice. The main thing
is to keep the fertilizing fluid from any marked
rise or fall in temperature, and to keep it from
the light. The syringe shuts out the light ; the
fingers closed about 'the capsule perform the
same service, when a second mare is impreg-
nated.

EMBRYOLOGY, IMPREGNATION, CONCEPTION. 43

Any man who stands stallions may measur-
ably increase his returns from foals by using
this process of impregnation. The service of a
much favored stallion may be greatly extended
by it. Some mares make a great fuss when
they are to be bred and others are atrociously
mean when in heat. All such may easily be
dealt with by keeping the horse out of their
sight and operating quietly upon them. I have
carried a filled capsule forty feet and suc-
cessfully impregnated a female burro from a
service performed by a Shetland Pony stallion
to a mare of his own kind. The little stallion
refused the burro altogether and she in turn
could not be coaxed to go near him. The cap-
sule and a little ingenuity overcame the difficul-
ty and she foaled a fine healthy hinny.

Whenever the operation is to be performed
the mare should either be hoppled or her fore
foot should be held up by an assistant. The
hair of the tail should be braided or sacked
down the length of the dock so that it does not
interfere with the operation, and an assistant
should stand ready to pull it out of the way if
necessary. I have made a study of this matter
of impregnation and the more I see and learn
of it the more deeply impressed I am with the
great possibilities, financial and otherwise, in-
herent in it. I was the first to exploit the cap-
sule method of impregnating mares — I invented
that method — and have had an extended ex-

44 THE HOKSE BOOK.

perience with it. I commend it to the atten-
tion of all breeders and men who stand stallions
and jacks. I count the syringe as good as the
caiDsule in every respect save the danger of
j)ossible infection of clean mares from those
that are diseased unless the syringe is kept in a
thoroughly sterilized condition. The operation
itself is an old one, but as at first it was con-
fined exclusively to the human subject it is not
strange that it did not gain wide publicity until
a comparatively recent date. So far as I know
the mare is the only one of our domestic farm
animals on which the operation of so-called arti-
ficial impregnation has been performed.

There are many fool notions concerned with
the mating of stallion and mare. For instance
some people think that the stallion *4s to
blame ' ' if a mare has twins. The mare alone is
responsible for the number of foals she pro-
duces. If two eggs are matured about the same
time and the mare is covered, the chances are
that both will be fertilized. There are more
spermatozoa ejaculated at one service of the
horse that there ever will be eggs matured by
a mare in her whole lifetime. The stallion can
have nothing to do with the number of foals a
mare may produce at a birth, except that he fer-
tilizes as many eggs as her ovaries ripen. A
mare is not more likely to have twins to a horse
than she is to a jack, though some folks think
she is.

EMBRYOLOGY, IMPREGNATION, CONCEPTION. 45

Then agaiii it has been believed by some, mar-
velous thougii it may appear, that the spermatic
fluid of the horse could be transported long dis-
tances under almost any conditions and still re-
tain its life-transmitting properties. In fact a
shameless charlatan once went so far as to ad-
vertise a container in which the fluid might be
sent through the mails, thus taking advantage
of a ridiculous credulity born of ignorance. Just
how long the spermatozoa will live under the
most favoring conditions is not yet determined,
but it is no great length of time.

Another idea which popularly prevails is that
startling impressions received by a mare at the
time of service may have an effect on the color
and even conformation of the progeny. Not so
long ago a man asked me how he might paint
out the blaze face of his horse so that the mares
might not see the white mark, and so have no
^^ badly marked foals." On various occasions
1 have seen men swiftly wheel their mares
around after service so that they might gaze
upon the stallion's bald face and so insure foals
similarly marked. Color at least may be re-
moved from the list of those things which accrue
from impressions received at the time of serv-
ice; and it should not be forgotten, moreover,
that impregnation can not take place at the mo-
ment of copulation.

Then there is the everlasting '^double cover.''
It will not down. Many men insist that the

46 THE HOKSE BOOK.

mare has a better chance to get with foal if she
is bred twice within half an hour or thereabouts.
The fallacy of this contention is explained fully
by the great number of sperm-cells given up by
the horse. As there is a vast surplus of them
in each service there is assuredly no sense in
duplicating their number. In any case it is a
serious tax to make a horse cover twice in thirty
minutes and it is a money losing proposition as
well. One service at a heat is enough.

Another notion long in vogue is that the first
impregnation influences subsequent offspring ir-
respective of jDarentage. Thus it has been al-
leged that if a young mare should be bred to a
jack and produce a mule, all her later foals by
stallions would have mule marks. Prof. Cossar
E wart's experiments with the Burchell zebra—
the most brilliantly colored of the equine race —
and pony mares apparently prove that there is
no basis in fact for this theory of telegony, as
it is called, and that the first impregnation has
nothing to do with those which follow later.

Close inbreeding is a practice to be shunned
in a general way. It is not to be denied that
some famous breeders have extensively inbred
their stock and so found a plain path to the pro-
duction of a few outstanding animals, but in in-
breeding as a rule there is concealed a bottom-
less abyss of failure. The rare instances where
incestuous mating has been practiced and sue-

EMBRYOLOGY, IMPREGNATION, CONCEPTION. 47

cess followed are the exceptions whicli but i)iuve
the rule. Just what degree of relationship may
be permitted can not be set down by any rule,
but it may be accepted as accurate that consan-
guinity at all close should be barred.

CHAPTER V.
MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION.

Having seen that there is nothing super-
natural or occult about the transmission of life,
but instead that the development of the germ-
cell and the sperm-cell is a normal physiogolical
process, it becomes plain that in order to pro-
duce young of normal vigor the parents should
be in normally vigorous health. Possession of
the highest condition of health implies the con-
tinual breaking down of the bodily tissues, elim-
ination of the waste and replacement by new
tissues, prevention of undue accumulation of
fat and thorough cleansing of the system by the
eliminatory channels. This desired condition
inheres in the proper degree only in the horse
when he is worked and well fed. It follows that
every stallion should be worked, and the same
is true of every brood mare. I can see no rea-
son why both should not take their turns regu-
larly in the harness and do their reproductive
work as well.

There comes a time, of course, in the life of
every stallion and mare when, on account of
failing bodily vigor, only moderate labor, or
none at all, should be required of them. In the
sere and yellow stage of equine existence the
system's physiological processes are much

48

MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 49

slower than in youth or at maturity. The ideal
condition is achieved when just enough work
is given to keep all the bodily functions at their
best. I count a full day's work none too much
for a stallion from his fifth at least to his
twelfth year and often much longer.

With the extension of my experience I have
become more and more firmly rooted in the be-
lief that the working of the stallion and the
mare, in the draft breeds especially, is an abso-
lute essential to a high degree of success in
breeding. It follows then that the working of
the parents has had its influence on breeds. If
this is true the manner of vrorking and the tem-
perament of the people ordering the labor must
also have exerted their influence on breeds —
which brings us back once more to the personal
equation and environment.

It seems clear that this accounts in large de-
gree for the prevailing popularity of the Perche-
ron in the United States and explains why its
offspring finds such favor with the American
people. There are no great studs of idle mares
in France. It is hard to buy mares there in
show condition. It is common enough to see
mature draft stallions imported from France
with the collar marks upon them. I do not re-
call ever having seen similar marks on a stallion
imported from the United Kingdom. The
French horse is driven by men of quick nervous
temperament, flashy and mercurial at times,

50 THE HOKSE BOOK.

perhaps, but in the main steadfast, enduring
and the most thrifty in the list of nations. These
are the people — the French small farmers — by
whom the French stallions are bred from work-
ing stock and of the French horses of draft
blood the Percheron must be taken as the typi-
cal example.

The greatness of the British draft breeds is
everywhere conceded, but it is doubtful if the
maintenance of great studs in plethoric idle-
ness has added anything to the sum total of
their excellence.

Put the stallion to work. Break him like any
other horse, preferably as a two-year-old, and
make him do light, but not real, work at that
age. At three make him do what other colts
of his age are required to do. If an unbroken
stallion of workable age is purchased, let the
breaking be the first thing undertaken with him.
It will not generally prove a hard job, for a stal-
lion is seldom afraid. Gradually toughen him
into doing his full day's work as one of a team.
It is preferable to hitch an entire horse with
a mare, but if it comes handier to work him with
a gelding there is no reason why he should not
be matched in that way. There is a popular im-
pression that a gelding worked with a stallion
will not thrive. There is no truth in any such
assumption. As a rule a stallion is more bull-
headed than a gelding or mare. Always make
him behave. It was a great engineer who in-

MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 51

vented the whip. If the horse is inclined to nip
at and bother his mate, tie a staff of the proper
length according to the job on hand from the
inner ring of his bit to the shank-ring of a
halter on the head of the other horse in the pair,
or to the upper ring on the hames. Use good
stout harness and never forget that there is a
stallion in the team. Do not let him yell and
squeal and generally make a nuisance of him-
self. Make him behave like a gentleman.

In addition to the good health and vigor
which accrue to the stallion kept in regular
work in the harness there are other blessings
which he wins through having to earn his daily
bread. One, and I count it among the most im-
portant, is the companionship of man, and an-
other is a good place to sleep and eat. Thrice
blessed is the stallion which works every day,
lives in cleanliness and comfort among the other
horses, sees human beings and often hears the
human voice. Thrice cursed is the poor beast
which is banished to some out of the way corner
of the farmstead, closed up in some dirty old
stall, banked deep, perhaps, with manure, forced
to seek the light of day and the fresh air in a
yard which, never cleansed, is in damp weather
a compound essence of filth and other abomina-
tions, and fed more or less occasionally when
some one happens to remember about him. Free-
ly worked, the legs of a stallion will seldom go
wrong. Condemned to solitary confinement in

52 THE HOKSE BOOK.

a germ-infected tenement his legs seldom stay
right. Worked freely, intelligently fed, proj)-
erly groomed and stabled, a stallion will re-
main a normal sort of beast. A solitary pris-
oner, he generally contracts the habits of mas-
turbating, crib-biting or lip-slapping, or his
temper may go altogether. And who shall say
with truth that the poor brute has been to
blame 1

Exercise and plenty of it the stallion must
have. The rational way is to work him. That
is far better than walking him along the road.
Still, some exercise is better than stagnation on
the principle that a small bone is better than
none to a hungry dog — but some is never
enough. It is an abominable chore to walk a
stallion along the road for eight miles or so.
Few grooms can resist the temptation to sol-
dier at such a job. It is better to drive a horse
than to lead him, but if he is broken to harness
at all he might as well work and so earn his
keep.

Finishing up this matter of exercising stal-
lions I believe that every stallion should have
some good sharp work every week-day of his
life. Drafters should be sharpened up at the
trot. Make them step along occasionally as
though they amounted to something. Just be-
cause a horse is entire is no reason why he
should be allowed to loaf. The gait of the
drafter is the walk with a heavy load behind

MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 53

him, to be sure, but he should be able to get
out and trot on occasion and not fall all over
himself. If a coach stallion is to be trusted to
beget coach or carriage horses of good to high
class he should be able to do just what is ex-
pected of his get. If he can not step along the
road at a fair clip and keep it up for a reason-
able distance, get one that can. It is hard
enough to find stallions that will transmit
strongly and regularly the good qualities which
they possess themselves; it is nothing short of
folly to expect them to transmit those which
they have not.

If a stallion is worked the feeding problem
solves itself. He will get his regular rations
every day, and while I prefer oats and bran
it does not so much matter what a working stal-
lion gets to eat so long as he gets enough and
the quality is good. There is no wonderful
secret formula for feeding stallions in or out of
the season. Oats and bran, about one-fifth bran
by weight, form the best ration. "With the work-
ing stallion the ration should always be the
same. Corn is good feed also for a stallion that
is worked, providing it is not changed.

Time was when I believed that for stallions
during the season it was an excellent plan to
give a mash of boiled barley every Wednesday
and Saturday night, but I have changed my no-
tions. Time also was when T advocated the use
of cut or chopped hay in feeding stallions. Ex-

54 THE HOKSE BOOK.

periments have, however, shown that the addi-
tion of this material to a horse's grain ration
makes no appreciable difference in the manner
in which the grain is digested. If a stallion is
a very hoggish feeder it may pay to mix hay
cut or chopped in half or three-quarter-inch
lengths with his grain, for the reason that the
sharp ends will keep him from bolting his food,
but when the ration is fed as a mash the cut
hay soon gets soft and is bolted with the rest
of the food.

Most stallions get too much hay ; in fact, that
is true of most farm horses. A good rule to fol-
low as a basis for finding out how much grain
and hay to feed is to allow one pound of each
to every hundredweght the horse weighs. Some
will need more, some less. With this as a basis
of experiment the ordinarily observant man
will soon be able to tell, by noticing condition
closely, how much the horse needs. In all cases
feed enough — just so he comes good and hungry
to the next meal, and feed three times a day.
This basis will hold good for feeding all horses
on the farm. Feed most of the hay at night.
For instance, if 17 or 18 pounds of hay are to be
fed per day, feed five or six in the morning,
none at noon and the remainder at night. If it
is not all cleaned up feed less. I also believed
once that grass during the season was good for
a stallion. I do not think so now, especially if
the horse is worked.

MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 55

Unfortunately for the horse breeding busi-
ness, in most rural districts stallions are not
worked. After the season, perhaps from the
middle to the end of July, the horse is too often
banished from active participation in the life
of the farm. He is seldom groomed, his stall is
cleaned out perhaps on rainy days, and such ex-
ercise as he gets he must needs take in a small
lot which in a rainy time becomes a manurial
quagmire. His rations are cut down almost to
the vanishing point, all except the hay, and of
that he gets about all he will eat — much to his
detriment. As cold weather comes along the
horse gets less and less care, the dandruff in his
coat accumulates, and if he is of a hairy-legged
sort his shanks get into bad shape. Along about
the end of February his owner, with the avowed
intention of getting the horse ready to make a
season, begins to tear out the thick dirty coat
and pour feed into the horse. A more or less
spasmodic attempt is made at exercising the
poor beast, and when the first mares come along
he is expected to be in proper fix to get them
with foal. A worse method of treating a stal-
lion could hardly be devised.

If anyone can not see that it is to his interest
to work his stallion and persists in keeping an
idle horse about his premises to be nothing but
an expense for two-thirds of the year, then let
him stable the horse properly, feed him grain
sufiicient to keep him in round flesh at all times.

56 THE HORSE BOOK.

groom him at least once a day, and give him not
less than eight miles on the road, rain or shine,
every week-day. The feeding should be done the
same as when the horse is worked, but, of
course, so much grain will not be necessary.
This idea of deliberately letting a horse get
down skin-poor, so that he may be ^' built up
again," is all bosh. Better keep him in good
shape, round and pleasant to look at, though
not loaded with tallow, at all times. When you
find a stallion let down thin in cold weather you
will generally hear his owner making excuses
for the lack of flesh and the dirty coat. It is a
cardinal principal in business never to make an
excuse or to get into a place where one has to
be made. The man who keeps his stallion in
poverty all winter may have won out at it, but
if he has it is in spite of, not because of, his
practices.

When it comes to beginning the season with a
stallion that has been worked it is a very sim-
ple matter to hitch him up and start him on his
rounds, if he is to travel. In good hard flesh he
can make a long distance each day and feel all
the better for it. A stallion that has been
worked all winter should have no trouble in
making as much as twelve miles a day or even
more if it is necessary. With a stallion not ac-
customed to the harness, eight will be enough.
If the stopping places to be made do not neces-

MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 57

sitate this amount of traveling the horse should
be exercised in the morning.

Before starting his season the stallion should
be properly advertised. No advertisement is as
good as the horse himself stepping proudly
down the village street hooked up with a fine
mare. His docility, good manners and attrac-
tive appearance in the harness can not fail to
compel favorable attention. Moreover when he
is worked and driven frequently to town own-
ers of mares get to know him well and, seeing
him often, are necessarily more impressed with
him than they are by other horses which are
kept cooped up at home from one season's end
to the next. Then the owner has always the
chance to work up sentiment favorable to his
stallion, and there is no owner of mares who
would not rather breed them to a horse likely
to be sure than to one just as good but not so
much so. In addition space in the local news-
papers should be bought and used to exploit
the merits of the horse, his breeding, his fees
and terms, and a detail of the route he is to
travel or the place at which he is to stand. Well
displayed posters help— a little. There have
been so many half-truths and untruths told by
this route that men have come to regard a stal-
lion poster as rather apocryphal to say the
least, but they will help some, especially if the
detail of the route to be traveled is clearly
stated (and then adhered to strictly), and the

58 THE HOKSE BOOK.

posters are securely nailed up in public places.

Most of the states now have laws granting
the stallion owner a lien on the get or dam and
get for the service fee. This lien is usually op-
erative only when certain formalities specified
in the law are complied with. These laws
brought down to date will be found for those
of the several states and territories which have
them in the appendix to this volume. If the law
requires that the horse be registered with any
state or municipal official, the owner should so
register him before the season begins. When
the season is closed the list of mares covered,
when required, should always be filed. This
places the owner in a position where he can
force any delinquent to pay. Those whom he
desires to favor may be favored just as though
no list has been filed. This filing of the list of
mares covered places no obligation on the owner
of the horse, but it enables him to force payment
if he desires to do so and protects him efficiently.
In every instance the owner should post him-
self as to the requirements of the law and then
comply with them to the letter. This is only a
matter of self-protection of which every stallion
owner should avail himself and implies no dis-
trust of his patrons.

In all advertisements state plainly the terms
on which the horse is to stand. In addition have
cards printed containing on one side three con-
tracts (fees to suit) worded like this:

MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 59

PERCHEKON STALLION ROBERT.

Registered No in Stud Book of Percheron

Society of America,
(Insert pedigree if desired.)
Will stand by the season, from April 1 to July 1, at
$10. Fee due at end of season. In case mare fails to get
in foal during the season she may be returned free for the
following season or another mare substituted for her next
«;eason.

I accept the season contract.

Signature

(Of owner of mare bred.)

Will stand by insurance. $20 to insure a mare with

foal. Fee payable when mare is known to be in foal. 1

agree to return mare regularly for trial, and if I fail to

return her as agreed I promise to pay the season fee of $10.

I accept the insurance contract.

Signature

(Of owner of mare bred.)
Will stand by the leap or single service, at $5. Fee
payable at time of service.

It should be understood that this is merely a sample
form to be used for stallions of any breed.

On the other side print words to this effect :

(Post office) (State) (Date)

Bred this day for ,

(Mare owner's name.) (Address)

One mare, markings as follows:

(Color) (Note marks plainly.)

Name

Terms of service Fee $

(Insert terms here.)

On insurance contract mare is to be returned for trial
(Insert dates specifically as agreed.)

(Signature of owner or groom.)
(Signature of owner of mare.)

60 THE HOESE BOOK.

Whenever a mare is brought to be bred band
the owner of her one of these cards, and when he
has decided under which contract he desires to
breed her make him sign his name to that partic-
ular agreement. Then fill in the other side of the
card. Always be sure to get the dates down
and that they agree on both sides of the card.
When the owner of a mare signs such a con-
tract he is held for the payment undertaken.
A man who will not sign such a document is
usually a good one to let take his mare to some
other horse. To protect himself in an insur-
ance contract a stallion owner should make it
plain that the return of the mare is the busi-
ness of her owner. Most breeding on farms is
done by insurance. The courts have held that
if a man breeds his mare by insurance he is not
bound to return her if she fails to settle at the
first leap or at any other leap. In a plain in-
surance contract the stallion owner takes his
chances of the mare being got with foal the first
leap and he gets a higher price for it if she
does. If the mare does not settle there is no
duty imposed on the mare owner to pay any-
thing or to bring her back. If on the other
hand it is plainly stated in the contract that
mares bred to insure and not regularly returned
must be paid for at season's rates, they will
come back until they do settle or the season
ends, or their owners must pay.

Stallion fees are too low in farming regions

MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 61

as a general thing. This applies only to pure-
bred stallions. Grades are dear at any price.
A common fee is $15 to insure, and let us say
the stallion owner actually gets paid for foals
from half the mares covered. For the ease of
computation let us put the number of foals
paid for at 50 in the case of a mature horse. At
$15 each this amounts in all to $750. It will
cost around $200 a year to pay a good groom
during the season and feed the horse. Then
there is also the interest in the money invested
to be considered and the risk — whatever that
may amount to. Suppose the horse cost $1,500,
the interest at 5 per cent would be $75. At 8
per cent on $1,000 for insurance against death,
and counting nothing for depreciation, the total
expenses would be $355. But the stallion will
decrease in value from year to year, so suppose
we write off another $100. This makes a total
expense of $455 to be charged against a gross
income of $750. The margin is not large. In-
surance may not actually be carried and the
money may not be paid out, but the owner is
entitled to compensation if he carries the risk
himself, just as he is entitled to credit for the
grain the horse eats and which otherwise might
have been converted into cash. With a net in-
come of around $300 it takes a $1,500 horse
five years to pay for himself. Some horses
will do better and some worse. Taking the
average, the figures will not be found far out

()2 THE HOKSE BOOK.

of the way in either direction. An extra $5 per
foal paid for practically doubles the profit. It
is plain that with a $15 fee the limit, no man
can afford to buy a very good stallion, for such
cannot be bought, as values now range at least,
for $1,500 or less. The stallion fee business is
one in which it will pay the mare owners well
to let the other fellow make a dollar once in a
while.

There is something wrong with this stallion
fee business anyway, and there always has been.
The service fee has from time immemorial been
about the last thing the average farmer has
thought of paying. It seems to be a prevailing
impression that the fee is ^^easy money, '^ and
therefore the bill for it deserving of scant con-
sideration. Then in their far too fierce compe-
tition stallion men have let their bills run and
run along till most of them have lost a lot of
money through their good nature. In fact, it is
the exception to find a stallion owner conduct
his business on business principles. Insuring
the foal to stand and suck, as a business propo-
sition, is something no other variety of com-
merce would tolerate. In so doing the stallion
owner insures not only the proper treatment
of the mare and against the incidents and acci-
dents of parturition, but also against battle,
murder, sudden death, violence and pestilence as
well as the slight pathological disarrangement of
the fetal membranes through which, as already

MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 63

explained, nourislimeiit is conveyed from dam
to foal. If owners of mares can coax or force
a stallion owner to carry such insurance for
them well and good. That is their business,
but the stallion owner is foolish to be intimi-
dated or cajoled in any such way.

A good leader is essential to the best success
of any stallion. The man who will best succeed
as the caretakcT of a stallion must be a fairly
shrewd judge of human nature, a bit of a poli-
tician and a good mixer as well as thoroughly
versed in his business. With a valuable horse
it always pays to hire a good man. English-
men and Scotchmen, by reason of their special
training in the old country or by old country
parents here, have so far enjoyed the reputa-
tion of being the best stallion leaders we have,
they are usually the most careful of their
charges. They have been brought up to the
business and know its ins and outs. A groom
that cannot be trusted to be always on the spot
is little better than no groom at all. Get a
good man anyway, no matter what his nation-
ality, and then keep him, though that is not al-
ways easy. My experience has been that good
leaders are generally men of peculiar tempera
ment.

Every man who makes a business of stand-
ing stallions should have a properly construct-
ed breeding plant. This need not be expensive.
It should consist of good solid footing on which

64 THE HOKSE BOOK.

to breed mares, and for this reason a shed is
preferable to an open yard. Let the yard or
shed be concealed from view as much as pos-
sible, and always at some distance from the
dwelling house — for obvious reasons. At a
convenient spot erect the teazing pole to form a
sort of stall in which to try the mares. I like
it best with the wall of the shed or tight-board
fence of the yard forming the off side of it.
For the pole part of it set two stout posts deep-
ly in the ground parallel to the wall and dis-
tant from it about the width of an ordinary
standing stall in a stable. Set these posts
about eight feet apart and to them, three feet
and eight inches from the ground, bolt a smooth
six-inch pole of some tough wood — hickory of
course preferred. Take the bark off it and
round off all corners and edges. At the front
end of the stall so formed build a stout little
pen. Into this the foal of a nursing mare may
be bundled with little trouble and with it in
front of her the mare will stand quiet enough
without fretting as she surely will if it is out
of her sight. When the mare is in place, lead
the horse from his box, make him come up
quietly at right angles to her and do not let him
rear and tear all over the place in his efforts
to get at her. There is no sense in letting a
horse nip and fuss and fool with a mare for
half an hour. Sometimes it may be necessary

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MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 65

to exercise so much patience, but as a rule it is
not.

Breeding hopples have prevented many an
accident. It is always safer to use them, no
matter how gentle a mare may be, and it only
takes a moment of time to adjust them. The
illustration gives a good idea of them and their
use. Be sure that they are tight enough. Never
let the stallion get within range of an ill-tem-
pered mare's heels. He can usually take care
of himself when approaching her or mounting.
If he can get his weight on her back she can not
hump herself to kick. Most of the accidents re-
sulting in injuries to stallions by vicious mares
happen when the horse is dismounting and more
or less in an exhausted condition, not looking
out for attack. Once a man gets a horse kicked
he will think a whole lot of the hopples he
might have used. This is one of these common
cases in which an ounce of prevention is worth
an ocean of regret. In all cases when going
to his mare make the horse get to her from the
side, not from behind.

All sorts of stallion bridles are in use. Only
comparatively fewhorses need very severe hand-
ling. An ordinary bridle made strong enough
and fitted with a straight bar bit and a lead rein
with a chain at one end is usually strong enough
to control the horse. Snap the chain into the
off bit-ring and pass the other end through the
near ring, thus bringing the chain below the

66 THE HORSE BOOK.

jaw. If a smooth, close-linked supple chain is
used any good handler can make his horse at-
tend to business. The most severe apparatus
consists of a bar of iron about %-inch in thick-
ness and 8 inches long fitted with rings on both
ends, the one welded into the off -bit ring and
the other passed below the jaw through the ring
on the near side. To the ring on the near end
of the bar a strap is attached. The bit used
with the bar is a plain snaffle, and naturally the
leverage obtained is tremendous, but its use is
seldom necessary. Never pass the lead rein up
over the head. That is an indefensible practice
in handling stallions. By passing the line over
the head most of the leverage is destroyed and
gives little more purchase than if the rein is
snapped into the near ring of the bit only.
Most of the purchase, such as it is, comes on
the top of the head, and you can not do much
trying to control a stallion by his poll. Best of
all is to break the horse to behave himself so
that he may be led out to his work with an ordi-
nary cotton-rope halter.

In the matter of allowing a two-year-old stal-
lion to cover mares, experience teaches that
from eight to ten will not interfere with his de-
velopment in any way if he is full-fed. Colts
of this age are usually sure. Only those which
are well developed and vigorous should be per-
mitted to serve. The two-year-old colt may be
allowed to cover about one mare every five

MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 67

days. For a three-year-old the limit should be
from 25 to 30. A horse will average about three
covers for every foal he begets, if he is reason-
ably sure, taking mares as they run through
most country districts. If a three-year-old gets
half his mare in foal, or 15, he will make about
45 covers or about three to the week for the
15 weeks of the season. This makes about one
every two days, not counting Sunday. For a
four-year-old from 40 to 50 mares are enough.
He may make a slightly longer season, or about
115 days, and if he gets 25 foals he should make
75 covers. This is about three every two days.
A mature horse should be limited mostly to two
covers daily, perhaps three at a pinch, but
never more, and then seldom. It is better to
be conservative in this business of breeding
mares. Eemember that it is the number of
foals begotten that in the end pay the bill, not
the number of mares covered.

Watch out sharply and never breed a mare
that shows any sort of abnormal discharge from
the vagina. If she has such a discharge she
will not get with foal anyway, and she may give
the stallion some virulent disease. If by care-
lessness or unavoidable occurrence the horse
has been allowed to serve a mare with an
abnormal discharge the entire penis should
immediately be washed with a 1-100 solution of
a good coaltar dip and the sheath should be
freely syringed to head off possible infection.

68 THE HOESE BOOK.

Never put lard or vaseline or other greasy sub-
stances in the sheath. If a mare has a heavy
cold or is feverish let her go over to another
heat. She will rarely get with foal when in
such a condition, so the service will most likely
be wasted.

Many stallions fall into the habit of mastur-
bation. Prevention is far better than cure, and
the best preventive is work and the constant
companionship of man. Horses are unlike
bulls, rams and boars ; it is hard to catch them
at it. If a horse is under suspicion but can not
be detected, clean every particle of bedding out
of his stall and stay with him for eight or ten
hours. Then close him up and leave him by
himself for a little while. If he is abusing him-
self the evidences will shortly be visible on the
clean floor of the stall. Once the habit is con-
tracted it is practically impossible to put a stop
to it. It is common among race horses and all
other horses that are idle and alone most of the
time. Many different kinds of shields to pre-
vent the extrusion of the penis are on the mar-
ket, but I have little faith in any of them. Some
men have reported success gained by slipping an
ivory ring over the gland at the end of the
penis, just tight enough to prevent erection,
but not tight enough to shut off circulation.
Others have reported failure and a few disas-
ter. I do not like it. If it is desired
to try the ring on a horse which has

MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. 69

contracted this habit, get an ivory ring
and have it fitted by a veterinarian. Hard
rubber rings have been used for this purpose.
Avoid them. On no account be so foolish as to
hang a currycomb or a corn-brush or some
other lacerating instrument just in front of the
sheath with the object of hurting the penis
when an effort is made to extrude it. It is a
bad business all around, and the best thing is
to prevent it by working the horse regularly
and letting him share in the life of the farm.

A few don'ts are now in order. Don't let a
stallion roar like a pirate whenever the door of
his box is opened. Don't let him rear and
sprawl all over the lot after he is led out. Don't
let him plunge forward when going to cover.
Make him come easy at it. Don't dope him with
drugs to make him more anxious. Don't take
every old mare that comes along. Don't let the
horse cover on Sunday to oblige anybody.
Don't run down your neighbor's stallion. Don't
act like the traditional ^^stud hoss man." Don't
take an}^ stock in the hoary old fictions that so
generally prevail. Don't cut prices. Don't
make a rich man a present of $20 or $25 be-
cause he has four or ^ve mares to breed. Don't
knock ; be a booster.

CHAPTEE VI.
MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES AND

FOALS.

As it is with the breeding stallion so it is with
the brood mare; it is best to work her when-
ever possible. A mare that is worked intelli-
gently, not pulled hard, properly fed and well
housed will usually carry her foal to the ap-
pointed time and bear it with little trouble. If
the pregnant mare is worked the feeding prob-
lem solves itself once more — any good food, free
from dust and mold, will serve her purpose well
if she is given enough of it. Special care should
always be exercised to see that hay and grain
fed to pregnant mares are absolutely free from
dust or mold or other evidences of decay. Abor-
tion is a likely consequence of feeding moldy
hay or grain. Changes of food are not advisa-
ble and are to be avoided.

It is, however, impossible to work brood
mares where a large number are kept. Plenty
of exercise is an essential to good health in all
horses and this is best given idle mares in win-
ter by allowing them the run of a large field.
Perhaps the best exercising ground for brood
mares in all parts of the country is a large pas-
ture on which a goodly portion of the herbage
has been allowed to mature. Anywhere in the
combelt blue grass grows luxuriantly, and if it

70

MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 71

is not grazed closely after the autumn rains
come, but allowed to grow rank and thick, it
will cure on the ground and prove a great at-
traction in cold weather, even if the snowfall is
rather heavy. Mares will do a lot of hustling to
get such herbage in winter. An ideal pasture
for this purpose has trees enough on it to form
some shelter.

Brood mares should be kept out of stalkfields.
Cornstalks which are left to leach and blacken
and rot as they grew are indigestible at the best,
and there is usually a lot of smut (ergot) and
other harmful matter, the nature of which is
not clearly understood, available in a cornfi.eld.
If a pasture such as has been described can not
be provided, free range of some sort must be.

Brood mares are usually quarrelsome and
many accidents are due to their innate meanness
of disposition. One of the commonest sights on
a large farm in winter is some cross old mare,
with her ears laid back, rushing wickedly at
some unoffending companion and chasing her
off, for no other reason than that the ill-natured
one is the boss. Often if some show of resist-
ance is made, the aggressor will whirl and plant
her heels in some more or less vulnerable part
of the mare attacked. On account of this sort
of disposition being common in pregnant mares
they should have abundant freedom whenever
any large number of them are turned together.

72 THE HORSE BOOK.

To turn eight or ten mares into a small yard is
to invite trouble of a costly character.

The watering-trough is a fruitful source of
grief. The boss mare always considers that she
alone has a divine right to drink and she does
her best to prove it by rushing the others away
from the water. All this indicates that some
common sense care of such animals at such
times is essential. Another foolish trick we
often see played is to turn a lot of mares and
colts out at the same time and head them on the
run for a narrow gate. Every one of them
wants to go through the opening at the same
moment, and accidents often result from their
crowding. It seems to be a genuine pleasure
to some cross old matron to lash out freely and
bite hard when there is no show for her com-
panions to get beyond her reach. It is far
safer, though it takes a little longer time, to let
horses out a few together and see that the cross
mares are well outside the gate before the rest
come to it. Also see to it that the gate is plenty
wide enough. Use woven wire for fencing with
one barb-wire on the top, not less than 52 inches
from the ground, the woven wire being 48 inches
wide. Keep fences in repair and allow no dam-
age to go unrepaired a moment longer than it is
necessary to fix it, once it is discovered.

It is astounding that men have seen the same
old tricks of the same old mares for years, lost
money by them and yet not moved a hand to

MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 73

remedy the trouble. There is no sense in per-
mitting mares to quarrel and jam and fight and
crowd. If one is entirely boss of all the rest
and is inclined to be reasonably peaceable she
will not do harm if she is intelligently handled,
but if she is wicked and vicious she should be
kept by herself. It is all stuff and nonsense
about the greatest mares always being cross.
Mark this well : it is the little things that make
for complete success. If only one-half of the
colts which annually go wrong through careless-
ness of their owners should be kept right, mil-
lions of dollars would be added yearly to far-
mers' bank accounts.

Good shelter brood mares must have. The
ideal condition is when each mare can have a
boxstall to herself, but few mares are equipped
in this way. The ideal breeding stable con-
sists of boxstalls facing the south, with a small
yard in front of each, the yards being separated
by fences over or through which the mares may
hob-nob for company's sake, yet not injure each
other. Every farm, though, should have at least
two such boxes. A good tight shed well protect-
ed on the north and west and open to the south
will do very well for mares in cold weather if
they have plenty of room. A spacious yard
should be in front of the shed, facing to the
south and well drained. A comfortable dry bed
of straw should always be provided for horses
young and old, no matter how they are kept. It

74 THE HORSE BOOK.

is comfortable for them to rest on and it absorbs
the fertilizing elements. A wet place for horses
to stay in, day or night, is very bad.

The watering-trough is usually in the yard,
but no matter where it is it should always be
raised above the level of the surrounding
ground and kept dry by the plentiful use of
gravel. A concrete trough is the best, with a
concrete platform entirely around it, well found-
ed and slightly above the rest of the ground.
If ice accumulates around the trough in winter
chop the ice away. Use a tank heater. Ice-cold
water is bad for all horses, but do not go to
the other extreme and get the water too hot.
Just get the chill off. In any case always do
something to insure dry footing that is not slip-
pery around the watering place. If in mixed
weather in winter ice forms in other parts of
the yard, take the glare off it somehow so that
the mares may not slip. It pays well to watch
these minor points in raising horses. Well
water is best for them to drink. Creeks and
sloughs are frequent and fruitful sources of
disease infection.

In feeding idle mares it is poor policy to let
them run to hay or straw stacks at will and stuff
themselves with coarse fodder. Bright clover
hay that was gotten into the barn without rain
and is entirely free from dust and mold is, used
in moderation, the best possible roughage for
brood mares and young horses. Eemember

MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 75

dusty, moldy or otherwise spoiled clover hay is
about as bad for horses as it well can be. Al-
falfa hay is much like clover and with both an
equal quantity of prairie or timothy hay should
be used. Well cured corn fodder may be fed in
limited amounts, but, frankly, I have never
liked it. I prefer whole fodder to the shredded
article. If it is intended to use this sort of
roughage for horse-feed, it is best to cut the
corn when it is quite green, so that the product
may be more nutritious and more easily digest-
ed when it is dry. Shredded fodder makes ex-
cellent bedding. Oat hay is palatable and ex-
cellent results are obtained from its use. Many
who have used it report much advantage gained
from feeding sorghum fodder in cold weather,
say from the beginning of winter to the middle
of January. After that sorghum should not
be fed. It seems that the thawing weather
usually experienced about that time and later
works some change, probably of a fermentive
nature, that does not agree with horses. Millet
hay is an abomination and so is the so-called
Hungarian. Too much hay is usually fed to all
farm horses, even in idleness. It is never good
practice to keep hay in front of horses all the
time. They mess over it and cull out the choic-
est portions, and there is a lot of waste. Rather
feed them regularly two or three times a day
just enough so they will clean it up and come
with keen appetite to the next meal.

76 THE HOESE BOOK.

Brood mares should always have grain dur-
ing the winter. No set rule can be laid down
as to quantity, but they should have enough to
keep them in good strong round flesh without
getting fat. The caretaker must gauge the ra-
tion necessary according to the need and capac-
ity of the individual. Each mare should have
her own manger and be tied up while she is
eating. This takes time and some bother, it is
true, but it pays. When each mare is tied up
all accidents are avoided, and each gets just
what she should have and what is intended for
her. If mares are promiscuously fed at a large
trough the stronger get the most and the weaker
the least or none at all, and the proper order is
just reversed. Moreover when they are tied
up at feeding time the mean ones can do no
harm and each mare is seen at close range at
least twice a day, which is no bad thing in itself.

Stalls with mangers for grain feeding mares
can be cheaply and strongly constructed. Com-
mon sense will dictate how. Let each mare be
put in her place a few times and she will soon
learn where to go. A horse learns most quickly
through the medium of the feedbox. Keep hal-
ters on their heads and have a short rope fitted
with a snap fastened in each stall. When the
mare goes into her stall snap the tie-rope into
the ring of her halter. When they are turned
out of the stalls after eating, stretch a long rope
run through rings on the stall posts and draw

MANAGEMENT OF BKOOD MAKES. 77

it tight. This will keep the mares out of the
stalls when they are not feeding or when they
are not wanted there. The hay may be fed in
racks.

Corn is a very general food for brood mares,
but it is the poorest on the entire list, though
not so bad when fed in conjunction with clover
hay. Oats and bran form the best ration all
winter long — about one-fourth or even one- third
bran by weight. It is best to feed it dry. Sugar
beets, carrots or rutabagas are excellent for
mares in winter — indeed for all horses — and
once they are accustomed to them mares may
have them in large quantities, though perhaps
some seven or eight pounds per head per day
will be about right as a steady diet. They may
be fed either cooked or raw, but preferably raw.
Time was when I considered the feeding of slop-
py stuff a necessity in properly wintering brood
mares, but experience has shown me that dry
feeding is best. Therefore I prefer uncooked
food. Silage I regard as a horse killer, though
some men say they have fed it with success.
Any one is, of course, free to experiment all he
wants to in feeding silage to horses if he desires
to do so, but if fed at all it should be in such
small quantities that it does not amount to much
one way or other. Mark this, though: if the
silage is moldy it will kill as surely as a rifle.
Regularity in feeding is of much benefit. Feed

78 THE HORSE BOOK.

each day at the same hours, either two or three
times.

In feeding horses it is well to remember that
it is an easy matter to keep them fat and hearty
if they are at first gradually accustomed to the
food they are to receive and then are given
plenty of it. It is the sudden and great change
that hurts. As has been said before, there is no
wonderful secret formula about the feeding of
horses. The fattest horse I know is 27 years
of age and subsists chiefly on stale bread and
damaged bananas. Another very fat old horse
I am acquainted with lives on edible refuse
culled on a garbage route — cabbage leaves, ba-
nana skins, crusts and the like — with a ration
of tough slough hay that by good rights should
be used for packing iron castings. Thousands
of horses live, work hard and keep fat or fairly
so in the cities on alimentation that is merely
trash. All of this I mention as showing that
there is no wonderful occult science in feeding
horses. It is largely a matter of hard common
sense.

It should never be forgotten for an instant
that there is a vast difference between the
proper feeding of horses that are working and
those that are idle. Brood mares doing nothing
would not thrive on trash. They should have
the best of everything and always the cleanest
of food. Hence on the farm where the best is
available, give it to them and give them enough.

MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 79

Feeding succulence in the shape of the roots al-
ready mentioned is far to be preferred to the
feeding of soft food. Carrots are especially ben-
eficial. Any skillful veterinarian will tell you
that sudden changes of food tend to cause indi-
gestion with its train of troubles— colic, inflam-
mation and the like. Sticking to a regular diet
is best. Oats and bran with clover and wild or
timothy hay and a few roots as described form
the ideal ration for broodmares working or idle,
for the reason that the grain and hay supply
the necessary nutriment for the mare and the
foal she is carrying and the roots keep the diges-
tive apparatus in good working order.

In the chapter dealing with the physiological
processes of conception it was made clear that
there is no hocus-pocus to be invoked when
mares are to be got with foal. If they are nor-
mally healthy they should conceive. If they are
not normally healthy they either will not con-
ceive at all or ocasionally at best. It is plain then
that to turn a mare suddenly from a diet of dry
grain and hay to pasture and from work to idle-
ness will so upset the system as to render con-
ception unlikely. Similarly to take a mare up
out of pasture and put her on a diet of grain and
hay will have no better results. Wlien the mare
is to be bred, let her be kept exactly as she has
been kept, making no changes. The quieter a
mare can be kept about the time she is embraced
by the horse the better it will be for her. Long,

80 THE HOKSE BOOK.

hard drives to and from the horse should be
avoided. If it is desired to road a mare any
great distance to the stallion, arrange to take
her to him slowly and to leave her near him for
a time.

A mare bred on the ninth day (or therea-
bouts) after foaling will quite generally con-
ceive, but there is wide difference of opinion as
to the proper day on which a mare should be re-
turned to the horse to be tried. Authorities
never have agreed as to this and probably never
will. Mares differ greatly in the recurrence of
their periods of heat, though not so much so as
to render a general rule impossible. Each man
should size up the condition of his mare with re-
lation to returning her, but the weight of au-
thority is in favor of around the eighteenth day,
then the twenty-fifth and the thirty-second. She
should have these three chances to take the horse
before being considered safely settled. If con-
ception has- taken place the attentions of the
horse in the teazing process will not cause the
impregnation to fail.

Some mares show no signs of heat and stead-
ily refuse to take the horse. This sort of a case
is comparatively rare, but it is one that need
cause no trouble. If a mare is never willing to
be embraced by the stallion and it is desired to
get her to breeding, hopple her securely and
breed her anyhow. It will be found that she
will come around more or less peaceably in from

MANAGEMENT OF BKOOD MARES. 81

18 to 21 days after being bred in this way. In-
cidentally it may be said that this is true of
most farm animals — certainly of cows and ewes,
as well as mares. Mares, of course, will make a
tremendous fuss, but that must be put up with
because it is for the good of all parties con-
cerned. I have no intention of straying out of
the equine field, but I have by advocating this
practice helped more than one dairyman out
who could not induce his cows and heifers to
come around so that they would have their
calves in the early winter. If any one wants
good early lambs, moreover, let him get his ram
so that he is not afraid — a good active chap —
hold the ewe by the head, let the ram serve her,
and then see if she will not come around loving-
ly in due course after the forced service. I do
not advocate forced service except as a last re-
sort, but it will work every time and there is no
danger in resorting to it if the mare is so han-
dled that she can not injure the stallion.

Always be careful to set down accurately the
dates on which the mares were covered. On
the average, as has already been stated, the
pregnancy will last not far from forty-eight
weeks, or about 340 days. A calendar costs
nothing. On one that is of fairly good material
mark the dates of covering and trying, then
mark the day at the end of forty-eight weeks
from the date of the last mating. As that time
draws near watch the mare closely. Just how

6

82 THE HORSE BOOK.

close a mare may be worked to her book date no
man can tell at long range, but nsnally np to
within ten days, if the work is straight going
and does not require backing up. Never make
an in-foal mare back up a load. The most in-
fallible sign of approaching parturition is the
appearance of the wax on the end of the teats.
This begins to show generally about three days
before the foal comes. When the mare is let
up, say about the 326th day, give her a roomy
boxstall, cutting the grain ration in half, but
seeing to it that she gets plenty of exercise at
first. Eeduce the proportion of grain and in-
creasing the proportion of bran, but what-
ever food she is getting, make no sudden change
— merely reduce it in quantity. See that the
stall is freely disinfected, thoroughly cleaned
and freshly bedded — and then keep it scrupu-
lously clean.

After the wax forms on the dugs see closely
to the mare, but do not bother her. Unseen
watch her as well as it may be done, but by no
means fuss around her, for there is no mare that
will bring forth her young in the presence of
man if it is to be avoided. It is necessary that
the caretaker must be handy by at night to ren-
der assistance if it is needed, but the mare will
be harassed hurtfully if she is aware that she
is being watched. I have known a mare to stand
all night when everything indicated imminent
parturition, and then when I went to get a hur-

MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 83

ried bite of breakfast in the morning, drop her
foal with neatness and dispatch. On other occa-
sions I have known mares, which knew they were
being watched, stand until the foals came from
them in that position. The wisest way is to ^x
some sort of a peep-hole and, making no noise,
be able through it to see the mare but be unseen
by her. Too much fussing at foaling time is
worse than none at all.

If the mare shows after repeated effort that
she can not deliver her foal and the presenta-
tion is normal, invoke the professional aid of
the veterinarian, but do not be in too big a hurry
about it. Give her plenty of chance to work out
her own salvation and never go to pulling and
hauling on the foal. If the birth is easy and
normal let the mare and foal lalone. If trouble
of any kind is observed get to it quickly. Usual-
ly after foaling the mare will get up and try to
see to her foal. After she is on her feet offer
her a drink of gruel made by putting a pound of
fine oatmeal in half a bucket of water from
which the chill has been taken. Never try quick-
ly to hoist the foal onto his feet and bun-
dle him around to the dug to get his first suck.
Take it easy. Any hurrying of his natural in-
clination is bad for him.

If the mare shows after a reasonable time
that she can not deliver the foal, or if examina-
tion discloses that there is an abnormal presen-
tation, send post haste for the veterinarian and

§4 THE HORSE BOOK.

get him just as quickly as the best horse in the
stable can travel. The foal should come, nor-
mally, first the forefeet, then the nose, and if
these are not all in evidence, get the practitioner
at once — on the dead run. It is amazing how
much a mare can stand during parturition for so
highly organized a form of life, but the fewer
chances one takes the better it is. I make no
attempt to detail didactically the various abnor-
mal presentations, though they are compara-
tively common, for the reason that when the
average man goes to fussing with a case of the
kind trouble of the most troublous variety is on
hand.

During the closing period of its fetal exist-
ence there collects in the intestines of the foal
the fecal substance known as meconium. This
must be got rid of shortly after birth and usual-
ly is, the milk in the mare 's udder at parturition,
known as colostrum, having an aperient action.
There is nothing far out of the common about
this colostrum. Its chief peculiarity physically
is that its fat globules are very large. Its ape-
rient action is due, probably, to its long reten-
tion in the udder and to the mild fermentive
process which has been going on in it for some
little time prior to its withdrawal. The milk
which is secreted within an hour after the with-
drawal of the colostrum has no aperient action
to speak of, and hence it is believed that the ac-
tion so necessary to the foal is derived from

MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 85

some principle evolved during the retention of
the colostrum in the udder, which sets up a mild
form of indigestion and so induces the peristal-
tic action of the bowels which removes the me-
conium.

If the foal gets his first hold on the maternal
dug within an hour from birth, that will be all
right. Usually the meconium will pass away
easily within five or six hours, but sometimes it
will not. If it does not come within twenty-
four hours and the foal presents a droopy, list-
less appearance, eye not bright, ears lopped
over, then the first thing to be done is to give
him two ounces of castor oil. In five hours more
relief will usually have been gained and the ap-
pearance of the youngster will change greatly
for the better. Peristaltic action will be caused
and the fecal matter will be removed. At the
time of administering the castor oil give also an
injection of water at blood heat and a little
glycerine — a teaspoonful of glycerine and
enough of the warm water to make two ounces—
not more. Inject this gently into the rectum
with a common two-ounce hard rubber syringe
and go slow. This will lubricate the passage
and induce the foal to endeavor to pass the fecal
matter. The meconium is in such cases a yel-
lowish, rather hard, waxy substance. If given
as directed the injection cannot do any harm
and may be repeated every hour.

There is, of course, no digestive action in the

86 THE HOKSE BOOK.

new-born foal. The entrance of something into
the stomach is necessary to start the machinery
into motion. If this is not affected by the colos-
trum, there is nothing so good as castor oil and
the injection described. Never try to fill the
little foal np with copious douches of soapsuds
or even plain warm water. Only a very little
is needful. To discover if peristaltic action—
as the wormlike motion of the intestines is
named — is going on, hold the ear close to the
left flank of the foal. If all goes well the noise
heard there will indicate that the small intes-
tines are in working order, which is the first ob-
ject sought. The noise on the right side will
indicate what is doing in the larger intestines.
If the meconium is not passed in six hours after
the administration of the castor oil, the dose
should be repeated.

Joint-ill, or omphalo phlebitis, as this disease
is called by the veterinarian, is something of
which every foal has to run the gauntlet. This
disease is not caused by a specific germ, but is
the result of mixed infection by filth germs.
Aerobic germs are those which flourish in light
and air ; anaerobic germs those which thrive in
damp places shut off from light and air. The
mixed infection which causes joint-ill contains
germs of both sorts. Stable litter is, outside of
the dirt of the street, the most fruitful of mi-
crobe life of all common substances. Great care
should therefore always be taken to have the

MANAGEMENT OF BEOOD MAKES. 87

foal come on a clean bed, in a clean place thor-
oughly disinfected and well lighted. Sunlight is
a great destroyer of filth germs.

Fortunately the micro-organisms which cause
joint-ill are very easily destroyed. They may
be said to enter the circulation of the foal by the
large vein at the navel, or umbilical vein, and to
prevent such entrance or invasion ligation of the
navel or umbilical cord is to be advised. These
same germs are always to be dreaded when
babies are born, and we all know that ligation
of the cord is always . practiced in the human
family. Being easily destroyed, these germs
are readily combated by the application of any
good antiseptic, but corrosive sublimate is to be
preferred, using a 1-500 solution to swab the
small portion of the cord left pendant from the
body of the foal immediately after ligation—
which means tying a string around the cord.
Ligation should be as close to the body as possi-
ble, and the string should be surgeon's silk. The
corrosive sublimate solution should be applied
twice daily to the pendulous portion of the cord
until it drops off. Eemember these germs are
everywhere. They are merely filth germs. The
cleaner and lighter the place in which the mare
foals the less will be the risk the foal will run of
infection. Always clean out the stall after the
mare has foaled and burn the litter. The fluids
incident to foaling seem to promote germ pro-
duction in an amazing degree.

88 THE HORSE BOOK.

After foaling the mare may have her ration
gradually increased to its usual size. As a rule
when a mare has been worked regularly almost
up to her parturition a holiday of two weeks
after it should see her in shape to go back to
light work. About the third day, or even on the
second, if the weather is fine, give her a chance
to get out into some dry lot for exercise. At
the end of two weeks she should have been grad-
ually gotten back onto her usual feed and of
course she should run out in the lot whenever
she wants to. When it comes time to put her
back in the harness leave the foal in the boxstall
when she is taken out to work. He will fret at
first, but he will soon get accustomed to doing
without his mammy. At first work the mare but
half a day. She will be soft and worry greatly,
probably heating herself up quite badly. A
good plan in such cases is, on coming in at noon,
to milk the mare almost dry and then put her in
a stall in the work stable to eat a little hay and
cool off. After she has cooled off so she may
be watered she may be taken to the boxstall,
turned in with the foal and fed her grain. Be-
ginning with half a day in this fashion, she may
be gradually toughened back into doing her full
share of the regular team work. Never let a
foal suck milk from a warm mare. It sets up
indigestion and starts scours. Keep a bucket of
water in the boxstall so the foal may take a
drink whenever he wants it.

MANAGEMENT OF BKOOD MARES. 89

Quite often it happens that a motherless foal
has to be raised by hand. This is an easy enough
job, but it IS one requiring an infinity of care
and patience. It may be set down as a fact
which there is no disputing that a newly born
animal never needs much food. I have twice
reared foals which never sucked their mothers.
The milk of a mare has more sugar and less fat
in it than the milk of a cow, but the difference
is not so great that there is any danger of killing
the foal by feeding it cow's milk intelligently.
Most mares' milk will show not quite 3 per cent
of fat, most cows' not quite 4, so that the dif-
ference is not so very decided after all. In rear-
ing a very young orphan foal get the milk of as
fresh a cow as possible and the poorer in butter
fat the better. Do not use Jersey milk for this
purpose. Take a dessert-spoonful of the best
white granulated sugar and add enough warm
water to dissolve it. Then add three table-
spoonsful of limewater and enough new milk to
make a pint. A costless apparatus for feeding
the foal is thus contrived: Get an old teapot
and scald it thoroughly. Over the spout tie se-
curely the thumb of an old kid glove, and with
a darning needle pierce holes in the kid. Warm
the milk to blood heat, pour a part of it into the
teapot, and when it flows through the spout into
the glove thumb, an excellent imitation of the
maternal teat will be formed, which the foal
will suck promptly. Let him have half a teacup-

90 THE HOESE BOOK.

ful every hour at first. It is a bothersome chore,
but it must be done. If scours supervene, give a
dose of two ounces of castor oil and discontinue
the milk for a couple of feeds, giving the sugar
and limewater as before, but substituting plain
water for the milk, or feed nothing at all. Foals
reared by hand will scour more or less, but the
castor oil will generally fix them up all right.

As the foal grows older day by day the quan-
tity of milk fed may be increased and the num-
ber of feeds decreased until according to his
thrift he may be fed first six times a day and
then four times. If he is carried along nicely he
may at the end of three weeks be fed the milk
and limewater or milk alone from a bucket,
eliminating the' sugar, but he should never be
given all the milk he will drink at that age.
Watch closely for signs of scouring, which are
a sure sign of indigestion, and cut down on the
quantity of milk fed for a day. Give castor oil
as before only in three or four-ounce doses.
Always have fresh water so the foal may drink
if he is thirsty.

A foal should begin to nibble at grain when he
is around a month old, sometimes earlier. His
first food should be oatmeal. He should be al-
lowed such trifling quantity of this as he will
eat. It will only be a very little at first. When
he is six weeks old a little bran may be added.
At two months old some sweet skimmilk may be
substituted for part of the new milk and so on

MANAGEMENT OF BKOOD MARES. 91

until when he is three months old the orphan foal
may have about all the sweet skimmilk he wants
three times a day. He will then be eating jolenty
of grain and grass and he should have hay if he
wants it. Let him have grass as soon as he will
eat it. Never feed sour milk or sweet milk from
unclean vessels. Keep him in a lot near the
house and give him company if it is only a runty
calf. Pet him and coddle him all of the time
that can be spared and in general treat him as
every orphan should be treated — with loving
kindness and care. Never confine him closely in
a stall. Let him run. The rearing of a mother-
less foal is mostly in the man or woman who
essays the job.

Foals to develop to their best should have
about all the grain they will eat, and their dams
should be well fed also. If the mares are
worked their feeding need not bother any one.
Their foals should have oatmeal and bran as
already described to eat at will, only a little at
a time, and the supply renewed often so as to
keep it always fresh and sweet. As a general
13roposition I do not favor turning out on grass
at night any horse that is working regularly,
whether it is a nursing mare or any other work
horse. It should be either one thing or the
other — work and dry rations only, or grass and
idleness; the two will not mix to advantage.
The fill of green grass which work horses get at
night in pasture does them no good and it saves

92 THE HORSE BOOK.

nothing. If horses are to do a proper amount
of work they must have about so much grain
and hay anyway, and the fill of grass they get
in pasture between dark and sunrise serves
merely to overload their digestive apparatus.
It is better to keep them in the stable and let
them rest in peace. It is a mistake even to turn
them out on Sundays or on odd days when they
are not working. If they must be idle, reduce
their grain rations and let them stay in the sta-
ble and rest. When the foal gets* old enough he
may eat grass if he wants it and his grain as
well, but the milk he sucks should always be the
same. Hence let the feeding of the mare be uni-
form.

Mares that are kept in idleness must be
turned to pasture for economy's sake, but they
must also have grain and some hay, in varying
proportion according to the growth of the grass,
but always some. Shelter, too, is essential, not
merely woods or a hedge, but a shed that is airy
and dark into which they may run in the heat
of the day to escape from the persecution of
the flies and during hard storms. Somewhere
close to the shed rig up a trough from which the
foals may eat grain and around it construct a
creep through which the foals may enter, but
which will turn back the mares. This may be
built satisfactorily by sinking posts in the
ground around the trough at a distance of ten
or twelve feet from it, and spiking round poles

i

MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 93

to them high enough so the foals may go under
them, but too low for the mares to crawl beneath
them. The foals will soon learn the trick. The
mares should be fed elsewhere.

If the mares are not provided with a shed as
described they should be taken up and housed
during the hot days of flytime and turned afield
again at night. They should have bright hay to
eat in addition to their grain during the day
time and as the pasture grows more scanty in
the fall their rations should be increased. Pas-
turage may be supplemented by green corn-
stalks, if only the latter are introduced into the
diet gradually and the young ears may go with
the stalks for a time. Then tear the ears off
the most of the stalks. Let the foals have all
the grain they want all the time. This with shel-
ter in which to gain surcease from the troubling
of the flies will keep them growing as they
should. I do not know of anything that looks
more like willful inhumanity of the most atro-
cious character than a bunch of mares and colts
standing in the fence corner of some bare, brown
field in the broiling sun without anything to eat,
tortured by the pestilential flies and stamping
their feet to pieces in their efforts to rid them-
selves of their pestiferous winged enemies. One
of the most inhuman torture schemes of the
most degraded of the human race is to tie a
captive enemy to a stake in the sun and let the
flies have full swing at -him. Headhunting is a

94 THE HOKSE BOOK.

humane sport compared to this. The effect of
fly-fighting in scanty pasture is always distin-
guishable in the lean, stunted appearance of the
poor animals so abused. It does not make much
difference what mares are fed on grass so long
as their feed is not suddenly changed.

If foals are thus cared for during the summer
the weaning process is an easy one. When a
foal is five months old he should be weaned. It
is best to take him away from his dam for good
and all when the break is made, cut down her
grain ration and milk some of the milk from her
udder three or four times the first day and so
on gradually decreasing until the flow ceases en-
tirely. Work the mare right along. If she is
not worked, cut out the grain ration altogether
and feed hay only. Then when the mare is dry
begin the grain feeding lightly once more.

Finishing up the foal business there is no rea-
son why mares should not produce fall colts if
they happen to miss in the spring. If a mare is
to be bred in the fall let it be not earlier than
November, so that the foal may come in Octo-
ber after the frosts have put the flies out of com-
mission. A fall colt must be permitted to exer-
cise. He may be allowed to potter about the
farm buildings in a sort of go-as-you-please
manner, picking his grain where he finds it, and
he will, if he gets enough of it, grow finely. If
he is shut up in a close stall he will surely go
wrong. On the whole, however, it is much bet-

MANAGEMENT OF BEOOD MAKES. 95

ter to have the foals come in the spring. The
chief advantage in having a mare bred in the
fall is that it saves keeping her unproductive
for a period of six months.

Weanlings should have snug quarters during
their first winter. Put them preferably two in
a boxstall and feed them good oats and bran —
one-fifth bran by weight — all they will clean up
nicely and come hungry to their next meal. Feed
them the choicest hay on the place, always free
from dust and mold, and feed them often — a
little at a time. No one can rear young horses
properly without grain. Mark that well. Win-
ter and summer they should have good grain
feeding. Few, however, will give it to them. I
have never yet been able to discover why many
a farmer will feed 75 bushels of corn at 40 or 50
cents a bushel to a steer to make him weigh say
1,500 lb. and then sell him for 6 cents a pound,
or $90 in all, and yet begrudge a single ear to a
colt that at the same age on the same amount of
grain might have been sold for $150 or more.
Right now the same quantity of grain that will
put a $90 steer on the market fat will put a
three-year-old colt in shape to sell for twice the
money — and yet few men grain their colts.
Keep their feet level and their toes short.

In pasture yearlings and two-year-olds should
have grain according to the growth of the grass
and the season. Keep them growing and fat,
and always see well to their feet. Give them

96 THE HOKSE BOOK.

shelter into which they may escape from the at-
tacks of the awful flies. These flies cost the
farmers of the United States millions of dollars
annually in lost horseflesh; any man is los-
ing money when his horses are losing flesh. Do
not close young horses in a field with cattle,
sheep and swine, if it can be avoided. They do
best by themselves or with cattle— always poor-
ly with sheep and pigs. House them warmly in
winter and always keep them growing and fat.
This theory that forcing a colt to root up his
living at some old straw stack on the lee side of
a barb-wire fence makes him tough is all tom-
myrot. Such practice merely prevents the colt
from making such growth as he should make,
and what is more, it is inhuman, and the man
who is guilty of it is deserving of the attention
of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals. If he can not see that he is depleting
his pocketbook he should at least be estopped
from cruelly mistreating his dumb animals.

Stallions will, of course, have to be taken up
and kept by themselves the summer after they
are a year old. Many a foal has been got by a
yearling. Regarding the best time to castrate
colts men always have differed and always will.
As a rule it is best to order their castration
when they are about a year old. If one is unde-
veloped about the head and neck he may be al-
lowed to run entire for six months or a year
longer. The castration of horses at any age is a

MANAGEMENT OF BKOOD MARES. 97

simple operation and when performed by a qual-
ified practitioner adverse results are not to be
expected. There is very little risk in castrating
even old stallions. I have seen them altered at
all ages from two months to seventeen years. I
never knew one castrated at a very early age
which developed an attractive neck and head.
The longer a stallion remains entire the heavier
and coarser his head, neck and shoulders will
become. A stag — as a stallion castrated after
maturity is called — is seldom of much account
in the harness. His great heavy forehand is too
much for him to navigate with after he is de-
prived of his masculinity. Many of the stallions
which in their middle age have been converted
into alleged heavy harness horses have been a
byword and a derision for the reason that they
tired so easily and mostly on account of their too
heavy heads and necks. Methods of rearing
young stallions from two years old have already
been discussed.

Another point on which there always has been
and always will be a difference of opinion is as
to breeding two-year-old fillies. In my opinion
there is no reason why fillies of this age should
not be bred, provided that they are well grown
and their owner is willing to feed and care for
them properly during their pregnancy. Nor do
I believe that there is any reason why a mare
which has a foal when she is three should not
be bred regularly year after year — when she is

98 THE HOESE BOOK.

three and four, and so on — though it is a quite
general custom in Britain to breed mares when
they are two, let them go over at three and breed
them again at four to foal when five years old.
A poorly nourished, anemic, stunted two-year-
old filly should not be bred. This applies to all
sorts of horses and ponies. The breeder who
does not develop his fillies properly on judicious
and plentiful feeding should not essay to breed
them as two-year-olds.

Eegarding the growth of horses, it may be
said that roughly speaking a colt which is prop-
erly reared will make rather more than half his
growth in his first year. This rule will of
course be more or less upset in abnormal cases,
such as when a colt is badly treated during his
first year and then given good care during the
next three, but in such a case he will never come
to be what he would have been had he been han-
dled aright and kept growing from birth on-
ward. The larger the ultimate size is to be the
greater the proportion of it will be made the
first year. The draft-bred foal that does not
weigh 1,200 lb. or over the day he is twelve
months old will have a slim chance to fill a draft-
er's bill. The best plan is to give them always
what grain they will clean up nicely and let it
go at that. It is bad at any time to let colts get
thin. It is worst of all to let them lose the flesh
that was born on them. It is very nearly as bad
to let them get thin after weaning. Loss sus-
tained at such times will never be regained.

MANAGEMENT OF BKOOD MAEES. 99

Breaking a colt should begin when the young-
ster is a few days old. Fit a little headstall to
its head and leave a strap 6 or 8 inches long
hanging from it. Catch the foal by this strap
often and get him thoroughly accustomed to be-
ing handled, to close association with mankind,
to have his legs rubbed and his feet picked up.
A foal is a friendly little fellow as a rule and
likes to play and be petted. I have had three or
four of them at a time that I would wrestle with,
putting their forefeet on my shoulders. It is
always bad to ^'baby'^ a horse, but with a foal
it is different. Familiarity with mankind and
the consequent fearlessness accruing are safe in-
surance against trouble when it comes to break-
ing to harness. Early teach the foal to lead.
Have a fairly long lead-strap, get behind him
and make him go ahead. That is the right way.
The wrong way is to get in front of him and try
to drag him along. Gentle persuasion with the
whip may be necessary, but if the foal has been
gently handled he will not be afraid and will
quickly learn to go on about his business. Make
him do whatever you set out to teach him to do.
Breaking colts or horses is much like raising or-
phan colts— it is largely in the man. A horse,
young or old, is a stupid sort of a beast at the
best and unless he is intelligently raised is pos-
sessed by fear. Then under strange circum-
stances he will do anything and everything
which he ought not to do 5 he gets rattled and

100 THE HOKSE BOOK.

then he does not know what he is doing. On the
other hand if he has confidence in the man who
has hold of him, his master's voice will reas-
sure him.

There is a whole lot too much fuss, as a rule,
made about breaking young horses. If the
breaking is made a gradual process it will come
to a head much as a matter of course. If they
are allowed to run practically wild until three or
four years old and then suddenly caught up and
the effort made to force them to' do something
they know nothing about there will be trouble
and there always is. It may be advanced that
farmers have not time to fuss with coHs as ad-
vocated. That is a poor excuse. The farmer
who has not time to fuss with that which puts
dollars in his pockets would better be in other
business.

I figure that it is best to break colts and ac-
custom them to the harness at two years of age.
First of all, on the farm, take a thick straight
bit and buckle it in the mouth with two short
straps to the square irons in the ends of the
cheek pieces of the halter. Let them stand tied
in the stall and they will mouth and champ on
the bit and so toughen the cheeks, or parts of
the lips which the bit contacts, in that process.

Now get ready a leather surcingle with a loop
strap on top and buckles stitched half-way down
each side. Buckle the surcingle around the colt 's
body and adjust a check rein moderately tight.

MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 101

Or if desired a regular bitting harness may be
used. This consists of a bridle and check-rein,
a surcingle and crupper and two side lines, run-
ning from the bit to buckles on each side of the
circingle. The bit in a bitting harness usually
is a thick snaffle with a line of little metal pen-
dants called ^^ keys'' hanging to the joint in the
middle of it. The object of these keys is by
annoying the tongue to make the colt champ the
bit and so toughen his cheeks. After the colt
has been allowed to go awhile with his head
checked up, attach the side lines and buckle them
moderately tight. Turn him out thus rigged in-
to the yard and let him go a few hours a day for
a week. Then substitute real reins for the side-
lines and drive him around until he knows how
to guide this way and that, to stop at the word
''whoa" and to step up when directed. Break
the colt to stand absolutely still when being har-
nessed. That is a first essential. A horse that
is perpetually stepping around while being har-
nessed is but half broken at best. Also, when
the time comes make him understand that he
must stand stock still while being hooked up to
any kind of a rig and stand there until he gets
the word to move on. Do not forget this. It
means money. Horses of the roadster stamp, or
any other stamp for that matter, are often in-
dulged in lunging forward the moment they are
checked up. This is all wrong. A gentleman's
horse is broken so that he stands until his owner

102 THE HORSE BOOK.

adjusts his apron or robe, takes up his reins and
gives the word to go on. The time to teach a
horse these pleasant ways is when he is first
broken. Likewise teach him to back pleasantly
and always with a pull of the reins. Do not try
to teach the colt too much, but insist that he stop
as instantly as possible at the word ^'whoa,''
back when told to do so and the pull on the reins
shows what is wanted, and to get up promptly
when the word is given. Heroic measures are
sometimes necessary, but as a rule the exercise
of gentleness will win out sooner. A horse is a
stupid beast and infinite patience, coupled with
determination, is absolutely necessary to do
much with him. Some men think that they are
making something by going into a small yard
armed with a whip and making a colt do stunts.
I have never been able to see where they gained
anything, for the market for circus horses is
limited and a colt needs only to be broken to
harness properly to make him worth all the
money he will ever bring.

After the colt has been driven around by the
reins and has learned to guide to the right and
left, to turn around, *^get up'' and ^'whoa,''
hitch him into a long-shafted breaking cart sin-
gle, or double with some steady-going horse, not
necessarily an old one, but always reliable. It is
a mistake to hook a colt up the first time with
some old plug that can not get out of his own
way. He will never step fast enough for the

MANAGEMENT OF BKOOD MARES. 103

young one and the latter will fret and worry.
There are easier and shorter ways to break
horses than this, but it pays to take time as de-
scribed for the reason that the process outlined
if followed will develop a mouth not too hard
and not too soft, and that is worth money either
to sell or to keep. Remember that a horse is a
creature of habit. It takes repetition to drill
things into his brain. His instinct is admirable.
He will bring you home safely the darkest and
stormiest night that ever blew and the next day
bolt and wreck the rig because he chanced to
meet a black pig when he was habituated to
meeting white pigs in that particular spot.
When he is young his brain is more plastic and
sensitive to impression than when he grows
older. Habits he contracts at two years old
will be retained through life.

When colts have been well broken as two-
year-olds they may be turned out for the rest
of the year. They will never forget their les-
sons. There is no sense in trying to lay down
set rules; these very general directions must
serve. The man who breaks colts finds some
new situation to deal with in every one he un-
dertakes to educate.

In all cases the bitting should be done as out-
lined. See to it that the bit is always high
enough up in the mouth. Keep it just so that it
will not unduly press against the cheeks, but at
the same time not so low that the horse will be

104 THE HOESE BOOK.

everlastingly hitching at it with his tongue try-
ing to keep it comfortable in his mouth. Go
easy with them all at first, but go through with
everything that is undertaken. Never under
any circumstances try to make colts pull out of
a place where they have been stuck. One of the
surest ways to make him balky is to get a colt
stuck and then lick him because he has not
strength to pull out his load. More than once
on the soft prairie soils of the West I have had
the wagon wheels cut down in the sod in spring-
time and, after throwing off the small load of
hay I had on at the time, started up the team
of three-year-olds I was driving onto dry
ground, and then carried the hay forkful by
forkful out of the slough and loaded it onto the
wagon again. It was deplorably hard labor, to
be sure, but it paid.

Earey was a great handler of horses of some
sorts and his tackle was a great invention. This
tackle consists of two short straps fitted with
D rings, a surcingle and a long rope. The straps
are buckled around the front pasterns, the sur-
cingle around the body. One end of the rope is
spliced into the ring in the strap that goes
around the pastern of the near fore leg. The
free end of the rope is then passed through a
ring on the underside of the surcingle and then
down and through the ring in the strap around
the pastern of the off fore foot. Then the rope
end is brought up and passed through a ring

MANAGEMENT OF BROOD MARES. 105

sewed about half way down the off side of the
surcingle. The horse can walk all right, trot and
even run when the rope is slack, but a steady
pull on the rope will jerk his fore feet up against
the floor of his chest and down he goes on his
knees and nose. A rasping hard fall takes the
tuck out of most horses, two or three will usual-
ly do the business for the most incorrigible, but
it is a dangerous game to play.

I have mentioned the Earey tackle only for
the reason that its general use in colt-breaking
has been advocated by one or two writers in
high position, whose experience with it can not
have been extensive. It should be used in colt-
breaking only as a last resort. Horse-breaking,
to be sure, is no job for a nursery governess,
but there are only a very few colts — probably
not one in 5,000— that ever need a fall in the
Earey tackle.

Once upon a time I was employed by an im-
porter of coaching stallions and one of his chief
talking points was the facility with which the
imported stallions of full age could be broken to
harness. When some customer announced that
he had to be shown the foreman and I took oc-
casion to put the stallion in question through a
course of sprouts with the Earey tackle in a
long shed deeply bedded with shavings, and then
sallied forth with him. As soon as the horse
felt the body band of the harness tighten around
him he was in mortal terror of being thrown

106 THE HOKSE BOOK.

upon his head again and usually stepped off in
the long-shafted cart like a little lamb. Finally
the foreman and I broke the neck of a valuable
horse one day with the tackle and the talking
point vanished like magic. Incorrigibly vicious
horses may need Eareyizing, but these are few
and far between and no farmer need ever find
use for the tackle if he knows his business even
ill an elementary way. On the contrary the
Earey tackle is a tool to be used only by the
thoroughly experienced. It is by no means a
necessary farm implement.

Good harness is one of the best advertise-
ments a farmer or breeder can have. It is econ-
omy to buy good leather and then keep it in
good condition. There is a bit of a trick in
hitching up a horse just right, but it is hard to
state it didactically. In general the harness
from the bridle to the crupper should fit
'^neither too free nor to bind'' — meaning
neither too loose nor too tight— but how can
that happy medium be taught through the me-
dium of cold type ! It is worth dollars, though,
to have the harness fit just right. The horse
will work more contentedly and move more free-
ly. The main thing is to have the harness good,
have it fit right and then keep the life in the
leather. Harness oils and dressings are cheap
and it does not take long to fix up a double set.
Keep the metal housings bright and clean.

A farmer's business needs advertising just as

MANAGEMENT OF BKOOD MAEES. 107

much as the merchant's. No one need think that
the packers and other great mercantile houses
go to tremendous expense for fine horses, har-
ness and rigs for nothing. The financial pros-
perity of any firm may usually be gauged by
its horses and wagons as turned out in' the
street. So it is with the farmer. Show me the
farmer who drives to town a finely conditioned
pair of horses, geared with good leather and
hooked to a clean well cared for rig, and it is
the one best bet that you are showing me a man
whose credit is good at the bank and store. The
banker, mostly a shrewd judge of men and man-
ners, knows that the same qualities in human
nature, which are reflected in such an outfit,
make for success in business. On the other
hand tatterdemalion harness and ramshackle,
filthy rigs indicate qualities and character which
bankers do not cotton to when it comes to lend-
ing money over their counters.

CHAPTEE VII.

FITTING FOE. SALE.-MAEKET CLASSES
OF HOESES.-TEADE TEEMS.

To sell to the best advantage horses should
be fat and well broken — the fatter and better
broken they are, the better they will sell. Hence
it pays to accustom all farm horses to as many
of the terrifying sights and sounds of city life
as may be met up with in the country — the lo-
comotive, the trolley car, the automobile, thresh-
ing machines, motorcycles and the like. I once
knew a man who did a mighty good job on his
young horses by taking them often to a spot on
the road over which the railway crossed on a
high bridge and fill. It so happened that a pas-
senger express, a local passenger train and a
through freight came along one after the other
about six o'clock in the evening, and it was
rather the exception, spring, summer and fall,
not to find him thereabouts at that time. His
horses learned to let the trains go by above them
when they could see them and when they could
not see them, and as each train always whistled
just as it passed over the bridge, the education
was pretty thorough. This man was continually
showing the locomotive and the trolley to his
colts under divers circumstances and he enjoyed
a steady demand for them at good prices even
during the dull times.

108

MAEKET CLASSES OF HORSES. 109

*^ Family broken'^ means a wliole lot more
now than it did a decade ago. Then a horse
which would pass a traction engine and a sepa-
rator all right was esteemed safe. Now that
automobiles and trolley cars dot the landscape
and the motorcyclist goes whizzing by, it is alto-
gether a different story. A horse that is afraid
of automobiles or trolley cars or locomotives is
not worth a dollar for use anywhere near a
large city and that is where the best prices are
to be obtained. It is best to begin young with
them. They learn more easily then. There
should be no mistake about this, no maudlin
sentiment about the wrongs the automaniacs are
inflicting on the farmer. The auto has come to
stay. It is an accomplished factor of modern
civilization like the locomotive and the trolley
car. Just laws are needed to curb the ambition
of the madmen who career along the country
roads too fast, but the automobile must be reck-
oned with first, last and all the time. I have
driven over most of the country surrounding
Chicago. I know whereof I speak, the while
sympathizing deeply with the inhabitants of
rural districts traversed by roads which invite
the crazy autoist. Nowadays when a young
horse will stand fearlessly with a locomotive in
front of him, a trolley car passing behind him
and an automobile stationary but panting along-
side of him, he may be considered very fairly

110 THE HOESE BOOK.

broken for a country horse, but lie will still have
much to learn.

This is not the place to discuss the auto-on-
the-rural-highway question. The horse must
accommodate himself to the auto with its blind-
ing headlights, the trolley car and the locomo-
tive or go out of business. The law says that
the auto has as much right to use the public road
as the pedestrian or the horse, and no more, and
the owner of the horse might just as well make
up his mind to that fact first as last. It is no
small trick to break horses to autos and trolley
cars, but it can be done and it must be done if
the farmer is to get all that is coming to him
for his time and investment, not to speak at all
of his personal safety and that of his wife and
bairns. It is an un-American position to take
that because autos are common the wife and
babies can no longer drive on the public road.
That sort of spirit would never have wrested
from Great Britain the independence of which
we are so proud. There are horses now and
there will be horses after we are all dead. Make
them safe for the women folks to drive. It has
to come.

To offer a thin horse for sale is to invite for
him a lower price than he should bring. The
trade demands fat horses. The farmer can more
easily afford to feed his grain to horses than to
any other domestic animal. Some one has to
put the animals in condition and if the farmer

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MARKET CLASSES OF HORSES. Ill

will not do it, the feeder must, and the price the
farmer receives must he lower in consequence.
Many a time I have seen grain pay the farmer
a dollar or more a bushel when used in fatten-
ing horses. The experiments made along this
line by the Illinois Experiment Station are right
in point here. I commend tlie bulletin describ-
ing them to all farmers. This feeding process
is an easy one. Put the horses in stalls, tied by
the head. Feed them all the grain and hay they
will clean up and give them all the pure water
they will drink. They must be brought to full
feed gradually and the food must not be
changed. Exercise is not necessary. Big draft-
ers will gain as much as five or six or even seven
pounds a day on all the corn they will eat. The
feeders who make a business of fattening draft-
ers for the market use corn mostly, with some-
times a little bran, and they never change the
feed from the time they start the horses until
they land them in the market. This rule of no
change applies absolutely.

In the great markets horses are classed oc-
cording to their *^job.^' Attempts have been
made to differentiate sharply between the va-
rious classes, but I shall make no effort to draw
any strongly marked lines, for the reason that
it is impossible to do so. One cannot mark
didactically lines that exist only in the most
shadowy form at best and are constantly chang-
ing. Classes go by certain names all over the

112 THE HORSE BOOK.

country, but the horse that is referred to in
one part of the country by one name may be
very different from the horse which is referred
to by identically the same term iji another. If
any one desires to post himself on this phase of
the business he would best stand by the loading
chutes in any of the great wholesale markets
and note the horses that are shipped out to the
various parts of the country. He will find, for
instance, that Boston wagon horses. New York
wagon horses and Pittsburg wagon horses are
three entirely different sorts, though they are
all wagon horses. How then is any one to ex-
plain didactically what a wagon horse is! Fol-
lowing, however, is a sketch in outline of mar-
ket requirements.

Just at present horses of draft blood are
classed as drafters, loggers, feeders, wagon
horses, chunks and farm workers, and with the
exception of the first named two it is not always
easy to separate them. Expressers form a class
by themselves. Then come southern chunks and
rilf-raff. Horses without any draft blood in
them at all — at least visibly so — are classed as
gentlemen's roadsters or light harness horses,
heavy harness horses, business or pleasure
horses variously so-called, livery horses, south-
ern drivers and other intermediate sorts of no
special class or calibre, such as hearse horses,
for which there is always more or less of a de-
mand, and a few other kinds for which a spo-

MAEKET CLASSES OF HORSES. 113

radic inquiry develops periodically — spotted
circus horses, for instance. Horses for the fire,
patrol wagon and mounted police service come
from the ranks of the expressers, being selected,
the first two on account of strength and speed
on the run, the latter for more or less excellence
of saddle conformation, substance to carry
weight and a bit of good looks as well. Cavalry
and artillery horses are taken periodically by
our own government and by foreign powers.
The cavalry horse mostly purchased by Uncle
Sam comes from the ranks of the business or
pleasure horses and is mostly of trotting blood.
No uniformity of type is insisted on. They
come in all shapes, these troop horses. Officers'
chargers are preferably of the conformation of
the Kentucky saddle horse. Artillery horses
are light expressers, weighing around 1,250
pounds, and like the fire and patrol horses, able
to run.

Drafters run in the trade from 1,600 pounds
upwards. The larger they are, the fatter and
the more quality they possess, the better they
sell. Loggers are inferior but big drafters.
Wagon horses are a numerous delegation. They
come in all sizes from 1,250 pounds to 1,450
pounds, and in all shapes from the class}^ one
almost a coacher in conformation and used to
draw the delivery wagon of a dry goods house,
to the roughest sort of a team fit only to pull
dirt out of an excavation. The Boston wagon

114 THE HOKSE BOOK.

horse weighs around 1,400 pounds, is preferably
rather light in bone, of build almost typically
Percheron and always very smooth. The east-
ern wagon horse, taken mostly for New York
trade, is coachlike in conformation and quality,
smaller than the Boston article and handsome.
The Pittsburg wagon horse is a ruggeder propo-
sition altogether and in weight around 1,450
pounds. This shows how futile it would be to
try to describe wagon horses as a general classi-
fication. Chunks are short and thick and drafty
in conformation, range in weight from 1,250 to
1,550 pounds and are variously sorted for va-
rious localities. It is not easy to divide them off
from the wagon horses. Southern chunks are
light, weighing around 1,100 pounds or there-
abouts, with less draft blood and more warm
blood about them than any of the foregoing
classes. Farm workers are anything and every-
thing. If a horse in late winter and early spring
will not class anywhere else, he goes as a farm
worker or farm chunk. Feeders are thin
horses of the drafter class.

Expressers may briefly be described as over-
grown, low-quality coachers. They must have
a bit of draft blood about them to give them
size, but it must not show in preponderance.
They must be able to get out and trot quickly
and nervily with a big load behind them. They
range in weight from 1,250 to 1,500 pounds —
high-headed, smoothly turned, good-acting

MAEKET CLASSES OF HOESES. 115

horses with considerable style. Formerly
bussers and cabbers, taken chiefly for export to
England and France, and tram horses were ac-
counted distinct classes that tailed on after the
expressers, but the demand for them has disap-
peared and nowadays one rarely hears their
names mentioned in the trade.

Gentlemen's roadsters have the type of the
trotter — breedy, long-necked, elegant horses
suiting the light buggy or speed wagon and able
to go along at a smart rate of speed. In fact
the ranks of the road horse are properly re-
cruited from among the harness race horses,
both trotters and pacers, and to sell well a road
horse nowadays must be able to beat 2 :30, prob-
ably quite a good bit. Then these which cannot
trot or pace fast tail on down in all grades to the
cheapest sorts which are taken for the livery
and southern trade. Of late, however, the South
has been buying a better grade of driver, taking
business and pleasure horses at $160 to $185,
whereas the demand from south of Mason &
Dixon's line was formerly for cheap lots at $65
to $115.

Heavy harness horses are divided into two
sorts — the park horse and the carriage horse,
the runabout horse being a sort of hanger-on to
the skirts of both. The park horse runs in
height from 14.3 hands to 15.2% hands, and the
carriage horse from 15.3 hands upwards. At
least that is the distinction drawn for these

116 THE HORSE BOOK.

sorts at the great horse shows. The park horse
and the carriage horse have the same conforma-
tion, but the park horse must have as an ab-
solute essential high, snappy action. The step of
the carriage horse should be more commanding,
as befits his greater size and the heavier vehicle
which he pulls. Conformation of these two
sorts is of the round-built order, round quar-
ters, round barrel, fairly short legs, neat, long,
well arched neck, clean cut at the throttle, neat
head, sloping shoulders and clean bone, the
more the better.

Typically the correct action of the park horse
in front may be described as that the foot should
be raised and lowered as though, so to speak,
following the rim of a rolling wheel, being
brought forward and upward, reaching the
ground again in a graceful curve. Many horses
can jerk their knees up high and then slam their
feet down again on the ground not far from
the spot where they picked up, but that is not
good action, no matter how high the knee may
be hoisted. Similarly some horses can get their
knees away up when going at a three-minute
clip and not until then. That will not do, for
the street traffic regulations do not permit the
exhibition of so much speed. The heavy har-
ness horse must go high when going slow. The
hocks should be kept well together, flexed
sharply, brought well upward and the foot
thrown forward well under the body. The ac-

MAKKET CLASSES OF HORSES. 117

tion of the larger horse dwells somewhat, per-
missibly, and is therefore more deliberate, but
it must be high all around.

Eunabout horses are used singly. A runa-
bout pair is very much of a farce. This is a
nondescript article in horseflesh, of varying size
but never large, ranging perhaps up to 15.3
hands and from that down to 14.3, with a bit of
speed, a bit of action, more or less of the confor-
mation of the park horse, but not his action.
In short, the runabout horse is about half way
between the roadster and the heavy harness
horse and generally he is docked, though not
always.

As the class of farm workers includes every-
thing that is not of sufficient size or merit to
go into the higher-priced lots, so the business
and pleasure class may be said to be a very
elastic one. A horse may be mighty useful and
yet not class as a roadster, park, carriage or
runabout horse. The more inferior lots of the
trotter type fill the livery stables and the more
chubby ones go into buggy work in the cities,
the South taking many of each kind. A hearse
horse is a light expresser which happens to be
black in color and may weigh as much as 1,300
pounds. I want to say again that it is useless
to attempt to explain by rule of thumb the divid-
ing lines between the various market classes,
more especially nowadays when the demand for
horses exceeds the supply and buyers are will-

118 THE HOESE BOOK.

ing to put up with makeshifts if they can not
find just what they want.

Cobs properly speaking do not stand over 14.2
or 14.3 hands at most, though horses standing
15.1 hands — sometimes even more — are often
miscalled cobs in the trade. Cobs are the con-
necting link between the ponies and the horses.
They are large-bodied, pudgy, chunky beasts,
not horse, not pony, but half way between, short
of leg and properly with high action. Ponies
run in all sizes from 14.2 hands down, the va-
rious common sorts being described in the sub-
sequent chapter devoted to them.

Saddle horses include, as the market classifies
them, the five-gaited or Kentucky horse, the
three-gaited or walk-trot-and-canter horse and
the hunter. Special reference to them will be
found further along.

By continuous effort the Stock Yards Com-
pany has made Chicago the greatest point of
concentration and distribution of horses in the
West. Therefore Chicago substantially domi-
nates values of horses for most of the country.
Its market gets the best horses in the region
tributary to it and all the largest and best buy-
ers in the eastern and southern cities are contin-
ually represented at the ringside in the Dexter
Park Pavilion, commonly known as the ^^ bull-
pen." A sharp man is he who can hold his own
in any horse market and to get to understand all
of the trade terms is no mean trick of itself.

MAEKET CLASSES OF HOESES. 119

Here some of the Chicago trade terms are ex-
plained. Tlie shibboleth of the professional
horse dealer, however, varies.

Horses are mostly sold at auction in the great
markets of the West. In Chicago and generally
elsewhere they are sold under certain stated
conditions, which are well understood. If a
horse is sold ' ' to be serviceably sound ' ' he must
have nothing wrong about him that will mate-
rially impair his value as a worker at his busi-
ness. In other words, he must be practically
sound in wind, limb and eye and body, have no
bad habits, must pull trae and be well broken.
A horse that does not fill this bill or any other
form of guarantee may be rejected and thrown
back on the hands of the seller at any time be-
fore noon of the day following that on which
the purchase was made. A horse may also be
sold ' ^ to be serviceably sound' ' with some defect
pointed out, which goes with him. It is only
once in a while that horses are sold as ^ ^ sound, ' '
and then only to ^^ start something.'' ^'Legs
go" means that whatever is on his legs goes
with the horse, but he must be right in his wind,
pull true and he must not be lame. ^^Tb wind
and work" predicates that the hoirse is sound
in his wind and will work all right. ^^ Worker
only" means that the horse will pull true and
nothing more. * ' At the end of the halter" indi-
cates that the purchaser has bought a horse,
when his bid is the last one accepted by the

120 THE HORSE BOOK.

auctioneer. There are quite constant modifica-
tions of these conditions by the pointing out of
imperfections.

The most astounding practice about the horse
business in a professional way is the *^bush.''
If a definition of this term should be inserted in
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary it would
probably read about like this: ^^To bush.— To
force or cajole the seller of a horse to refund to
the purchaser a portion of the price bid in the
auction ring.'' There are various reasons for
this ^'bushing." A buyer may find something
on the horse which he did not see in the ring.
Then he may insist on a reduction of the price
•and the vendor will consent to be ^'bushed"
rather than run the risk of a rejection. Some-
times the seller will submit to the process on
the statement of the buyer that he has bought
the horse too dear. ^^ Bushing" is necessarily
a sort of a private transaction and it would
therefore be useless to go into further detail.
Many a horse has, however, gone through the
ring with the ^'bush" arranged beforehand,
which is another way of saying that the horse
was bought before he was auctioned off.

In the vernacular of the bull-pen there are
many terms and expressions which may be ex-
plained. The most incomprehensible I ever
heard was ^^bush and a gristle," which indi-
cated that the horse had an incipient sidebone
and was sold subject to a reduction of the price

MABKET CLASSES OF HORSES. 121

bid. ^^A hair or two off above the hoof '^ means
that the horse has a wire-cut, which may be as
big as the palm of your hand, but having been
pointed out, goes with him. '*A little bit of a
speck in one eye'' guarantees one good eye — no
more, no less. ^^A little bluish in one eye'*
means the same thing, and so do ^^a little
smoke ' ' and ^ ^ a little feather. ' ' '' Which eye ! ' '
queries some one in the crowd. ^^ Don't know,"
replies the seller, and thereupon no guarantee
goes with either eye. **A little rough behind"
indicates that the horse has a spavin or thor-
oughpin or some other unsoundness about his
hocks, and it all goes with him. ^^ Makes just a
little noise" is one way of saying that a horse
is off in his wind or ^^ windy." ^^ Jacks" are
bone spavins. ^* Michigan pads" are long-
shaped puffs on the outside of the hocks below
where the thoroughpin shows. ^^A little round-
ing on one hock" implies that the horse has a
curb and if some one believes that there is some-
thing wrong with a horse which cannot be read-
ily discovered he alleges that ^Hhere is a hole in
him somewhere." ^^A little careless of one
knee" tells that the horse is knee-sprung, **a
little rough on the coronet'' that he has a side-
bone or ringbone. *^ Stands a little careless"
indicates that the horse points a fore foot.

A brand new one in the trade just now is ^*he
smokes his pipe," which indicates that a horse's
lip has been torn at some time and so hangs

122 THE HOESE BOOK.

down. If a horse has a sloping rump he is
*^ goosey.'^ He is '* chancy'' if he gives prom-
ise of developing into something high-class, but
has been purchased for a moderate or low price.
When a horse throws his fore feet outward at
the finish of the forward step he is said to
^'wing/' ^'dish'' or *^ paddle,'' according to the
choice of terms. They all mean the same thing.
If he toes-out in front he is '^nigger-heeled"; if
he toes-in he is '^ pigeon-toed." If he stands
with the points of his hocks together and his
hind toes out, he is ** cow-hocked." If the for-
mation of the foreleg is the reverse of what it
is in a knee-sprung horse, he is ''calf -kneed"
or "stands back at his knees," as opposed to
"over at his knees." A horse that toes-out in
front will almost invariably "box" or "knock"
or hit his knees or "brush" his ankles. If he
strikes his hind ankles he "interferes" ; striking
higher up behind is called "speedy-cutting,"
but it is done by striking the opposing fore foot.
If he strikes the shoe of a front foot with the
toe of the hind he "forges" or "over-reaches."
If he is off in his wind he is "windy," or
"roars" or "whistles." A "bull" is a horse
that grunts when a pass is made at him. Inci-
dentally it may be remarked that about 10 per
cent of all the horses which reach the Chicago
market are windy. If he is afflicted with chorea
he is " stringy " or " crampy " or a " shiverer, ' '
though he may be ' ' stringy ' ' on account of some

MAKKET CLASSES OF HORSES. 123

injury and not have chorea. Obviously if he has
heaves he is ^^heavey. '^ If he keeps on swing-
ing from side to side in the stall like an ele-
phant he is a ** weaver.'' If a horse has been
knocked about a bit in shipping he will likely
show a '^ car-bruise," but it must be soft and
mellow and show to be of recent origin. If a
horse has never even seen a harness he is ^^a lit-
tle green." It is positively marvelous how
diminutive all equine ailments are around the
mart. Finally when the horse has passed
through the plug, pelter and crowbait stages he
becomes '^a poor old skin," and when he either
can not go any more or dies he is carted off to
the '^refinery" and is there converted into a
large variety of articles of commerce ranging
from salt beef (for export) and cordova leather
to buttons and glue.

There are also many other terms of much
more general significance and acceptation used
by horsemen the world over. For instance, a
^^ half-bred" is a horse begotten by a Thorough-
bred stallion and may have on his dam's side
none of that blood at all or very much of it, but
so long as he is not eligible to registration as
Thoroughbred he is ^'half-bred." A grade is
begotten by a pure-bred horse from a mare of
unknown breeding, but this does not apply to
the get of the Thoroughbred or standard-bred.
A cross-bred is by a pure-bred horse of one
breed from a pure-bred mare of another breed.

124 THE HOKSE BOOK.

The get of a Thoroughbred stallion from a cold-
blooded mare is, as stated, a half-bred. The
get of a standard-bred stallion from a similar
mare is non-standard or trotting-bred or pac-
ing-bred, as the case may be. '^Cold blood" is
that which has not been vivified by an infusion
of the race horse or his derivatives and ^'warm
blood" is that which has. The part of the horse
in front of the saddle is called his ' ' forehand. ' '
The bone and muscle of his tail form his
^ ^ dock, ' ' and when a part of that structure is cut
off he is *^ docked." Where his dock joins his
body is his *^ croup" or ^^tailhead." His but-
tocks are his quarters— never his hips. Be-
tween his quarters and hocks are his ''second
thighs" or ''gaskins." His shanks are his
' ' canons ' ^ or his ' ' shins. ' ' His nose and mouth
are his ''muzzle." Finally his left side is his
near side and his right side his off side. A
horseman never speaks of the right or left side
of a horse.

Demand for draft geldings of great weight is
a development of modern commercial condi-
tions. The congestion of the streets of the great
cities and the increase in the bulk and weight
of the goods to be hauled preclude speed in
transit in urban thoroughfares. Therefore came
the call for horses of sufficient weight and
strength to move very heavy loads. So great a
factor has the big draft horse become in Ameri-
can commerce during the last ten years that if

MAEKET CLASSES OF HORSES. 125

he should be suddenly extinguished the rail-
roads would be, temporarily at least, forced out
of business for lack of power to transport
freight from warehouse or factory to the cars.
Of still later years the desire of the great mer-
cantile firms to advertise their business by
putting good teams of drafters on the streets to
make a fine show as well as to haul their heavy
loads, and their rivalry to win in the show ring
ever since the International Live Stock Exposi-
tion was established in Chicago in 1900, has
created an insistent and never satisfied demand
for these big horses and forced prices skyward
to heights little dreamed of in the trade. Con-
sistently year after year the heavy drafter holds
his pride of place as the horse commanding the
most ready sale at prices relatively higher than
are brought by any other sort. A farmer can
make a larger profit on his draft horses than on
any other kind he can breed.

Weights most favored by purchasers range
from 1,800 lb. upward, the limit, so far as I
know being, for the International show at least,
2,385 lb., which was the weight of Armour's
Big Jim in November, 1906. I have heard of
stallions alleged to weigh from 2,400 to 2,500
pounds, and I believe there are a few such in
the country, but Big Jim is the largest horse
I have ever seen on the scale. Weights of
drafters are usually considered to begin at
1,600 pounds, and the greater the weight with

126 THE HOKSE BOOK.

quality and shapeliness the higher the price.
It has been stated that better geldings have
been shown at the International than there ever
were stallions. As to this I need not express
an opinion, but the fact remains that some mar-
velous specimens have been exhibited and the
keen rivalry of the great packing firms to obtain
the very best always insures a top-notch price
for a top-notch animal. Add to this that a
score or more of the largest eastern firms are
always actively in the market for this best class
and it is easily seen what an alluring prospect
is spread out before the farmer-breeder by this
sort of trade. To get the big money, however,
it is necessary always to offer something the
buyers want. The farmer who deliberately
caters to the needs of the poor teamster who
ekes out a more or less scanty living by the
labor of his equine slaves need never expect to
get the prices which are secured by the breeder
who caters to the wants of firms worth millions.
Eemember this : No matter how high a breeder
aims he will always get some misfits. If he
aims to breed the very best drafters he will get
always a certain proportion of chunks, wagon
horses and nondescripts. If he sets out to
breed any- lower grade, he will get enough poor
ones to put a serious crimp in his receipts.

During the dull times which prevailed be-
tween 1892 and 1900 most farmers sold off
their best mares and went out of the business

MAEKET CLASSES OF HOKSES. 127

of breeding horses. Thousands of these mar-es
were exported and many more thousands were
put to work in the cities. In this way when
times began to get better and the demand for
horses to revive most farmers found themselves,
a decade ago, without big mares from which to
breed. Therefore when we started in again to
raise drafters we had a mighty poor foundation
on which to build. Build, however, in some
shape we had to, and the man who had stuck
to his draft-bred stock found his wealth greatly
increased. As it was only in 1899 and 1900 that
breeding was seriously entered upon again the
supply of big drafters must of necessity be and
remain short for many years to come. There
is no more profitable line of live stock raising
in which the farmer may engage. That we have
done as well as we have is very greatly to our
credit, but there is yet room for great improve-
ment.

From all of the old world breeds of draft
horses now known here the high-priced ones
may be bred. The point is, paying due atten-
tion to quality which has heretofore been dis-
cussed, to breed the largest stallions to the
largest mares and then feed the resulting foals
from birth to selling age. Weight without
quality will always sell, but weight with quality
is the combination that brings -the big money.
The conformation desired has already been
described in Chapter II. Generally speaking

128 ' The hoese book.

stallions weighing 2,000 pounds or more should
be used and the mares as large as they can be
got. It is a great temptation to sell off good
young mares when, for instance, a mortgago
payment is coming due and a shipper offers a
long price, but it will pay best in the long run
to save religiously the best young mares, and
use them for breeding stock.

Crossing over from the Ftench breeds to the
British and from the British to the French or
Belgian will produce commercial drafters that
will sell to splendid advantage, but it is always
best to stick to the one chosen breed, piling
cross upon cross and so continually approaching
a fixed ideal. The influence of proper environ-
ment has already been so fully dealt with that
it is only needful now to say that the drafter
is a product of highly artificial conditions and
must be highly fed or he will not grow large
enough.

Drafters which bring the highest prices are
always offered for sale about as fat as they can
be made. The buyers who bid the longest prices
for drafters invariably want them fat and are
willing to pay well for the adipose tissue. Con-
sequently the farmer who lets his grain lie in
his bins and offers his horses thin in flesh is
merely throwing money away. An instance is
in point. Matt Biers, the well known Illinois
shipper, recently paid a farmer $265 for a thin
four-year-old gelding, which sold at auction in

MAHKET CLASSES OF HOKSES. 129

Chicago for $290. It was current comment at
the time that if the gelding had been fat he
would have sold for $400 or more. Had the
farmer put the extra flesh on the horse he would
have been paid probably $350, the shipper
would have made a larger profit and the buyer
would have been better pleased. According to
these figures 40 or 50 bushels of grain fed to
this horse would have paid a dollar a bushel
and a net profit of $50 besides to the breeder.
The men who make a business of ^^ feeding out''
drafters know the value of fat. If these profes-
sionals can afford to pay from $200 to $250 or
even more for thin horses, ship them home,
fatten them, ship them back to market, pay com-
missions and make a profit in the end, surely
the farmer can do much better when he can
save all the expenses incident to such transac-
tions. Therefore the fanner will make money
by seeing to it that his horses are fat when he
offers them for sale and this is true not alone
of drafters but of all other horses as well.

Finally in order that farmers may get a cor-
rect idea of the drafters that bring the big
money and of the kind they should strive to
produce there is no method of education so good
as attendance at the International Live Stock
Exposition and other shows at which drafters
are exhibited in numbers, and thorough investi-
gation of the everyday demands of the market
at any one of the wholesale centers — preferably

130 THE HORSE BOOK.

Chicago. By following closely the awards of
the judges and by asking questions of represen-
tative horsemen when he is puzzled, a farmer
can acquire valuable information he will never
obtain at home. Be not afraid to approach the
judge after his work is done. Judges nowadays
are generally perfectly willing to impart on re-
quest such knowledge as they possess. Get out
and see for yourself. Eub shoulders with the
world. Money spent on making trips to great
shows and markets need not be charged up to
expenses, but with all legitimacy to capital ac-
count and the investment will produce a thou-
sand fold greater interest than the money would
earn if never spent at all.

CHAPTER VIIL
FITTING FOR SHOW AND SHOWING.

From time immemorial trial in the arena has
been the main bulwark of the breeder's busi-
ness. The modern show ring is the legitimate
successor of the Roman stadium. It was an
easy transition from the trial of speed to the
trial of individuality and this historic connec-
tion is portrayed today in the names amphi-
theater and coliseum which we bestow on the
buildings in which our horse shows are held.
At its inception in those far off days the arena
was a field of war ; the modern show ring is no
kindergarten. It is the same invincible spirit
which made Rome mistress of the world and
which has builded all the great empires the
world has ever known that has given men honor
in the show ring. Modern show yard ethics de-
mand that the exhibitor be a sportsman; the
show ring is no place for the pusillanimous or
cowardly.

Active competition in the arena must be
engaged in by the breeder before he can learn
to gauge properly the merits and demerits of
his stock. Young animals may look at home to
be worldbeaters and yet not come one-two-six
when the judge hands out the ribbons. It is

131

132 THE HOKSE BOOK.

only by submitting them to the show ring test
that the breeder may discover how they rank
with the products of other establishments.
^^Who^s afraid I" should be his motto. He
should court the trial of the show ring and cut
and come again until he lands on top. There
may be breeders who have ridden to fame along
a road that did not lead across the tan-bark,
but if there are history does not record their
names. Gen. Sherman's epigrammatic defini-
tion of war has been accepted by the world at
large as correct. The show ring is the seat
of war, mimic it is true, but war nevertheless,
and the showman's campaign must be no less
carefully planned and vigorously prosecuted
than the famous march to the sea.

In North America the practice of exhibitors
differs materially from that of the old world.
Commercialism dominates all modern American
life; the business element is always easy of
discovery. The United States and Canada are
the only countries in the world in which many
of the leading prizes are won by horses im-
ported from beyond the seas and shown by
exhibitors whose chief object in trying to win
honors is to make money. This is not true, of
course, of a few of the rich men who show
horses as a pastime, but these few often work
the hardest to win and it is on the basis an-
nounced that show yard methods, ethics, pro-
cedure and preparation must be discussed. It

FITTING FOR SHOW. 133

is this commercial element which has made
rivalry in the American arena the most bitter
in the world and supplies the reason why it is
so essential that preparation be complete before
sending horses onto the tanbark.

In the old countries show ring competition is
more or less of a lovefeast compared to the bat-
tles fought on American soil. Annually the
United Kingdom, France, Belgium and Ger-
many are ransacked by the importers for the
best horses that money will buy and to win with
these horses is a matter of dollars and cents,
not of sentiment. That our breeders have done
as well as they have in the face of this free-
for-all competition speaks volumes for their
progressive enterprize in the face of discourage-
ment. We are a free-for-all nation, however,
and the breeder must win against such competi-
tion if he is to gain the top rungs of the ladder.
It has been done and it can be done again.
There are anomalies in national as well as per-
sonal affairs and the position of the American
breeder is a notable one. If he wins he wins
against long odds and when he wins his triumph
is all the more glorious. True parallels can not
be drawn between the show yards of Europe
and America.

Friendship ceases when the horses enter the
arena. It is then the business of the exhibitor
to win and even a small point overlooked may

134 THE HOKSE BOOK.

mean defeat. Thin horses can not win. Poorly
shown horses meet defeat. Fierce rivalry com-
mands that the judges consider naught but that
which is presented before them. Therefore the
first essential is to put the show horses onto
the tanbark as fit as hands can make them and
to that condition an overload of flesh is the
prime essential. Flesh covers a multitude of
faults. It would serve no good purpose to dis-
cuss the question of so overloading show
horses ; the fact remains that it must be done. '
Nor must the exhibitor think that all he has
to do is to put his horses into the ring good and
fit and the ribbons will come of themselves.
Ethically they should; actually they will not.
Of late years there has been a marked advance
in the personnel and work of the judges, but
there are practical politics in the show ring
just as there are in everyday life. It is a highly
specialized type of politics at that and as in
all political strife no one can afford to overlook
even a single trivial point. An exhibitor to get
quite all that is coming to him must not only
get up into the ^^push" but he must be of the
* ^ push. ' ' He can only get there by showing his
stuff with just that extra touch of finish that
compels recognition and the while remaining
content to persevere in his novitiate as a good
sportsman should. There is nothing Utopian
or altruistic about the American show ring. A
novice at the game must fight for what he gets

FITTING FOR SHOW. 135

and, remembering what Sherman said about
war, fight accordingly. If he does not watch
out he will find the cards stacked against him
and dealt to him from the top, middle and bot-
tom of the deck. At that, more than half the
cry of fraud and favoritism in the show ring
which has gone up from disappointed exhibitors
has lacked justification in fact. The really neat
jobs have slid through so beautifully that they
have hardly ever been even suspected, certainly
not detected until long after they were put
through. All of which nails down the unalter-
able fact that the exhibitor must watch out or
the goblins will get him.

Fitting horses for show is an easy enough
process, albeit one that is fraught with much
likelihood of trouble if it is not properly done.
The hard part of it all is to pick out the winner
in the rough. The better the judge the more
surely will he select a thin colt to make a winner
when fitted, but the best will go wrong half the
time or more. A breeder who lets his young
stock get down poor has all these chances to
take. He would better keep them in condition
and so know more about them. There is no
reason why a breeder should not show his horses
from foalhood to maturity. The cumulative in-
fluence of such success is priceless. Foals and
yearlings should be the main reliance of the
breeder in the show ring, rather than his
matured stallions. Therefore we begin with the

136 THE HOKSE BOOK.

foals. A group of them, uniform in character
and brought out as they should be, forms the
very best advertisement for any breeder and
next comes a good bunch of yearlings. In
these classes he does not meet the competition
of the importers. He practically has the field
to himself. He is overlooking a sure thing if
he does not avail himself of the opportunity.

As there is no age limit in the classes for foals
youngsters intended for exhibition should come
early and be submitted to the forcing process
from the time they are born! Foals are more
easily fitted than any older horses. They should
have all they will eat of oatmeal and bran and
after they are ten weeks old or thereabouts some
oilmeal. It is impossible to give any direct in-
structions as to quantity. The feeder must ar-
range about that according to the condition of
the foals. The mares should be fed a large
ration of grain and have good grass. It never
pays to stint the mares that are suckling foals
intended for exhibition. A ration consisting of
ground oats one part, ground corn one part and
bran two parts by weight, and a double handful
of oilmeal fed dry will prove the best. They
should have as much of his as they will eat up
clean twice a day ; it promotes the flow of milk
and the foals prosper accordingly. This is high
feeding of course, but it must be done in order
to get the foals where they should be. With
this sort of milk from their dams and what

FITTING FOR SHOW. 137

^rain the foals will eat there need be no worry
ibout their growth, but if it is intended to send
them into the ring in the very highest possible
condition cow^s milk may also be fed to them.
Nothing puts flesh so nicely on a young animal
as milk. The charge that cow's milk makes
foals have soft joints is apparently made good
at times, but then it is the abuse of the milk
not its use that is to blame — the milk of itself
never yet did any harm; it is the mountain of
flesh that can be built up by the use of the milk
that influences the joints and makes them soft.
I believe that just as hard joints can be built
up on milk as on anything else. In fact it can
be proved that this is true, but it is for the
feeder to determine how much must be given
and to see that it is not abused. Moreover there
are always chances to take in fitting any kind
of horses for show. I have known colts that
were allowed to bury their noses in warm new
milk and drink all they wanted three times a
day and come out all right every way and I
have known others that threatened to go wrong
on a ration limited to two quarts twice a day.
Begin any time it is desired to feed the milk
after the colt has got so it is able to take all
the milk his dam gives. Go easy at the start.
Feed three times a day and never give the
youngster all he will drink. Perhaps two quarts
three times a day warm from the cow will be
about right, though it may be too much. It will

138 THE HOKSE BOOK.

always be enough. If the feeder does not under-
stand his business thoroughly or if the inexperi-
enced man is not willing to take a chance while
learning the feeding of cow's milk to foals the
process would better be eliminated altogether.

According to modern show ring ideals foals of
the draft breeds look better docked. They must
also be taught to lead nicely and stand them-
selves up properly in the show ring. An un-
mannerly foal is at a grave disadvantage. Edu-
cate them to walk and trot freely to halter and
to stand still when wanted. To this end wean
the foals early. Then they will not worry for
their mothers, but the worst thing possible — I
have seen it done — is to begin the weaning
process just before leaving for the shows, either
taking the dam along and leaving the foal or
vice versa. That will never do, no matter how
well done to the foal has been nor yet how old
he is. The mare will go wrong somehow and
the foal will never look as he should either at
home or at the show. Trim the feet of the foals
so as to keep them level. Get them to look as
nearly like little horses as possible — the more
so the better. If they are to be shown with their
sire at their head, trim the lot just alike.

Coach-bred foals should not be fed milk — it
will make them too gross — unless one happens
to be very backward and then he may be made
to catch up to the others by the added food.
With this single exception their treatment

FITTING FOR SHOW. 139

should be the same as that for any other foal
intended for exhibition. Thorough education is
even more essential in the case of coach and
Hackney foals than with the drafters, but only
insofar as with the mature animals of these
sorts.

Foals fed for showing as described will only
need a let up in dropping off the milk
when the show season has drawn to its close,
which under the present system is in December
and therefore in cold weather. After they are
safely home the milk may be tapered off and
stopped altogether and the straight grain ration
persevered with, raw or cooked roots being
added. Carrots, sugar beets or rutabagas
should be fed in quantity preferably raw. The
grain ration should be oats and bran. It is im-
possible to say definitely how much the colts
should have. They should be given a big yard
to exercise in and they should have as much
oats and bran as they will eat up clean and come
hungry to the next meal. This with the roots
and what bright hay they will pick over will
keep them growing nicely and as they should
grow. Formerly I believed that it was neces-
sary to feed weanlings soft food all winter. I
am now convinced — and the bulletins of the ex-
periment stations will bear me out — that more
may be done in promoting growth of the right
sort by feeding grain dry and by giving roots
for succulence. Digestive troubles, moreover,

140 THE HOKSE BOOK.

are less likely to arise to be overcome in colts
that are dry-fed and it has been most conclu-
sively proved that cooking adds nothing to the
nutritive quality of the grain.

Carried along in this way weanlings will come
to the rise of grass as yearlings about as
growthy as they can be made, fat and hearty.
It is always better to separate the colts from the
fillies during the winter. They should be ac-
customed to the green herbage gradually and
then they should have the run of pasture, the
grain feeding being continued. They should
have shedding to run into at will and as they
grow older they will, of course, require more
grain. In the heat of summer the youngsters
should be taken up during the day and turned
out at night and they should have steady educa-
tion in moving according to show yard methods.
The fillies will do well in almost any sort of a
field. The colts, being of a more excitable
nature, will be better in small lots of two or
three acres and not more than two colts to-
gether.

As the time of showing approaches again,
perhaps about a month before the first show is
to be made, take them off the pasture altogether
so they will stand shipping. Early roots are
most welcome at this time. If the youngsters
are brought up in this way they will be as fit
as they should be by the time the car is in the
siding and the order to march is given. After

FITTING FOR SHOW. 141

the yearling shows have been made the process
of wintering is much the same as before. The
youngsters need about all the grain they will
eat under any circumstances and the feeder can
alone determine what their rations should be.

Two-year-old colts brought to their second
season this way should have box stalls and pad-
docks attached, each colt a stall and a paddock
to himself. I have seen valuable colts run in
bunches as two-year-olds, but it is a poor prac-
tice. They wrestle and fight and the liability
to accident and consequent blemish is great. Of
course if it is desired to run the colts along
on little or no grain perhaps they will get along
nicely enough together in large lots, but I do
not think that is the way to rear pure-bred colts.
Keep the youngsters schooled in the ways of the
arena.

This is as good a place to say it as any other :
It is impossible to explain didactically the art
of feeding young horses for show purposes. It
is an art and one that may be learned only by
experience. It would be foolish to try to set
down any positive rules for the feeding of
young horses intended for the show ring. They
will stand a lot of feeding and they must have
it, but as every horse is different in somq par-
ticular from the next one only a very general
foundation can be laid down. On this the feeder
must build for himself, but he must build with

142 THE HORSE BOOK.

the knowledge that he can kill one with that
which will not be half enough for the next.

With the colts thirty months old or there-
abouts and the show season over they will be
practically mature. They will grow some more,
to be sure, but it will be little in comparison to
what they have done in the days through which
we have followed them. Exercising now be-
comes a most important factor, though many
people think a colt coming three years old will
do very well if given a yard in which to run
during cold weather. A show colt, and it does
not matter how good he is, should now be broken
and made tO' work as I have already described.
Then comes his season as a three-year-old and
more work. If the colt is moderately worked
and in full round flesh at July 1, say 60 days
before the shows open, these 60 days will be
ample to put on the extra flesh he must have to
win. It is unnecessary to have him right on
razor edge when you fi.rst take him away from
home. The same amount of grain and less work
will put on all the needed flesh and his legs will
stay right, while he will feel so much better
than an idle colt that there will be no compari-
son between them in the ring. Never forget
the lessons that make for handlines in the show
ring at the halter. During the month that
comes just before he goes away from home let
him have these lessons daily. If he is suddenly,

FITTING FOR SHOW. 143

for any cause, forced into absolute idleness, cut
off the grain altogether.

There is no reason why stallions should not
be given their exercise in the harness and yet be
sent into the ring ready to the minute. The crack
geldings of Armour, Morris, Swift or Pabst got
their work in the leather — ^not much it is true,
but enough to make and keep them handy — and
I have never seen stallions shown in better fet-
tle. We need more strength and virility in our
stallions. I know that the advocacy of such
methods of fitting for show will sound strange
tO' many of the old school in which I was brought
up, but I can not close my eyes to the accom-
plished facts presented to my view. When I
have seen the Armour and other geldings sweep-
ing around the arena at all gaits from the state-
ly walk to the keen run for an hour at a time — a
feat that none of the stallions shown could ac-
complish—and each individual gelding in as
high flesh as any of the entires fitted without
work, I have learned that the best way to pre-
pare horses for the arena is not in idleness
but in the harness. I know that it would be
practically impossible for the importers to fit
all their stallions as suggested, but that does
not lessen the force of my contention that it
would be vastly better for the horses themselves
and for the men who buy them if they would.
I do not wish to be understood as saying that
the great geldings are made ready for showing

144 THE HORSE BOOK.

on full work, nor yet that all stallions could
so be made ready, but some of them can be
made ready on work enough to make it pay to
work them and others on tasks so little lessened
that the difference would be negligible. In
any case it is so much easier for a man to sit
upon a box and drive that the horses would
always get work enough to preserve that health-
ful vigor which is so essential to the propaga-
tion of the race in its best estate.

However it often happens that a thin horse
is to be put in condition for the show ring and
the owner will not consider putting him to work.
The period of time which must intervene be-
tween the day on which he is taken up and the
day on which he will have to be sent into the
ring will have of course a material bearing on
the manner of feeding, and there is something
also in the number of chances an owner is will-
ing to take. Likewise there is much in the in-
dividual. I have known horses take a whole
year to get ready and then lose their show con-
dition in a week. There are some hard wooden
beasts that will never feed into show shape. On
the other hand there are some horses that it is
hard to keep out of show shape — in idleness.
It is, however, safe to say that on any reason-
ably big-framed horse from two years old up-
ward 500 pounds may be put on in six months
if he is so thin to start with that his ribs may be
distinguished. When a horse is idle he may be

FITTING FOR SHOW. 145

fed a great variety of food and suffer no ill con-
sequences and the variation of the grain will
coax him to eat with greater relish. I do not
advocate this kind of feeding. I will describe
the methods in vogue some years ago by a firm
whose fame is worldwide, whose prize-winning
record placed it clearly in the forefront among
its contemporaries and whose losses by death
from colic and kindred troubles were enormous.
In the morning about five the horses were
given crushed oats and bran, fed dampened
with cut hay— enough to fill a common stable
bucket. At ten in the forenoon they got whole
oats, bran and cut hay. At two in the afternoon
they got the same feed as in the early morning
and around six in the evening they got boiled
barley, crushed oats, ground corn, oilmeal and
cut hay, and usually some roots boiled with the
barley. The feeder was a man of great experi-
ence and highly competent in every way. I
should judge that the horse got from 16 to 20
pounds of grain and bran each day and only
very moderate exercise. Often as the time of
showing approached this feeding was supple-
'mented by the traditional drink at nine o'clock
at night. This consisted of the jelly made
from perhaps a pint of oilmeal, a couple of
pounds of oatmeal, half a pound of molasses
and water or milk to make something more than
half a bucketful. With all this the individual
caretakers would oftentimes feed extra grain

10

146 THE HOKSE BOOK.

between meals. This is high feeding properly
so called. Any one who wishes to take his
chances of colic, founder, inflammation of the
bowels and the like with it may do so. The
stomach and intestines of horses so fed are so
soft that you can stick your fingers through
them anywhere and not half try. Any one who
wants to build a horse up for show in this way
may do it.

The prudent showman maps out his plan of
campaign, studies out his best routes, hires his
car for the show season and ships out in time
so that he will arrive at his destination a couple
of days before the show opens. It is best to
rent a palace car for a stated number of weeks
or months. If it is not desired to go to this
expense — though it always pays — then a box car
(or more) must be fitted with stalls made of
strong lumber, just as they might be built in a
barn. Three horses may often be put in one
end of the car, but if mature stallions are being
taken along two will be enough, which means
that one partition must be built, and it is hardly
needful to say that it should be built so that
nothing short of an ax will knock it down.
Horses will only ride well in a box car either
head to or tail to the motion. Arrangements
having been made with the railway officials for
the use of the same car during the entire season
the lumber used may be knocked away and
saved when the return journey is made and the

FITTING FOR SHOW. 147

horses are once more safely on the home land-
ing platform.

In getting to and from landing chutes and
unloading platforms at fair grounds the shipper
will acquire a varied assortment of experience.
Horses do not need much feed in transit— only
about enough to keep them quiet. A barrel
should be taken along for water and filled peri-
odically in transit. It pays to get horses off the
car as soon as possible after they stop rolling.
When standing still they soon begin to fret.
At junction, division and terminal points the
yardmasters will be found to be human and
therefore appreciative of common decency and
civility and occasionally, in my experience
amenable to other influences. It pays to be a
good fellow in the show business.

Make entries in proper season and give full
details. Never let the suspicion that you have
a ^ ^ringer'' with you get abroad. Ask as
few favors of the show management as pos-
sible and as a general thing put up with
inconvenience to the point of imposition rather
than raise a row. It pays. It pays also to do
whatever the management asks in the way of
getting horses into the ring, parading and so
forth. Give the people a show whenever you
can. As the advertising is all that any exhibitor
gets directly for his labor, his stalls should be
tastefully decorated, the placards showing forth
in large plain letters whose horses are being

148 THE HOKSE BOOK.

shown, and civil replies should be returned to
all visitors. There is another thing that pays :
have a pleasant word for everyone. No one
ever can tell by the looks of a man whether he
is a prospective purchaser or not. I have seen
thousand-dollar bills fished out of vests that
were not worth three dimes.

True sportsmanship demands that the exhibi-
tor take victory or defeat philosophically. The
man who is blatant in success and lugubrious in
defeat bumps against trouble sooner or later.
An exhibitor should act like a man, not like a
spoiled child who does not want to play in any
one else's yard unless the game goes his way.
The show yard is no child's playground. There
is only one way to learn its ropes, which is to
get into the game and play it for all it is worth.
Just how to play it each must learn for himself.
No amount of precept will serve to portray its
inner workings. But it may be said in conclu-
sion that a man must have the goods to win and
he must play his cards aright. He may have
the goods and he may not get all that is coming
to him. However when he has the goods and
stays awake he will generally find out where to
go and what to do.

PART II.

THE BEEEDS.

**Wliat is a breed! '^ Many different replies
are made to this question. We talk glibly about
this breed and that breed; of breed character
and breed type, but when it comes to putting an
accepted but not conceived definition into cold
type it is altogether a different matter. Darwin
and other distinguished men of science have
told us from time to time what a breed is as op-
posed to a species or variety or sub-variety, but
I question very much if any definition yet given
quite fills the bill. Webster gives among others
these definitions of the word: *^A race or
progeny from the same parents or stock; as, a
new breed of sheep." ^'A cast, a race or kind
of men or other animals which have an alliance
by nativity or some distinctive qualities in com-
mon,'' and the phrase used as illustration is
* ^ Greyhounds of the best breed. ' ' The first may
be let go for what it is worth. The second falls
far short in that the animals in a breed need
not necessarily have a common parent or even
a common line of descent and the mere posses-
sion of * * some distinctive qualities in common ' '
will not by any means make a breed.

So far as our modern breeds are concerned
they are all composite in origin and there der-

149

150 THE HOKSE BOOK.

ivation may therefore be passed up without
farther consideration. In any case it is implied
in the following which is presented as the cor-
rect definition of the term under consideration:

A breed is a group of animals possessing
homologus character by inheritance so firmly
fixed as to be transmitted with reasonable cer-
tainty under suitable environment.

Place fifty well bred Jersey cows in a row,
fifty West Highland bulls, fifty Clydesdale
horses and fifty Angus bulls. Now screen from
view all of the Jersey cows and the Highland
bulls but their heads; all of the Clydesdale
horses but their legs from the knees and hocks
downward, and all of the Angus bulls but the
hind quarters, and a correct idea of homologous
character may be obtained. It is the sum of
these homologues in each instance that goes to
make up what we briefly refer to nowadays as
breed type or character. In just so far as this
test is met by the entire membership of a breed
it may be counted on to reproduce with reason-
able certainty the homologous character which
it possesses. Vice versa in just so far as a breed
will not meet this test it will fail. In following
out this thought we may readily learn how in-
definite have been the aims of many breeders —
even to the inevitable conclusion that in some
of our most celebrated breeds, taken in a mass,
real homologous character is not present.

It must be understood that reference is made

THE BREEDS. 151

to the breed as a whole first of all, then to such
selected representatives as we call show stock.
When the latter do not present an adequate
amount of homologous character, so much the
worse. A breed must be judged in its entirety,
not by a few fine specimens which may rise in
sparkling fashion over the dead mediocrity of
the great mass. The touch of the masterhand
is in evidence always, but it not infrequently
happens that the best horse in a ring does not
really typify the breed to which he is alleged to
belong.

At the risk of being called tedious I desire to
emphasize the fact that it is the sum of the
homologous characters which constitutes breed
type and the animal which embodies in itself the
most of these characters in their highest estate
is the animal which must be adjudged the best
according to the standard of the breed involved.
It is along these broad lines that the various
breeds are described in future chapters.

Stud book (registration and maintenance of
breed purity must always go hand in hand.
Errors of omission and commission will creep
into stud books and in itself registration is
worth little unless it certifies to a line of descent
from ancestors of high class, but it may be
accepted without question that in this modern
age it would be impossible to maintain the
purity of any breed without a well managed
stud book. Popularly too much weight is ac-

152 THE HORSE BOOK.

corded to the numbers following the name of a
horse. The word "registered'' is one to conjure
with and it has been made a scapegoat to bear
away into the wilderness of credulity a vast load
of inferiority.

Too many are willing to believe that because
a horse is registered in some stud book he must
be a good one. This easy credulity has led to
the establishment of bogus books of record in
which registration implies absolutely nothing,
but that the certificate has been granted and the
recording fee paid. Ignorance of the real value
of record and of the names of the stud books in
which registration really means something has
caused many a man to pay his money for a
grade in the belief that he was buying a pure-
bred. In the appendix to this volume will be
found a list of all the stud books recognized by
the United States Department of Agriculture at
the date of publication. It will be seen that the
list is a long one and it has grown to its present
proportions practically within the past thirty
years.

In this connection it is but just that fitting
recognition be extended to the late J. H. San-
ders, founder of The Breeder's Gazette, for
the splendid part he played in promoting the
establishment of many of the stud books now
so widely known. I am within the mark in
stating that we have never had a man so widely
versed in horse lore as he was in his time. I

THE BREEDS. 153

am also within the mark in stating that he was
actively connected with the foundation of almost
every stud book of standing in which the far-
mers of America are interested today. By his
imfailing perception and his indomitable energy
he brought order out of chaos in a time when
there were no trails blazed for him to follow.
He was a practical breeder and a thorough-
going encyclopedia in matters pertaining to the
horse. Not only did he render an incalculably
great service in advocating and aiding the es-
tablishment of the stud books in which the far-
mers are most generally interested, but when
Kentucky revolted against the close rule of the
arbitrary Wallace, Mr. Sanders was selected to
compile the new stud book, which he did in a
manner reflecting his most intimate knowledge
of the American harness race horse and its
origin.

I desire also to pay my personal tribute to his
memory. No man in agricultural America has
left behind him so great a monument. Go
wherever a furrow is turned in American soil
and there the fruit of his works is made mani-
fest. Egypt's pyramids will in time turn to
dust, but the monument James Harvey Sanders
builded will gather bulk and strength and
beauty as time rolls on. In the gleam of the
golden grain in bin and crib ; in the show yard
and in the stock yard are blazoned the praises
which are his by right. Progressive always, ag-

154 THE HOESE BOOK.

gressive when occasion required, a master of
detail as well as a man of affairs, the world is
vastly better for the touch of his vanished hand.

THE DEAFT BEEEDS.
History contains no record of any large breed
of horses having been developed on high
ground. Omitting detail it was not until the
horse in his westward migration reached the
low-lying marshy lands of northern Europe
that he began to gather the bulk and strength
which have made for the present-day drafter.
It is also immaterial where the first real
drafters were developed. That development
was probably simultaneous athwart a consider-
able stretch of country. Still we may accept
that part of Belgium and Holland erstwhile de-
nominated Flanders as the fountainhead from
which flowed the stream which has given us the
true draft horse. From the parent stock there
obtained the various heavy breeds as we know
them today have been evolved according to the
desires of the various peoples which have de-
veloped them. As there was no native American
heavy horse he had to be imported and as the
importing business has grown and ramified we
may divide the draft breeds into three groups
— the French, the British and the Belgian.

THE FEENCH GEOUP.
In France the government recognizes two
pure draft breeds — the Percheron and the Bou-

THE FRENCH GROUP. 155

lonnais. Other breeds recognized at the shows
but not claimed to be pure are the Nivernais,
the Bretonnais and the Ardennais, and there
are also prizes offered for a nondescript lot
called Mulassiere, which means ''mule-bear-
ing,'' and the design is to encourage the produc-
tion of loosely built mares well suited to mate
with the asses of Poitou. The Mulassiere, how-
ever, may be dismissed from consideration.

On their first introduction to the United
States the draft horses of France were all in-
cluded within the common title of ''Norman.''
There was none but the Norman horse imported
from France, but some twenty years later a dis-
position to call them Percherons appeared on
the part of those who believed the horses of La
Perche were the most representative and most
clearly entitled to be called the typical Gallic
drafter. A bitter struggle was precipitated be-
tween those who favored the retention of the
general title Norman and those who insisted
upon specialization under the title Percheron.
A compromise was effected and the first volume
of the Percheron-Norman Stud Book was pub-
lished, the elder Sanders being the editor.

Peace, however, did not reign long. ^ The
Percheron contingent appeared to be gaining
the upper hand and the supporters of the Nor-
man nomenclature broke away, formed an asso-
ciation for themselves and began the publication
of the National Register of Norman Horses. It

156 THE HOKSE BOOK.

should be clearly understood that in calling
their horses Normans these importers and
breeders did not desire to imply that the ani-
mals all came from Normandy, but rather that
Norman was a generic title which included all
the draft breeds of France, and as these breeds
were about one and the same thing they were
all equally entitled to registration. On the
other hand, the Percheron contingent, insisting
that the Percheron was the typical drafter of
France, dropped the Norman from the name of
the breed and continued the publication of the
Percheron Stud Book. The present National
Register of French Draft Horses is the lineal
successor of the National Register of Norman
Horses and the Percheron Stud Book of
America has come to the association presently
controlling it from the beginning made under
the late J. H. Sanders, as already detailed.

In the French Draft book are registered all
imported stallions and mares which are record-
ed in the General Draft Horse Stud Book of
France. In the Percheron Stud Book only
pure-bred Percherons may be registered. This
is to say that Percherons may be registered as
French Drafters if the owner so desires, while
horses of the Percheron breed only may be
recorded as Percherons. In this way the effort
at specialization initiated along back in the mid-
dle seventies has been achieved. As bearing
somewhat on this matter of registration of all

THE FRENCH GROUP. 157

French draft horses in the National Register,
it may again be pointed out that the Percheron
and the Boulonnais are the only draft breeds
recognized by the French Government as pure.
The Ardennais are being improved mostly by
the use of heavy Belgian stallions and are re-
corded in the Belgian Draft Stud Book. The
Nivernais are being improved by the use of
Percheron stallions and the Bretonnais are a
mixture of everything under the sun. It is per-
fectly true that it is impossible invariably to
pick out pure-bred Percherons from horses of
mixed French Draft breeding, but on the other
hand it is not infrequently possible to do so. I
desire no controversy in this matter. These are
the facts. It only remains to say that whatever
the merits of the dispute originally were a colt
or filly will sell for more money if it is eligible
to record in the Percheron books than if it is
onl}^ eligible to record in the French Draft
book.

Much misapprehension exists in this country,
and indubitably much misrepresentation has
been resorted to, in connection with the brands
often found under the names of horses imported
from France. Under the French law stallions
are *' approved,'^ which carries with it a sub-
sidy of money from the government; ** author-
ized'* which carries no subsidy, and ^ * certified. ''
There are only two maladies for possession of
which approval, authorization or certification is

158 THE HOKSE BOOK.

refused in France — periodic oplithalmia, or
moonblindness, and thick wind. The French
names for these unsoundnesses are ^^ fluxion
periodique'' and ^^cornage."

Stallions are not permitted to serve mares
owned by others than their proprietors unless
they have been examined and certified as free
from these troubles by a board of veterinarians
appointed by the government. Any one who
stands for public service a stallion that has not
been approved, authorized or certified is liable
to fine, and the owners of mares using such a
horse may also be prosecuted and punished.
There is nothing in the law to prevent a breeder
using any sort of an unsound stallion to his own
mares. When a stallion has been examined
and pronounced free from the unsoundnesses
named he is branded on the neck under the
mane with a five-pointed star. When certifica-
tion is withheld on account of the horse failing
to pass the veterinary ordeal he is branded
under the mane with the letter R, which stands
for the French word ^* refuse" — refused. The
five-pointed star and the letter R are the only
brands placed on horses by the French govern-
ment. In France draft colts cannot stand for
public service until they are over thirty months
of age.

Certification of freedom from moonblind-
ness and thick wind is granted for one year
only. Each stallion designed for public service

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THE FRENCH GROUP. 159

must be submitted for examination annually,
and in the event that a horse should fail to pass,
after having in previous seasons gone through
all right, the letter E is branded over the five-
pointed star.

Horses and mares registered by the French
Percheron Society (Societe Hippique Perche-
ronne) are branded on the neck beneath the
mane with a brand which looks something like
the American dollar mark. This brand is a
combination of the letters S and P — standing
for Societe Percheronne. These three brands —
the five-pointed star, the letter R and the com-
bination of the letters SP are the only official
marks placed on horses originating in France.

Exception may be made to this in the case of
the Nivernais stallions, which have their stud
book numbers branded on their necks, but this
would seem to be a different matter altogether
in that a collection of numerals cannot be read-
ily mistaken for a single simple mark.

There is, however, nothing in the French law
to prevent any breeder or importer branding
his horses how and where he pleases. I am*not
aware that any French breeder does so brand
his horses, but I understand that at least one
prominent American importer marks his pur-
chases with the hot iron. There need, however,
be no mistake made, if it be kept in mind that
the brands of the government are but two in
number, indicating acceptance or rejection — the
five-pointed star and the letter R.

160 THE HOESE BOOK.

THE PERCHERON.

Undoubtedly the Percheron breed flows from
the same general fountain head in Flanders as
the rest of the draft breeds. The currently ac-
cepted belief is that on the defeat of the Sara-
cenic host by Charles Martel in 732 the eastern
stallions of the invading host were crossed with
the larger horses of the low countries and the
formation of the Percheron laid in that manner.
Continued infusions of Arabian and Andalusian
blood seem to have been poured into the strain,
authentic information to this effect being avail-
able. It is not strange then that 75 or 80 years
ago we find that the Percheron was a diligence
or bus horse, weighing from 1,200 to 1,400 lbs.,
according to the official statement. The increase
in size during the past three-quarters of a cen-
tury to the present scale is traceable, as in all
other breeds, to the demands of modern civiliza-
tion and in part also to the insistent demand of
American importers for ton horses.

It is probably beyond question that French
horses of draft blood were imported into Can-
ada about the beginning of the nineteenth cen-
tury, probably earlier, but the first authentic
history we have of an imported horse making a
great mark in the stud is of the McNitt horse or
European, landed at Montreal about the year
1816. There is some dispute about the weight
of this stallion. He was a gray and as he was
a fast trotter, and begot Alexander's Norman,

THE PEKCHEKON. 161

wliicli founded an unimportant strain of trot-
ters, it is unlikely that he was at all large. It is
history also that Alexander's Norman was
never intended to be used as a getter of trotters.
He was more or less of the draft type, as draft
type went in these far back days, and it cannot
be said that his blood has been of material
benefit to the trotter as a breed.

Percherons were imported into New Jersey in
1839 and later, but it was with the importation
in 1851 of Louis Napoleon into Union County,
Ohio, by Charles Fullington and Erastus Mar-
tin that the importation and breeding of Perche-
ron horses into this country really had its incep-
tion as a business. This celebrated stallion,
Louis Napoleon, weighed about 1,600 lbs. at his
best, and after his purchase by the Dillons and
removal to McLean county, Illinois, began the
movement which has placed the Prairie State
in the very front rank among the common-
wealths in which draft horses are produced.
From the time of Louis Napoleon the develop-
ment of the Percheron breeding industry has
been easy and rapid. Matters of recent occur-
rence need not be detailed here.

From the very first the Percheron has been
the favorite drafter of the American people.
There are probably three times as many Perche-
rons in the coimtry today as there are of any
other one draft breed. The technical charges
which have been made against the Percheron
11

162 THE HOKSE BOOK.

are chiefly tliat his bone is light, his pasterns
short and his rump sloping. The popular verdict
is that whatever the size of his bone or the
length or angle of his pasterns, his grades last
longer on the streets of the cities than those of
any other breed. Eight or wrong, the American
people have declared in favor of the draft horse
which can get up and go, and gauging the matter
from the demands of the market, the Percheron
best fills this and all other bills. Another point
in their favor is the gray color. While all colors
are to be found in the breed, grays were for
half a century or more the most popular. Then
came a craze for blacks; but there never was
any good reason for this, seeing that black is the
least popular color in the market-place. The
breed in this country has, however, staid quite
largely gray— fortunately — and the gray stal-
lion is now coming back into his own. Dealers
tell me. that they will pay as high sometimes as
$20 in the hundred for gray geldings more than
they will pay for other colors, which supplies a
cogent reason why farmers should strive to
breed grays. Though a little more than half a
century ago the Percheron was not a large horse
there has never been any trouble about the size
of his get. Today they are as large as any that
reach the sales ring, and they always have been.
The Percheron has been greatly aided no
doubt in its upward course by numbering among
its supporters many of the monumental charac-

THE PERCHEKON. 163

ters in the American horse business. At that
sufficient time has elapsed since the importing
business began for the breed to find its proper
level. That it enjoys its present popularity
must be attributed solely to its suitability to the
needs and desires of the American people.

Typically the Percheron is a horse of some
range, not squatty or chunky. He has a top line
which differs from that of most other breeds in
that correctly it is somewhat higher just back of
the coupling and between the points of the hip-
bones. This, of course, accentuates any low-
ness of the back or droop of the quarters that
may be present. He has good width, his ribs
well sprung out from the back bone and rounded
like a barrel, but his quarters should not be
bagged out like the hams of a Poland-'China
hog. Instead they should have a flowing round-
ed contour indicative of promptitude of move-
ment as well as strength. The neck should be
well arched, not coarse, and well set up, topped
off with a head that appears rather small for the
size of the horse. Short stubby necks and heavy
sour heads are not typical of the breed. The
bone often appears light, judged by the stand-
ard of some other breeds, but it is of the stuff
that wears, as has been proved on the streets.
The pasterns are not long. Coupled with this
sort of conformation there is in the typical
Percheron a breezy gaity of motion and an air
of elegance characteristic of no other breed.

164 THE HORSE BOOK.

THE OTHER FRENCH BREEDS.

Recognized by the French government as a
pure breed the Boulonnais has its home in the
neighborhood of the town of Boulogne, which is
situated on the northern coast of France and
just across the English channel from Britain.
While partaking quite largely of the type of
French draft horse exemplified by the Perche-
ron, it is undoubted, from the evidence of our
eyes, either that some English blood has been
injected into the race or that the conditions on
the two sides of the narrow channel of salt water
have tended toward the production of similar
characteristics in the French and British stocks.
White markings and colors in which the foxy red
is more or less prominent are much more com-
mon among the Boulonnais than among the
Percherons. Iron grays and roans are common,
bays, browns and chestnuts, also, together with
white stockings behind and white blazes. The
Boulonnais probably averages larger than the
Percheron, shows a great amount of bone but
possesses less breed character or type.

Nivernais horses are pre-eminently like the
Percheron, which is not to be wondered at, see-
ing that the race is being improved by the use of
Percheron stallions. The color is black and all
black. In a catalogue of the Great Central Show
of Paris now at my hand, black Nivernais horses
and mares alone are listed. A rather short back
rib, light flank, and a tendency to undue length

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THE OTHER FEENCH BREEDS. 165

of back are alleged to be undesirable character-
istics of this strain so far as it has been devel-
oped, but I am free to say that the few speci-
mens I have seen in this country could not be
faulted greatly, if at all, in this way.

In Brittany betterment of the horse stock was
long delayed and the French government has
done its utmost to promote improvement in con-
formation and value by acquiescing in the use
of almost any kind of a pure-bred draft stallion.
The show catalogue referred to discloses that
the Bretonnais horses are mixtures of Perche-
ron, Boulonnais and other sorts with the native
Breton stock in all sorts of combinations, and
the variegated color scheme of the breed indi-
cates that no attempt has been made at uniform-
ity in this direction.

Ardennais horses are not heavy except in so
far as they have been made so of later years
by the use of Belgian draft stallions. Properly
speaking the Ardennais is a horse of the heavy
artillery type and was pointedly eulogized by
Napoleon for the endurance displayed in his dis-
astrous Eussian campaign. Of later years, how-
ever, much size has been injected into the breed
and many Ardennais horses have come to this
country as Belgians. The Ardennes country, in
which they are bred, is a hilly, poor region, in
which size can only be maintained by the closest
artificial selection and high feeding. It bor-
ders both France and Belgium and the Grand-

166 THE HORSE BOOK.

duchy of Luxembourg, and its horses are typ-
ically harder in their legs than the true Belgians
bred on lower ground. They run more to white
markings than the true Belgians, and more to
^^hard colors'' — bright bays and chestnuts. An
Ardennais horse may perhaps best be described
as a Belgian draft horse with a bit of Clydes-
dale quality of legs and levelness of top injected
into him. They are recorded in the Belgian
Draft Horse Stud Book, and come to this coun-
try with certificates therefrom.

THE BELGIAN.

Bred nearest the f ountainhead of all our draft
breeds and amid surroundings which favor
grossness in horseflesh, the Belgian is indubit-
ably the largest heavy draft horse of the present
day. The Belgian government has spent a lot of
money trying by inspection and subsidy, largely
after the French pattern, to improve the breed
and it has succeeded in large measure. I remem-
ber Belgian work horses that were imported in-
to Scotland to do contracting work some thirty
years ago or more, and a worse lot could hardly
be imagined. They had the crookedest toplines
of any horses I have ever seen, short necks, big
sour heads and sickle hocks. These, however,
could not fairly be esteemed high-class speci-
mens, for the reason that with freight charges
by sea and land they could be laid down in the
Scottish capital and other cities for less money

THE BELGIAN. 167

than Englisli or Scotcli cart horses of equal
size and strength would cost. However, it is
well known that until the government seriously
took up the business of ameliorating the breed,
the faults named were very general among the
draft horses of Belgium.

Comparing the stallions and mares of the
breed to be seen in America today with those
horses of my earlier recollections, a great work
of improvement has been done, but there is still
a marked lack of levelness of conformation in
the breed as a whole, though the type is plainly
enough fixed. The short neck and the heavy
head are all too often in evidence, but are yield-
ing to the efforts of the breeders to correct these
faults. Increasing straightness of topline is
visible, but the drooping rump is still a breed
characteristic. Of very short legs, with plenty
of bone *and with a body of enormous width
and most excellent action at the trot, the Belgian
has proved very valuable in this country to mate
with loosely coupled, gangling mares and has
probably done better with that sort than any
other breed.

Eeared on low land, eminently suitable for the
production of gross horses, the Belgian has lit-
tle to do from foalhood upward but to eat and
grow. He is for the most part reared on soft
feed and green grass and in the constant com-
panionship of man, so that he is the most docile
horse on earth in addition to being the largest.

168 THE HQESE BOOK.

It is undoubted that in this country he is the
most easily kept stallion, makes the least fuss
and gives the least trouble. He has not, how-
ever, had due credit for all he has done. Bred
for the most part to mares of Percheron blood
the best of his grades have gone into the auction
ring as Percherons or * ^Normans,'' and it is
only occasionally that full credit is given. This
may or may not have been unfortunate of course,
but geldings of undoubted Belgian type are now
to be seen on the city streets and once in a while
in the show ring. This shows that while the
Belgian, the importation of which in anything
like large numbers is of comparatively recent
beginning, has made a place for himself in our
equine economy. Furthermore the instances of
big geldings by Belgian stallions having brought
very long jDrices are so frequent now as to prove
conclusively that when properly mated the use
of the Belgian is very confidently to be recom-
mended. They ship better across the ocean than
any other breed and acclimate more readily.

Belgian horses come in almost all colors, but
the most general are chestnut and roan. Bays
and browns are also common and black and
gray are occasionally met with in the breed.
The red-roan and the chestnut are apparently
the hues most favored by the Belgian breeders.

Of late years prices of pedigreed Belgian stal-
lions and mares have advanced sharply. There
is a great demand for breeding horses in Bel-

THE BELGIAN. 159

gium not only from American buyers but from
the Germans as well and the latter seem to be
willing to spend more money for what they
want than our importing trade will stand. Ow-
ing to the efforts being made by the government
to encourage the improvement of the breed, the
keeping of a popular stallion is a most profita-
ble business and therefore there is comparative-
ly little incentive to sell for export. Not only
this, but when a stallion obtains government ap-
proval and subsidy he has to do a season of so
many mares before his owner can lay hands on
the money. This insures the retention of a good
stallion in the country for at least one season.
Moreover the subsidies are liberal and there-
fore prices are high.

Importation of Belgian mares has not been
extensive owing to the high prices prevailing
for them. They are mostly in the hands of
farmers who own but a few at the most, and the
prices obtainable for their colts suggest to their
owners that it is unwise to part with them
unless handsome prices are forthcoming for
them. The breed is not numerically large,
and the high values have prevented our import-
ers bringing over as many mares as the trade
here would have absorbed if they could have
been obtained on a lower level. However, quite
an improvement is visible of late in this regard
this season, and the breeding of Belgians in the
United States is therefore likely to be placed on

170 THE HORSE BOOK.

a broader basis. The few importers who
brought over mares in an earlier day have suc-
ceeded in breeding some very creditable ani-
mals.

THE BRITISH GROUP.

Characteristic of two of the three British
draft breeds is the long hair or feather on the
legs. This, it may be said, is common in greater
or less degree to all horses reared in low-lying
lands for generations and once fixed as a char-
acteristic persists tenaciously despite trans-
plantation to higher ground and crossing with
smooth-legged stock. Regarding the general
appearance and size of the English horses in
Saxon times authorities seem to differ, but
there is little doubt that some improvement
took place after the Norman conquest in 1066.
It is highly probable that the horses of the fen
country in England — Lincoln and Cambridge —
partook quite largely of the general type of the
horses developed in northern continental
Europe and history teaches us that in the reign
of King John or about the beginning of the
thirteenth century and thereafter recourse was
freely had to Flanders for stallions to mate
with the British mares. An evidence of this is
provided in the fact that at one time the pre-
vailing color of the heaviest horses in England
was black.

It is altogether probable, however, that the

THE BKITISH GROUP. 171

British people have played more or less of a
lone hand in the evolving of their draft breeds
— as they have in the other branches of live
stock husbandry. So wherever they reached out
for materials in the early day, whether to Flan-
ders only or to other places as well, the English-
men and Scotchmen may fairly be said to have
made their breeds what they wanted them to be
without very much outside assistance one way or
another. If a proof of this is required further
it may be suggested that while almost all of
the other breeds claiming descent from the
black horse of Flanders are of black, gray or
mixed colors, without white marks, as a general
rule, these same colors are now and have for
long been at a discount both in frequency and
favor in John Bull's island. Still the fact re-
mains that many Flanders stallions were used
in Britain and not much more than a century
and a half ago at that. All colors are found in
both the Shire and the Clydesdale, but the bays,
browns and blacks predominate. The Suffolks
are a race of chestnuts only.

Endless controversy has raged regarding the
origin of the white markings on the Clydes-
dale and Shire. That they are deeply ingrained
in these breeds must be conceded and that the
British breeders seem to favor them admits of
no doubt. This is decidedly unfortunate so far
as the American trade is concerned, and not
only the North American but the South Amer-

172 THE HORSE BOO]^.

ican trade as well. It would serve no good pur-
pose to enter into the merits of this controversy.
The fact remains that the white seems to be on
the increase and so far as this country is con-
cerned this is all the more to be regretted. If
the breeders of Britain desire to cater to the
trade of the people of the United States they
should breed more whole-colored horses. There
is no doubt of this. We do not like them all
splashed up with white, head, legs and belly.

Starting obviously from approximately the
same foundation the breeders of the Shire and
Clydesdale, despite cross infusions back and
forth at times, which in contiguous countries
can not be avoided, have succeeded in evolving
two types which differ quite noticeably in the
main one from the other. It is not always pos-
sible to pick out Shires from Clydesdales or
vice versa, but taking the breeds as a whole
they are quite distinct. The only good reason
which can be assigned for this is the individual
preference of the breeders or, if you please, the
fashion. It can not be the environment, because
you can find in Scotland Clydesdales that look
like Shires and in England Shires that look like
Clydesdales, but neither is in favor in his native
land.

One thing, however, the breeders in both
kingdoms have done — they have developed the
walk to a marvelous extent and a straightness
and trueness of action at the trot which is not

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THE CLYDESDALE. 173

surpassed, if it is equalled, in any other breed.
The long, clean, swinging stride of the British
drafter, trudging along with a great load be-
hind him, is the perfection of locomotion under
such circumstances. How the breeds differ we
shall see in the following pages.

Unlike the nations of continental Europe,
Great Britain extends no governmental aid of
any kind to her breeders of draft horses. She
pays no subsidies and she makes no inspections.
Every breeder does as he pleases irrespective
of his neighbor. Thus the three British draft
breeds are the result solely of personal en-
deavor, undirected by any superior power. The
uniformity of type which we see in each of them
is little short of marvelous and, I venture to
say, an achievement possible only in the Tight
Little Isle.

THE CLYDESDALE.

It would obviously be beyond the mark to
claim that in an island so small as that which
contains England and Scotland there has not
always been a more or less free interchange of
equine stock. Somewhat mythical accounts have
come down about various attempts having been
made about the middle of the eighteenth cen-
tury to improve the native Scotch heavy horses
in a sort of w'holesale manner, but there is no
very accurate description of that breed to be
obtained. We may therefore safely conclude

174 THE HORSE BOOK.

that it did not differ materially from that of
England. A starting point is, however, fur-
nished us. In 1750 John Patterson of Loch-
lyoch imported from England into Scotland a
black Flemish stallion. To this horse may be
traced in lineal ascent, through the celebrated
sire Glancer, alias Thompson's Black Horse,
most of the best Clydesdales now living. Rarely
does it happen that only one breeder makes a
move of this kind, and though we have no such
positive evidence as in the case of the Lochlyoch
Flemis^h stallion, we may fairly assume that
others were brought into Scotland about the
same time. So to the black Flemish blood in-
troduced about 160 years ago into North
Britain we may trace the real improvement of
the Clydesdale.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century
many of the breed were grays. The famous
Broomfield Champion was out of a gray mare.
In spite of its prevalence the gray color was
distasteful to the Scotch, and before the cen-
tury had reached one-third of its growth, steps
were taken to promote the production of the
*^hard'' colors. In this endeavor the Highland
& Agricultural Society along in 1829 offered
prizes for dark bay and brown horses, barring
the grays from competition. The gray color
has persisted in small degree, however, though
it is no better liked today in Caledonia than it
was then.

THE CLYDESDALE. 175

^ It was in 1856 that the first Clydesdale stal-
lion was imported into the United States and
that one came from Canada. We have no evi-
dence of any direct importation by ship pre-
vious to that date. Since that time the breed
has numbered among its supporters some of
the most intelligent men ever connected with
the horse business in any capacity, but a num-
ber of these supports have been lost through
death or retirement in recent years. Along in
the late eighties, at the Columbian and even
still later the showing of the Scottish draft
horse was second to none. Success crowned
the efforts of the breeders to produce the type
desired by the Scotchmen and they even beat
the S<30tch at their own game. Col. Robert Hol-
loway, Alexis, 111., bred several that were ex-
ported to Scotland and won name and fame in
that country. It is also freely conceded that
the American breeders of Clydesdales have
succeeded in producing a greater number of
champions and prize-winning young things in
the free-for-all competitions at our great shows
than have the breeders of any other sort. So
much so was this. at one time that classes had
to be made for imported mares alone, for the
reason that they had no chance to defeat the
home-bred fem'ales. American breeders still
send into our leading show-yards beautiful ar-
rays of young things, true to type and excel-
lently furnished, but in the market-place the

176 THE HOESE BOOK.

Clydesdale gelding liolds his own only when
clas sable at the very top. There must be a
reason for this peculiar status.

Primarily the American and Scotch trades
demand horses of different stamps. For a gen-
eration the chief effort of the Scotch breeder
appears to have been to improve the length and
angle of the pastern and the quality of the
bone and hair. To obtain these points they
have admittedly sacrificed somewhat the size
and weight and ruggedness of their horses.
Knowing the preference of the American trade
for solid colors they seem to have courted,
rather than avoided, continued encroachments
of white upon the body color. In short they
seem to have had eyes for little but ^^feet, pas-
tern and feather,'' That they have succeeded
in obtaining what they wanted in well-nigh per-
fect measure can not be denied, but in gaining
this they have partially lost the American trade
and inf erentially much for the American trader.

We can but note this fact with real regret,
because the ideal Clydesdale gelding in point
of action and conformation is truly a model
and a pattern for the world. The levelness of
top, rotundity of barrel, clean bone, well set
pastern, prompt, swinging walk with the iron
showing at every step, and the sharp trot, with
the hocks well flexed and carried close together
straight beneath the body, form the combina-
tion for which the judge is looking and to which
he works.

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In the Dominion of Canada, separated from
the United States only by water or an intangi-
ble boundary line, which is far from straight,
the Clydesdale is the pre-eminent drafter. For
more than half a century he has thriven and
multiplied and made money for his users. After
trial of that length of time he still repels in-
vasions of the other breeds, as he has repelled
them since his advent into the country of the
beaver. Magnificent pairs of home-bred Clydes-
dale geldings may be seen in Toronto, Ottawa,
Montreal and elsewhere, pairs that are to all
intents and purposes pure-bred and which have
left a profit from the first hands to the last.
Dotted over the Dominion are the Clydesdale
studs all the way from Edmonton to Quebec,
and there are no shrewder, more representa-
tive or broader-minded men than their own-
ers. But the Canadians are a nation of stock-
men to the manner born and this may have
something to do with it. Besides the Cana-
dians are much more in sympathy with old
country ideas and methods than we are, which
after all is only natural.

British breeders, however, owe the interest
in the United States some measure of co-opera-
tion at least. If they would face about and give
us the big brawny clean-legged sort that could
be named as heroes of a former day when the
Clydesdale was in his glory here, we would
gladly pay the price and the benefit to the breed

12

178 THE CLYDESDALE.

here would quickly become apparent. It never
was a numerous breed, and perforce of circum-
stances never can become in Scotland much
more numerous than it is just now, but there is
limitless room for its expansion on this side
of the Atlantic. It will not expand greatly,
however, until the Scottish breeders add more
top, more neck, more ruggedness generally and
eliminate the white. It would serve a good end
if the Highland & Agricultural Society would,
in this day of grace, do with the splashed-up
kind as it did in 1829 with the grays and bar
them altogether.

The supporters of every continental breed of
drafter now common in this country have re-
ceived the most hearty co-operation from the
old-world breeders and their success has been
commensurate therewith. What they desired
they received. Instead of extending co-opera-
tion the Scottish breeders have gone their own
road, concerning themselves with their own pe-
culiar ideas. This policy of splendid isolation
may be a great thing for Britain as a whole, but
it has dealt a grievous blow to the Clydesdale
interest in this country.

THE SHIRE.

It has already been shown that the Shire
traces back to the fountainhead of the black
horse of Flanders, but whether in the main he
owes his bulk to that strain of blood is quite

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THE SHIKE, 179

another question. Certain it is that none of the
other breeds of live stock developed in England
owes its scale to any extraneous blood. It
would be strange indeed if the Shire alone of
all the British breeds should owe his size to an
alien cross. In the rich fen lands of Lincoln
and Cambridge as great bulk may be produced
as on any other spot in the world. There is no
way of proving it, of course, but reasoning by
analogy it is altogether probable that a breed
of drafters would have been developed on these
fen lands quite as large as the present Shire if
there never had been a Flemish horse at all.
Be this as it may, the Shire is just what the
Englishman wants him to be. He is markedly
different, as already pointed out, from any of
the other offshoots of the parent stock.

From the American angle it is hard to say
why the English breeders have developed the
type just as they have. They have certainly
not developed it in accordance with American
preferences. Characteristic of the present-day
Shire are great bulk, strong bone, a tremendous
amount of hair about the legs, far too much
white and in many instances a paucity of neck
that to an American eye approaches deformity.
A tendency to heaviness in the head is also no-
ticeable, but whether this is actually due to lack
of proportion, or whether it merely seems to be
on account of our liking for a well risen crest,
it is hard to say. Nor does it matter. The

ISO *HE UOkS^ BOOJ(.

Snglishman seems to care little for a fine cr6st.
The difficulty, however, which most Shires ex-
perience in getting into their collars would indi-
cate that the heaviness of the head is a condi-
tion and not a mere appearance.

From the American angle, again it passes be-
lief why any one should prefer a horse whose
four legs are burdened with great mops of hair
and discard those of equal bone and less
feather. Again why so many of the winners
should have such splotches of white upon them
is something which the American mind can not
discern. White markings not only persist, but
tend to spread from generation to generation
and they are spreading. It does not seem to
make much difference in England whether
America wants a whole-colored horse or not.
No spirit of co-operation in this regard has
been manifested and the Shire interest in this
country shows the effects of it.

It was not always so. There was a time when
the Shire was a popular horse in this country.
He is so still, but he does not cover the ground
he once did. There is little doubt that English
Draft horses, as they were called in those days,
were imported into the eastern United States
a very long 'time ago. Tradition tells of a
strain of horses called the John Bulls in Penn-
sylvania which were indubitably descended
from imported English stock and some of these
found their way as far west as Illinois during

THE SHIKE. 181

the early settlement of that state. George E.
Browu, who went to some length to trace this
migration, told me that he remembered the
strain in the East in an early day and that it
was possessed of rare excellence. The general
importation of the Shire, nevertheless, does not
date back more than thirty-five or forty years
and there have been times when many more
were imported than are coming across the ocean
now.

In his best estate the Shire is a magnificent
drafter. He has begotten a vast nmnber of
high-priced geldings from the native stock. It
is of record that the highest price ever bid for
a gelding in the Chicago market — $660 — was
bid for a red-roan of this breeding. Bulk and
strength, depth of flank and rib and plenitude
of bone are pre-eminently attributes of the
Shire. These are qualities which we require in
the grading up process and there is no question
that many of the best geldings ever got by
French stallions have been out of mares of
English blood. It has been claimed for the
breed that grading up may be accomplished to
greater size with the Shire more quickly than
with any other sort and the writer believes
this to be correct. Mares carrying from one to
three crosses of Shire blood are now perhaps
as valuable stock as may be found on American
farms, and their foals command the highest
prices, no matter to what breed of drafter the

182 THE HOKSE BOOK.

sire may belong. In sliort the grade Sliire
mare seems to assimilate readily with what-
ever stallion she may be coupled, handing on
her own bulk and strength and in this regard I
count her especially valuable. Everybody likes
a good Shire gelding. His massive proportions,
strong back, wide, well sprung ribs, long,
straight stride and generally powerful appear-
ance commend him to all. In the higher crosses
the mass of hair about the shanks is indubitably
a detriment, which is but one further proof that
the interest on this side of the ocean is suffering
from the disregard of its needs displayed by
the English breeders. The care of the legs of
a Shire in this land of black gumbo soil and
intense heat is assuredly one of the handicaps
under which the breed strives to make head-
way.

Still despite this drawback, and the further
one supplied by his often too straight pasterns,
the elements of success in the betterment of our
draft stocks inheres deeply in the Shire. His
prepotency is acknowledged, his showing in the
market place, numbers considered, is adequate.
He has suffered undoubtedly from the very fact
that his grade mares produce so admirably to
stallions of other breeds. That many of them
have been crossed out of their breed continu-
ously, making for the glory and renown of oth-
ers, is well known. His numbers are not great
in this country actually or relatively. He has

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THE SUFFOLK. 183

never been tlie favorite of the rich fancier nor
has he ever enjoyed the patronage of any of
the monumental characters in the breeding busi-
ness, thoug'h his destiny has been guided by
some very shrewd men, yet he has made good
for many a poor man.

THE SUFFOLK.

Peculiar to the eastern counties of England
in general and the county of Suffolk in partic-
ular is the third of the British draft breeds —
the Suffolk, one of the most distinctive types
of the drafter known. It enjoys the unique dis-
tinction of having but the one color — chestnut.
This varies throughout all the different shades
of that generic hue from the dark liver to the
bright golden sorrel, with the most general
shade the medium sorrel, as we understand the
term in this country. Here and there white
markings are met with, but more rarely now
than formerly, the white being deemed objec-
tionable by the British breeders. Unlike the
other two breeds of drafters in Britain the Suf-
folk has a very clean leg with no more hair
about it than the Percheron.

Regarding the origin of the Suffolk investi-
gators seem to have agreed that in its present
habitat there practically always has been a race
of chestnut horses. At least it was there back
in the beginning of the eighteenth centur}^ and
it does not appear that any infusion of foreign

184 THE HORSE BOOK.

or other alien blood has ever been made. Cer-
tain it is that the clean leg and characteristic
conformation were never brought about by
crossing with French stallions. What the breed
is today is solely the result of another lone
very small territory to which this breed seems
to have been indigenous. The chestnut color is
readily transmitted to the Suffolk's grades and
I have seen some very good specimens among
them.

It is doubtful if this breed has ever re-
ceived in the United States the recognition to
which its many good qualities entitle it. This
perhaps is accounted for in the fact that the
color is not a popular one among draft horse
breeders generally, and from the personal ex-
perience of the writer there has always been
some sort of a lurking suspicion in the public
mind that these clean-legged, heavy-quartered
chestnuts were French horses of some sort
masquerading under a name to which they had
no right. It is hard to persuade some folks that
the very hairy-legged Shire and the very
smooth-legged Suffolk are bred in the same
island. Nevertheless the Suffolk can trace his
lineage back to the middle of the eighteenth
century and beyond in an absolutely unbroken
line.

Insofar as they have been given a trial here
they have made good. The individuals do not

THE SUFFOLK. 135

run as large as the Shire and have proved
themselves eminently well suited for crossing
on rather small mares, on the ranch and else-
where. Their progeny is wonderfully uniform
and they make most excellent workers. It is
doubtful if there is in the entire list of draft
breeds one which has a better disposition or
greater tractability. In their native land it is
the custom of their drivers to break these horses
to work entirely without reins. In the plow, on
the road, in the show ring, you may see them
often hitched three tandem guided by one man
and not a rein in sight. For simple endurance
it IS agam questionable if this breed is sur-
passed. In that part of England where they
are used it is the custom to hook up the Suffolks
as early in the morning as the daylight will per-
mit and keep them plowing continuously until
the daylight fades.

It is on account of their docility and good
tempers that the Suffolks are sought for cross-
ing on range mares. In addition to putting neat
bodies on their foals, arching up the neck and
making them generally desirable in point of
conformation, the Suffolk stallions almost in-
variably imbue their get with such even tem-
pers fhat the breaking process is comparatively
simple. On account, however, of the clean legs
and the common chestnut color the foals by Suf-
folk sta-llions have no distinguishing marks and
hence are swept into the great commercial

186 THE HOESE BOOK.

maelstrom witliout tlieir sires obtaining due
credit for tliem. Suli'olks are being bred suc-
cessfully in a number of the states and a ready
market is found for the surplus annually, while
a few are brou^'ht from Eno:land each rear both
by the big importers and by i3rivate individuals
who have tested the breed and discovered its
real merit.

Proi3erly speaking the Suffolk is an agricul-
tural horse rather than a draft horse. He is in
spots and places large enough for truck work in
the great cities, but not as a rule is he used in
the lorry in Britain. Indubitably his size is in-
creasing from generation to generation and he
is in the hands of most careful breeders who are
pushing his interests in a most intelligent man-
ner. The Suffolk is worth more extended at-
tention by American breeders.

THE LIGHT BEEEDS— THE THOROUGH-
BRED. '

Every improved breed of light horses owes
its betterment in greater or lesser degree to the
Thoroughbred or running race horse. This is
our oldest pure-breed, the inception of its im-
provement dating well back into the seventeenth
century. Briefly described the foundation of
the modern race horse was laid in the time of
the second Charles of England, to which head-
strong monarch, whatever else may be said of
him, are due the thanks of all humanitv for the

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THE THOROUGHBRED. 187

good ha did in the encouragement of horse
breeding. This foundation consisted in cross-
ing stallions of Barb and Arabian blood with
the native English mares used for the chase and
other sports where speed was required. East-
ern mares, known as the Eoyal mares in the
Stud Book, were presented to the King and
from this quite scanty foundation the magnifi-
cent Thoroughbred superstructure has been
raised.

As it was for racing purposes that improve-
ment was first attempted under the royal aus-
pices, so it has been for the increase of racing
speed that the breeders have worked continu-
ously during all these years. Training for the
course has a refining effect on the fibre of any
horse. Continued high feeding on food that is
not^ bulky or soothing but stimulating to the
limit makes a horse nervous and cranky. The
Thoroughbred type is well enough established,
but not in the way the type of the Suffolk is, for
instance. There is a quality about the race
horse that cannot be mistaken, but the breed
character is more in its refinement than its sim-
ilarity of conformation. Here you will see a
great three-cornered, camel-backed, raw-boned
racer contending with a s'hort-1 egged, almost
cobby foe, the two utterly dissimilar in outline,
but both unmistakably Thoroughbred. Few
breeders have ever paid any attention to the
conformation of the race horses they have bred.

188 THE HORSE BOOK.

Speed has been the great desideratum and size
and shape have been allowed to take care of
themselves.

It is not tihe intention to enter here into any
discussion of Thoroughbred bloodlines save in
one instance. Listening to men talk of Thor-
oughbred pedigrees you hear them refer to the
lines of Herod, Matchem and Eclipse. There
were three great progenitors of speed in the
early day — all of eastern origin. The Herod
line traces in male ascent to the Byerly Turk,
the Matchem line to the Grodolphin Arabian and
the Eclipse line to the Darley Arabian. These
are the three great Thoroughbred strains. Nor
is it the intention to discuss racing or breeding
for race horses in any of its phases, but it may
be noted in passing that the age of every race
horse dates from Jan. 1 of the year in which
he is foaled. Thus if a colt is dropped Jan. 1
he is a year old on the 365th day after he was
born. On the other hand if he is foaled at half-
past eleven on the night of Dec. 31 he is a year
old when he has ac'tually lived but thirty min-
utes. This applies to trotters and pacers as
well as Thoroughbreds.

As has already been said, the influence of the
Thoroughbred has been felt by every improved
light breed. To cross in with the race horse
was the easiest and quickest way to inject qual-
ity, style, speed and stamina. Being the oldest
breed, with a stud book started in England in

teE THOROUGHBRED. 1«9

1791, lie was ready to the hand of all who de-
sired to quicken material that was too coarse
and too sluggish. So far as the general Amer-
ican farmer is concerned the Thoroughbred is
a good thing to let alone. His temperament is
ill suited to the drudgery of agriculture.

To the Thoroughbred may be accredited all
the different coachers in greater 'or less meas-
ure, and hunters, polo ironies and other horses
in which speed and stamina are required are
usually his direct offspring. All colors are to
be seen among race horses, save only the pie-
bald and skewbald. Grays are very rare now
and so are roans, while blacks are not nearly
so common as are the remaining hues. This
leaves the most of the present-day Thorough-
breds chestnut, bay and brown. White mark-
ings are plentiful and keep cropping out in a
most bewildering manner when the race horse
is used to cross upon cold-blooded stock. There
is seldom any uniformity of either color or con-
formation in the get of a Thoroughbred stal-
lion.

Though he played such" an important part in
the evolution of the Tlioroughbred the Arabian
horse is not now of much account. He still has
his admirers, but for every purpose to which he
can accommodate himself the Thoroughbred is
vastly his superior. It is popularly supposed
that the spotted circus horses are of Arabian
origin. This is a mistake, as the Arabian is

190 THE HOESE BOOK.

one of the breeds in which a spotted, piebald or
skewbald horse has never been known to exist.
The common colors are gray, bay and brown,
with a few chestnuts and once in a while, though
very seldom, a black. The Arab is a small
horse, running mostly under 15 hands, slight of
conformation, very fine in quality, possessing
undoubtedly much endurance but lacking in
speed. As a sire of ladies' saddle horses of
small stature he is useful and some polo ponies
have been bred after him, but giving him due
credit for all his good qualities the Arabian
horse is a most unimportant factor in modern
horse breeding. He has, however, some devoted
adherents.

THE STANDARD-BRED.

Only insofar as he is the sire of the modern
roadster can the standard-bred horse be given
consideration here. Harness racing and breed-
ing for speed are entirely beyond the purview
of this work. However, as most of the success-
ful sires of roadsters belong to the Hamble-
tonian strain of the trotting breed it will be
necessary to recount briefly how the breed was
formed.

Messenger was a gray Thoroughbred horse
foaled in England in 1780. He was raced and
in 1788 was imported to this country, landing
at Philadelphia. He begot a very numerous
progeny of horses that could trot and died in

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THE STANDAED-BRED. 191

1808. He begot a son called Mambrino, which
m turn begot a son called Abdallah. A Norfolk
trotter named Bellfounder was imported in
1823. This horse is numbered 55 in Vol. I of
the English Hackney Stud Book. He could trot
some and he begot a mare which will forever
remain famous without a name. Back of her
were two generations tracing to imp. Messen-
ger, and she is known as the Chas. Kent mare
her owner being of that name— a butcher in
New York City. She had some small degree of
speed. In due course of time the Kent mare
was bred to Abdallah, and Rysdyk's Hamble-
tonian (or Hambletonian 10, as he is otherwise
called) was the result of that union, being
dropped May 5, 1849. This colt developed phe-
nomenal speed siring ability and from his loins
sprang the entire family which now dominates
the trotting and pacing sections of the breed.

One family, however, did not entirely make
the trotter and pacer, though it completely
overshadows all others in it. Mambrino Pay-
master, a son of the same Mambrino by imp
Messenger, which begot the sire of Hamble-
tonian, sired Mambrino Chief, the founder of
the so-called Mambrino family. The Canadian
Pilots and Royal Georges, the Morgans, the
Champions and various other strains were in-
coiporated and have been gradually absorbed.
From time to time infusions of the Thorough-
bred have been injected into the trotter, directly

192 THE HORSE BOOK.

in some instances, indirectly in others, and the
seemingly endless discussion about the wisdom
of using the runner to breed the trotter still
prevails even unto this day. It is a subject at
most only prolific of argument and invective
and barren of result. It does not concern us.

Pacers we seem always to have had with us.
The historic amble of the riding palfrey in
mediseval times was transmuted into the more
decided sidewheel gait on American soil, where
it took kindly root, and from time to time pacers
were imported from Canada which founded
families, now mostly swallowed up in the great
whirlpool of the harness race horse. Time was
when there was a distinctive ^ spacing conforma-
tion,'' marked by a very drooping rump and
a peculiar set of the hind legs. Now the gaits
seem interchangeable to a very large extent
and, breeding trotter to trotter, no man knows
whether the foal will trot or pace when it ar-
rives. The mere shift of the check a hole or
two or the addition or subtraction of an ounce
or 'two in the weight of the shoe will convert
many a horse from the trot to the pace and vice
versa. This interchangeability of gait is one of
those things no man can understand. It should
be understood of course that the trotter pro-
gresses diagonally — that is, he advances the
fore foot on one side and the hind foot on the
other at the same time, while the pacer advances
the feet on the same side at the same time.

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THE STANDAHD-BRED. 193

A great triumph have the American breed-
ers scored in the formation of their harness
racing breed. In less than a century they have
succeeded in developing speed at the trot and
pace bT^t little inferior to that of the Thorough-
bred at the gallop. They have developed a
breed of horses that has no equal for work on
the road, a breed which for endurance in long
journeys in harness is unsurpassed and a breed
which for elegance of conformation, quality,
style, courage, docility and general suitability
foT the purposes intended stands in a class by
itself.

Large numbers of high-class heavy harness
horses have come from within the ranks of the
trotting breed, but they were misfits— horses
that accidentally developed heavy harness
excellence in spite of the fact that they were
bred \viith a different object in view. It will be
unnecessary, once more, to enter into the peren-
nial controversy as ito the relative merits of the
standard-bred and coach or Hackney-bred
heavy harness horse. It must suffice to say that
while magnificent specimens have appeared
from time to 'time in the heavy harness classes
at the great shows no man has yet succeeded in
turning out consisrfcently high-class animals of
the sort from standard-bred or trotting-bred
parents.

With tlie lapse of time and the increase of
wealth m this country the qualifications re-

194 THE HOKSE BOOK.

quired in the roadster have changed. Not so
long ago any horse that oould trot a mile in
3 :00 was called a roadster in the technical sense
of the word. Now the ranks of the road horse
are recruited from among the very fastest of
tlie great racing performers, both trotting and
pacing. The horse that can not trot to wagon
in 2:30 brings but small money on account of
his speed and the 3 :00 horse is only a pleasure
animal. That rate of speed is so common now-
adays as to be a negligible quantity in the mak-
ing of the price.

The great general use for the horse of trot-
ting blo'od is, however, on the road in utilitarian
walks of life. The race course and the speed-
way consume but an infinitesimal percentage of
all the trotting-bred horses foaled each season.
The breed is a priceless boon to the country and
its fame has extended the wide world over.

Forty years ago the Morgan was the most
favored of the road types. This strain may
be traced to a single ancestor — Justin Morgan,
foaled in Vermont in 1793. Various pedigrees
have been allotted to him, but the generally ac-
cepted belief now is that his breeding was large-
ly Thoroughbred. He was a phenomenal horse
in every way, small, but of astounding strength
and stamina. From him descended the Black
Hawk, Bashaw, Golddust, Lambert and other
families, all of which were famous for road qual-
ities and good looks. Some of the fastest trot-

THE STANDAKD-BRED. 195

ters carry Morgan blood in their veins and a
measure of it is also to be found in the Ameri-
can gaited saddle horse. The Morgan type may
briefly be described as short of leg, thick and
round of barrel, courageous and possessing en-
durance and intelligence of a high order. In
the middle of the last century the strain was
very popular, but it has nevertheless been
absorbed into the great trotting breed and lit-
tle of it remains to bear witness to its pristine
excellence and popularity. An effort has been
made to restore the breed to its former posi-
tion. A stud book is maintained for it and gov-
ernmental aid has been extended in the attempt
to rehabilitate it. Modern horse market de-
mand, however, calls for a horse of greater size
and speed, and it is doubtful if any good could
be accomplished by restoring the strain. Classes
are still made for Morgans at many state fairs,
but the general incongruity of the displays made
prove that they no longer possess a fixed type.
The decadence of the Morgan horse is due solely
to the demands of advancing civilization.

Next to the American the Orloff trotter of
Russia shows the greatest amount of speed.
This breed has had very few representatives in
this country, but one or two of them have found
their way into the Trotting Register as ances-
tresses of standard performers. The founda-
tion of the breed was laid in 1775 by Count
Alexis Orloff Tchismenski by the mating of an

196 THE HOESE BOOK.

Arabian stallion with a Danish mare. The re-
sult of this union was a colt called Polkan 1st,
and he proved a great sire. Continued intelli-
gent effort soon raised the strain to the dignity
of a breed, recourse being had to the English
Thoroughbred, the Arab, Barb and Dutch
breeds for new blood. The Imperial govern-
ment of Russia has extended plentiful and time-
ly aid to further the development of the Orloff,
by subsidizing stallions and offering very valua-
ble stakes and purses in trotting races. A high
degree of speed has been achieved, despite the
handicap imposed by the peculiar racing rigs
used. Of later years, however, American sul-
kies and harness and more or less American
training methods have promoted a material low-
ering of the Russian records at all distances.
Determined to take advantage of the latesjt
American methods of training and racing the
trotter the Imperial authorities engaged the
noted American trainer George Fuller of Ten-
nessee to go to Russia and take charge, of the
training operations at the royal stud. Part of
his work was to instruct Russian horsemen in
the true principles of the art of balancing trot-
ters and so getting their speed out of them. A
few American trainers also have been resident
in Russia for years and some American stallions
have been imported to cross with the Orlotf
mares. Distances over which these horses are
raced are long, extending sometimes to three

THE COACHERS. 197.

miles or even more and are measured in versts.
Much racing is also done on the ice, and while
the Orloff is somewhat plain according to our
ideas of .trotting conformation and his action
would not be popular in this country, he is
nevertheless a real trotter in every way worthy
of the name.

THE. COACHERS.

When we speak of a coacher or coach horse
we refer to a horse well suited to pull a coach.
But we have no coaches in these days, as we
once had, and if we will look at all closely into
the matter we will find that with the negligible
exception of the Cleveland Bay not one of the
breeds we now call coachers was developed with
the object of pulling a coach. This is a rather
anomalous state of affairs, but the condition is
nevecrtheless as stated. Among the hills in the
English county of York the Cleveland Bay
actually at one time did yeoman service in haul-
ing the heavy mail coaches, but there the coach
connection stops. "War has been the ruling mo-
tive in the production of all the other breeds of
coachers as we know them in this country today.
It was to supply remounts for the army that
the French government began the nationaliza-
tion of its horse-breeding business. It was war
that induced the establishment of the different
strains of coach hoirses in Gennany. The ob-
ject in both cases was to obtain a remount that

198 THE HOBSE BOOK.

could carry a soldier and his kit over the
ground at a fair rate of speed. Following the
ethical coach idea out to its logical conclusion it
seems strange that the only real coacher of the
lot should, after fair and full trial here, have
dropped from sight entirely and that in his
native land he should have become alm'ost a
memory — not quite, almost. On the other hand
the war horses of France and Germany have
thriven and multiplied apace with us, the whole
of which forms a somewhat strange commen-
tary on the peculiar mutability of equine af-
fairs.

Instead of the old style heavy mail coach we
now have the heavier sorts of carriages, the
brougham, the landau and the like, and the
horse required for use in them we term
^^coachy. '^ As the prevailing tendency on the
part of carriagemakers is to build these vehicles
lighter and lighter, the demand calls for small-
er horses than it formerly did. In the United
States carriages of all sorts are built on a light-
er plan than in any other country and the use
of rubber tires has aided not a little in this evo-
lution. Hence while the carriage horse or
coach horse of the commerce of today is con-
siderably larger than the park horse he is no
longer a giant. Sixteen hands is about his
limit and he must not be at all coarse.

Quality is the first essential of the carriage
horse, which term I prefer to use for the com-

THE COACHERS. 199

mercial article rather than coach horse. He
must be upstanding and commanding in out-
look, long in neck, round of barrel, apple-
smooth in quarter and with a bit of range to
him so that he may not have a cobby or squatty
appearance. His throttle and head must be
neat and bloodlike, his tail well carried and his
temper good, for he has many weary hours of
standing still to do while milady makes her
calls or while waiting for the train. His action
must be high and free in front, though by no
means exaggerated and speed is not required
of him. In short the heavy carriage horse
must be an aristocrat all over or he does not
fill the bill. Majesty of mien and step are his
distinguishing characteristics.

Dealers who cater to the highest trade tell me
that they prefer these carriage horses under
rather than over 16 hands. As to the limit of
weight, it is hard to say. Weight has little to
do with establishing value in a carriage horse.
Still we may safely place the limit of 1,250
pounds as abundant to go with a height of 16
hands and preserve the proper proportions.
British buyers are more eager bidders for
horses over 16 hands than the best eastern buy-
ers are. In John BulPs island they still stick
to the older-fashioned heavy type of carriage
and consequently they require the larger sorts,
not so much as necessary motive power as to
preserve the due relation between horses and
vehicles.

200 THE HOKSE BOOK.

Be it said here that it is no trick at all to
grow coach-bred colts to the proper size. The
fact is that it is easy to grow them too large.
According to the demands of the present-day
market, the big lubberly 16.3-hand horse is a
poor one to breed. With such size a horse is
rarely able to handle himself. This brings us
to a consideration of the coach stallion to
choose for breeding the carriage horses now
demanded. I count such a stallion of 1,350
pounds plenty big enough and right at 16 hands
tall enough. Perfection, which standing still was
the very beau ideal of a carriage horse sire,
just topped 16 hands a mere fraction of an
inch and his weight never exceeded 1,350
pounds. The sire of the half-bred pair which
King Edward recently bought from Mr. Van-
derbilt is a small horse. The great big ones
have never proved as sires the equals of those
of medium size. The lubberly kind is without
quality, and as quality is a prime essential
coarse stallions cannot succeed as sires of high-
class carriage horses, especially when mated
with mares lacking blood.

A great many of the coach horses imported
have been too large and with too little quality.
A survey of the advertising files of The Breed-
er's Gazette will show that importers have
advertised coachers weighing 1,600 pounds and
upwards. I have seen mares in the show ring-
weighing not a pound less than 1,700 and their

THE COACHEKS. 201

owners bragged about it. Horses of that weight
are expressers not coachers, and cannot be ex-
pected to beget the sort for which the trade pays
the big money. This coach horse business has
often been put forward as a sort of double-
barrelled proposition: *'Get plenty of size and
if you do not get a carriage horse you will get
a good general-purpose horse," which may be
all right enough in its way, but a shotgun
policy never yet has resulted in the production
of high-class animals and it never will.

It is owing to this rather indefinite policy
that many failures of coach stallions to breed
well may be charged. Lack of suitable mares
also has been a grave handicap, but perhaps
the most potent factor of all, where a coach
horse has failed to give satisfaction, is the utter
lack of an adequate conception of what a car-
riage horse is which prevails very generally
the country over. I have known coach stal-
lions mated with every kind of mare from a
700-pound cayuse to a 1,700-pound three-cross
Percheron and then be roundly anathematized
because he failed to beget a uniform progeny.
It takes a mare of refinement of conformation
and good blood to produce a carriage horse
that will sell to advantage. If the desire is to
breed express horses, the use of the 1,600-pound
alleged coacher is defensible. Otherwise it is
not. There are exceptions to every rule, but
the medium-sized coach stallion is the one to

202 THE HOESE BOOK.

use when the intention is to breed carriage
horses. There is money enough in breeding
such horses to make it well worth the while of
any man to give the problem careful study.

THE FEENCH OOACHEE.

French Coacher is a name which we have
bestowed of our own motion on a breed of
horses which goes by an entirely different title
in France. In the Gallic Eepublic this breed
is called demi-sang, which means ^^ half-bred. '^
In the seventeenth century the French set
about the nationalization of their horse breed-
ing interests and to that end ,the government
stud or haras was established. Through all
the tremendous vicissitudes encountered by
the French nation, through the change from
monarchy to democracy, through the terrors of
the Commune and the enforced national lassi-
tude following the defeats at Waterloo and
Sedan, the policy of horse improvement has
been maintained with a central guiding hand
and one fixed purpose in view. That purpose
was to supply remounts for the army. To this
end Thoroughbred stallions were mated with
native French mares in a far back day and the
progeny of course was half-bred or demi-sang.
So these horses were called then and so they
are called now. A more euphonious title, mean-
ing something to our people, was required when
these horses were first imported and the name
French Coacher was chosen.

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THE FRENCH COAOHER. 203

When the nineteenth century was about one-
third gone the French Government recognized
two things: first that the continued infusion of
the blood of the Thoroughbred was necessary
for the production of the horses it desired and,
second, that a fast trot was equally essential to
getting the mounted soldier over the ground
with the least possible fatigue and the greatest
celerity. Consequently in 1836 the government
began to offer prizes for trotting races and that
policy has been continued to the present day.
All the records of all the races that have ever
been trotted under the auspices of the French
Government are available. It was not how-
ever until the present year (1907) that a stud
book for French trotters was compiled and pub-
lished. This is the ^'Stud Book Trotteur" com-
piled by M. Louis Cauchois and altogether a
work of amazing interest. It shows how the
French, without outside aid of any kind have
developed a race of long-distance trotters to a
highly creditable rate of speed. According to
our way of figuring the speed is not great, but
its uniformity at the various distances is aston-
ishing. Races at one mile (1,609 metres) are
not popular in France. Instead the popular
distances are from 1,750 to 4,000 metres or
from around a mile and a quarter to a little
over three miles.

Records in France are always rated by the
kilometre (roughly five-eighths of a mile), no

204 THE HORSE BOOK.

matter what the distance traversed in the race,
that the record, thus proportioned, for the
1,750-nietre distance differs only about two
seconds from the record for over three miles
speaks well for the endurance of the French
trotter. Not only this but the races are trotted
over turf tracks of the most uneven character,
to saddle from a standing start and the methods
employed by the French trainers are, in the
light of our American experience, execrable.
The French are the only people who have un-
dertaken to inject the element of trotting speed
into their coachers and this, briefly described
is the manner in which they have done it.

It is obvious, however, that not all the fami-
lies in a breed of such promiscuous origin could
have developed speed at the trot. Nor has the
attempt been made to spread the trotting con-
formation and action over the entire strain.
Hence it comes about that there are two divi-
sions— the demi-sang trotteur and the demi-
sang carrossier, which terms being interpreted
mean French Coachers of the trotting type and
French Coachers of the coach horse type. As
it always has been in the evolution of any cer-
tain type one or more strains have given the
best results and so it is with the French trot-
ter. The blood of the phenomenal sire Fuschia
now dominates the entire French trotting fab-
ric, and as a sire of speed, according to
French limitations, the world has never seen

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THE FRENCH COACHER. 205

his like. Infusions of Thoroughbred blood are
still being poured into the breed and indubi-
tably the type is changing. As between the two
now quite distinct types each must choose for
himself. The trotter is going up on legs some-
what, but the refining influence of the track is
plainly visible in him.

From the beginning the object has been to
secure a high- folding action in front and a clean
lift behind, and the training and racing over
rough turf tracks have aided in fixing this char-
acteristic. The action of the racing trotter in
France is not duplicated elsewhere. He goes
high and he goes on with it. Annually the
government purchases the best of the three-
year-old stallions and relegates them for service
to the stud, where they are available to the
breeders at merely nominal fees. Under the law
provision is made for the maintenance of 3,300
stallions and of these something over 2,000 now
in service are of the demi-sang breed. France
takes mighty good care to have plenty of
horses available for her army.

Being bred so close to the blood French
Coachers are generally bay, brown, chestnut or
black. The other hues are not wanted.

In his career in this country the French
Coacher has suffered both from lack of suitable
mares and continuity of effort on the part of
those who have patronized him. Besides the
efforts of the importers, more especially in days

206 THE HOESE BOOK.

gone by to catch the public eye with too large
individuals never did him any good. Evidence
nevertheless is on every hand that when the
French Coach stallion of the right sort is
mated with mares of running or trotting blood,
good quality and suitable shape, success fol-
lows consistently.

The question is often asked if horses of this
breed are branded in France. Seldom if ever
is a government brand to be seen on one of
them. Most of the stallions are owned by the
government or by private individuals who
either can not afford to or do not care to com-
pete with it, but may use their stallions to their
own mares. Once in a great while a demi-sang
horse is presented for veterinary examination
and approval. In the event of his being ac-
cepted he is branded with the five-pointed star
beneath the mane, but occasions of the sort are
so rare that the breed as we know it in this
country may be said to carry no governmental
brand at all.

THE GEEMAN COAOHER.

Reading the history of continental European
development and bearing in mind that the Ger-
man Empire of today is composed of numerous
states and principalities it is not strange that it
should be prolific of different types of coach
horses. For perhaps two centuries past efforts
at the improvement of the horse with a view to

THE GERMAN COACHER. 207

supplying good animals f oi- army use have been
made. Necessarily, owing to the number of
separate governments involved prior to the
consolidation of the empire, there was no fixed
single policy followed, for which reason there
are marked differences between the various
breeds or strains. The multiplicity of states
likewise renders it hard to reach very accurate
conclusions regarding the early history of
most of these strains, but there is no doubt
that in point of antiquity these horses rank
with any of their congeners.

It does not appear that the Germans have
made extended use of the Thoroughbred in the
evolution of some strains of their coach horses,
though in others the trail of the blood is plainly
discernible. It is well known that the German
cavalryman with his kit weighs more than the
same soldier in any other army and hence it is
not to be wondered at that we find the German
horses possessing much substance. No effort
to inject speed at the trot has been made at any
time and hence the German Coach horse as we
know him is, so to speak, in a class by himself
and not comparable to or to be judged by the
same standards as his Gallic neighbor.

The old Duchy of Oldenburg and the district
of East Friesland produce the most of the
German horses imported to the United States.
It is probable that consistent effort at improve-
ment has been carried on in this region for a

208 THE HOESE BOOK.

longer period than elsewhere in any part of the
empire. Less use, too, of the Thoroughbred
has probably been made there than in any other
district. Government aid is extended to the
breeders and stallions are annually approved
for public service. Conservative always and
hastening slowly the Oldenburg breeders have
succeeded in turning out what is probably the
most uniform breed of the kind extant. Bays,
browns and blacks are the established colors
and must have been favored for a long time,
as it is a very rare thing to see an off-colored
colt after one of these horses. German methods
,and regulations are at times hard for the Ameri-
can mind to understand, but from such informa-
tion as may be gathered, horse breeding in Ger-
many is carried on in a manner which is about
half way between the nationalized system of
France and the free individualism of Britain.
Many questions have been put regarding the
brands visible on German Coachers. Applica-
tion was made to the Imperial Minister of Agri-
culture at Berlin for an official statement, which
runs thus :

"In Germany, that is in Oldenburg, East Friesland, and
in parts of Holstein, only young stallions or stallion foals
are branded. These brands are for the purpose to prove
that the young stallions received premiums. In East
Prussia all the produce of mares that are entered in the
East Prussian Stud Book are branded with the double
'Elchshovel.' The State has nothing to do with this busi-
ness of branding."

THE GERMAN COACHER. 209

Desiring also the pronunciamento of some
one well known in the trade application was
made to Herr Ed. Ltibben for a comprehensive
statement regarding these brands. He writes
as follows :

"All Oldenburg and East Friesland horises exported to
your country, passed or not by the government, are
branded on the left hind leg. Besides that, in the East
Friesland district the government-approved horses are
branded also on the neck, and in the Oldenburg district
those three-year-old horses which got a government pre-
mium are also branded on the neck. At some local shows
the prize-winning colts also get a brand on their necks.
There being so very few government-approved stallions,
in fact hardly any more than are wanted in the districts
here, there could only be very, very few sold to go abroad.
From this you can see that every Oldenburg or East
Friesland horse exported to your country has to be branded
on the left hind leg. In a few cases you may find one over
there which is also branded on the neck. The Holstein
and East Prussian districts have other books and differ-
ent brands and regulations, but they hardly sell any to
to go to your country,"

From this it will be seen that the brands on
German Coachers form rather a complicated
subject, but more information, or rather more
extended information, does not seem to be
forthcoming.

It was at the Columbian that the American
public had its first real introduction to the Ger-
man Ooacher in his proper estate. It is a ques-
tion in my mind if we have seen better horses
of the breed since, though perhaps we have seen
as good. During the era of stagnation that fol-
lowed the closing of the gates of the beautiful
White City some little trading in these horses

14

210 THE HORSE BOOK.

persisted and more or less desultory importing
operations were continued. At that time
horse-breeding was not in high favor and state
fair exhibits of horses attracted little attention.
Still despite this most discouraging reception
those who were interested in the German
Coacher kept on showing him and as a natural
consequence the breed became familiar to most
fairgoers. Such stallions as did find buyers be-
came popular in the districts in which they
were placed and when the tide finally turned
the demand for them opened up in fine shape.
They got a lot of good mares to their cover at
that time and they begot a lot of colts and fillies
that were well suited to the export trade, then
flourishing, with the result that their get ac-
quired popularity for the reason that a market
could readily be found for it.

At that the German Coacher has suffered
from a too general ignorance on the part of
farmers of the principles involved in breeding
carriage horses. Full of substance and some-
what inclined to grossness the German Coacher
has for the most part been mated with mares
that were too large and possessed too little
quality. That the quality kind of German
Coacher will beget the right kind of quality and
action when properly mated admits of no doubt.
We have seen his grades at shows and else-
where that filled the bill very close to the edge
and the beautiful dark brown color which so

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THE CLEVELAND BAY. 211

often follows the use of such a stallion has
greatly endeared him to the farmers in many
districts.

Taking all this into consideration, and credit-
ing him with all the good he has done, it must
be admitted that the German Coacher as he is
imported to this country lacks quality. Wheth-
er the German breeders desire to remedy this
defect, I do not know. In the last few years
there has been no evidence of a move in this
direction, albeit we have -seen some show
horses of the breed which indicate that there
is quality within it which might be utilized for
its general refinement. German breeders would
serve themselves well, so far as the American
trade is concerned, if they would inject more
quality, style and '^gimp'' into the breed as a
whole, and trappier action. At that the Ger-
man Coacher is here to stay, a popular horse
and deservedly so.

THE CLEVELAND BAY AND YORKSHIEE
COACH HORSE.

Only passing notice need be extended to
these two breeds. They had their trial in this
country and have been discarded as any sort of
a general factor in our horse breeding economy.
The Cleveland Bay breed has existed in York-
shire, England, for centuries and in an older
day was used both for agricultural and coach
work on the road. As a matter of fact there

212 THE HOKSE BOOK.

never was much of anything about the breed to
recommend it. Cold-blooded and not attractive
in conformation or action, when bred in its
purity, it never appealed specially to American
horsemen. Eecognizing that the Cleveland
Bay was too slow certain English breeders in-
jected Thoroughbred blood into it and called
the result the Yorkshire Coach Horse. There
are separate stud books in England, but in this
country both sorts are registered in one book.
Some very beautiful specimens of the York-
shire Coach horse have been shown here as
Cleveland Bays, which was all right so long as
they were all recorded in the Cleveland Bay
book, but one of the most attractive — though
possibly not the best — we remember was a
golden bay stallion bred in Illinois and his sire
was a horse with three or four crosses of
Thoroughbred blood. In short the Cleveland
Bay had neither the blood nor the action to be-
come permanently popular in America. True,
he did beget from fine trotting-bred mares some
high-class carriage horses, but then we must
remember the old Scotch proverb that *4f you
boil a whinstone in butter the bree (soup) will
be good.'' Yet the Cleveland Bay alone of all
our so-called coach breeds was in reality a
coach horse within the original meaning of
that term.

THE HACKNEY. 213

THE HACKNEY.

Prior to the end of tTie eig'liteentli century the
use of wheeled vehicles was not general in
Britain, nor indeed, anywhere else. Eoads were
few and bad and people stirred abroad afoot or
ahorseback. In the eastern part of England
there was at that time a strain of riding horses
called the Norfolk Trotter and the Hackney is
his lineal descendant. It is peculiar how dif-
ferent nations develop live stock along such dif-
ferent lines with the same object in view. In
the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth
centuries the Norfolk Trotter was a fast horse,
able to gallop, trot, walk and stay. Yet he was
a thick-necked, heavy-headed, cobby little horse,
devoid of much beauty, if we are to believe that
the artists of the time have portrayed him cor-
rectly. There is no question about his speed
over long distances. There is no need to bur-
den these pages with the records of feats
achieved in the dim and misty past, but there
is no denying the fact that the trotting inher-
itance bequeathed to the Kent Mare by imp.
Bellf ounder materially assisted in the formation
of our own unchallenged trotting breed. The
action of these old-time English trotters was
high both fore and aft, and the general trappi-
ness of the type seems always to have been one
of its characteristics despite its heavy forehand
and substantial thickness.

With the more universal introduction of

214 THE HORSE BOOK.

wheeled vehicles came a general refining of the
breed. As we have seen the history of the Hack-
ney in this country dates back to the importa-
tion of Bellf ounder in 1823, but there is a great
gap to be bridged between that date and the
inception of what we may call the general trans-
ference of the breed across the ocean. It was
in about 1880 that 'this was begun and at first
the Haclaiey had a hard row to hoe. The im-
porters seemed to have a craze for bringing
over the largest horses they could lay hands on
— horses that today would be discarded. Then
came the era of the horse-in-harness show. In
England the Hackney was par excellence the
favored carriage horse for use in the lighter
styles of vehicle. He could put up his knees and
hocks in approved fashion. So some of our
rich men began to support him.

About this time the bottom of the market for
trotting-bred horses dropped out so far that it
seemed it could never be discovered again.
Stallions that had been doing a profitable busi-
ness at from $50 to $100 a mare suddenly found
themselves without anything to do. They were
offered for what they would bring. The deal-
ers grabbed at their opportunity and it is no
exaggeration to say that in the seven or eight
years which followed 1890 thousands of trot-
ting-bred stallions were emasculated, docked
and converted into heavy harness horses. Poor
excuses they were at the game, these rough old

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THE HACKNEY. 215

stags, but they were a home product and the
invasion of the Hackney was resented in such
a partisan spirit that he could not or at least
did not get half what was coming to him, if that.
Even with the importation of very high-class
horses and mares — London Hackney Show and
Royal champions — ^^the Hackney labored under
the stern refusal of the judges to take him
seriously. Some show yard decisions rendered
about that time must lie very heavy on the con-
sciences of the men who rendered them, espe-
cially in the light of these later days.

Still the Hackney men stuck to their guns.
The theater of importation was removed large-
ly from the West to the East and by sheer force
of inherent merit the Hackney began to force
recognition. Times mended and men began to
grow richer. Simultaneously the supply of old
stags of trotting breed began to die out. Im-
portations of hig'h-class performers, perfectly
mannered and gifted with superb action and
conformation were made, and the Hackney set
out on the triumphal march which has since
culminated in his victory in almost all of the
important challenge prizes at all of the great
shows. There is no gainsaying that the Hack-
ney has fully come into his own as the recog-
nized park horse in the United States as well
as England. Extensive importations of the
breed are made annually, not so much for breed-
ing purposes as for showing in harness and in

216 THE HOESE BOOK.

many in'stances higher prices are paid in Eng-
land by American dealers than their British
brethren can afford.

Typically the Hackney is not a large horse.
Few run to 16 hands and preserve the type re-
quired by the best judges. There are still some
heavy specimens to be found, but they usually
lack in those qualities which have made for the
success of the breed. With the lapse of time
there have come to be two schools among Hack-
ney men generally — those who must have action
first, last and all the time as the prime essential
and those who desire quality and beauty of
conformation first and a more moderate degree
of action to go with it. Personally I am in-
clined to side with those who must have action
at all hazards. To me a Hackney is not worth
the name imless he can go like the proverbial
house afire. Personally, moreover, I know this :
You may go to the New York market with a
rather plain horse that can take his knees to his
chin and his hocks to his dock and you can sell
him right off the reel, whereas if you have one
that is full of quality and beauty but can not go
much you will have to search some time for a
buyer. There is no more pleasing sight in all
horsedom than a well broken Hackney going
around the arena at the end of a long v/hiie
rope, doing his stunt with his knees and hocks
as he should and withal going on with it. I
have little patience with the kind that ^^can go

THE HACKNEY. 217

all day in a 'half-bushel,'' as the contemptuous
reference was to all Hackneys in the days of
tiieir novitiate in this country. We need a bit
of speed in this country as well as lift.

Thougli we all know what real Hackney con-
formation is there is still a considerable lack of
uniformity in the breed. The similarity of
Action I count the most salient of its features.
The feomewhat heavy neck and rather square
head are still to be met up with, but the selec-
tive operations of the best breeders are tending
toward refinement consistently and persist-
ently.

While pure-bred Hackneys have not been
produced in great numbers in this country we
have had enough of them to indicate that the
British breeders have no monopoly on the pro-
duction of the best. True, the importation of
large numbers of the highest-class stallions and
mares is too recent to permit of their having
been relegated from the show yard to the stud
and produced colts that have matured, but it
will be strange indeed if with the material we
now have to work with we cannot at least hold
John Bull level at his -own game. In passing I
want to say that I count the emasculation of old
Forest King nothing short of a national calam-
ity.

When crossed with native mares the Hackney
stallion of the right type has made good. He
has transmitted his conformation and action in

218 THE HOKSE BOOK,

due and proper proportion, but tlie breeding of
Hackneys is not a game to be played promiscu-
ously. No one need think for instance that the
splendid action of the sire will be reproduced
in the progeny as it shows up in the, parent.
Far from it; the aptitude for developrtixftnt is
transmitted, not the finished article. It is much
the same as with trotting or pacing speed. Did
any one ever hear of a champion Hildred com-
ing green from 'the field or a Nancy Hanks,
2:04, emanating rough from the pasture! In
this way disappointment has often been ex-
perienced by those who have bred native mares
to Hackney stallions and discovered that the
action of the colts as three-year-olds did not
equal or at least approximate that of the sire.
Disappointment with the mating has then been
expressed and the colt sold to a dealer, only to
develop into a park horse of approved action.

Medium size, from 14.3 to 15.2 hands, and
trappiness of action, together with much ro-
tundity of form and sloping shoulders are char-
acteristics of the Hackney in his best estate.
By trappiness of action I do not mean to con-
vey that a good-going Hackney picks his fore
feet up high and then 'slams them down hard
on the ground again very little in advance of
where they were elevated. Instead of this
rough and choppy action the Hackney should
advance his fore feet as though following the
rim of a rolling wheel, not dwelling in his re-

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THE HACKNEY. 219

covery but bringing the foot up again quickly
and throwing it upward and forward again with
machine-like regularity. The hocks should be
flexed very sharply, brought up well beneath
the body and the hind feet advanced with a
springy regular motion that it is not easy to
describe. In conclusion the Hackney is the only
breed of horses in which the proverb ''a good
big one will always beat a good little one'' does
not hold good.

The Hackney pony, which is achieving a great
vogue in this country at present, is one of the
most attractive members of the equine family.
It is safe to say that the most exaggerated
action is to be found in these diminutive Hack-
neys. In Britain these little horses, which range
from 12.2 to 14 hands in height, have always
been very popular and many of them not only
possess wonderfully high action but quite a bit
of speed as well. It is only of later years that
they have become favorites in America, but
nowadays higher prices are paid for them here
than in any other country. The Hackney pony,
properly so called, is eligible for registration in
the Hackney Stud Book, height restrictions not
being imposed. Breeding these ponies is a lu-
crative business, but has not been largely un-
dertaken with us as yet. The demand is broad,
however, and constantly increasing and af-
fluence apparently awaits the breeder who can
produce a supply of the goods desired.

220 THE HORSE BOOK.

THE SADDLE HORSE.— THE AMERICAN
FIVE-GAITED SADDLER.

United States breeders can lay claim to hav-
ing developed two breeds of horses — the stand-
ard-bred and the five-gaited or so-called Ken-
tucky or American saddler. Both are essentially
American products and both distinctive in the
great realm of horse breeding. Development of
the gaited horse was born of necessity. In the
new country pioneered by the old Virginia
families distances were long and roads almost
unknown. Journeys had to be made in the
saddle over mountain and vale, through forest
and over stream, and the mind of the rider was
bent to the production of gaits which would
rid himself of the discomfort of the everlasting
jolt of the trot and his horse of the hardship
imposed by the canter or hand-gallop. The net
result was a broken step which enabled the rider
to sit at his ease in the saddle and get over
the ground comfortably and quickly.

While the history of the formation of this
breed dates back a comparatively she time
and lies an open book before us, it is unneces-
sary to go farther than to state that its main
original factors were the Thoroughbred and
the pacer. The true pace is an objectionable
gait under saddle. The modifications of it,
which have been achieved, form the apotheosis
of equine locomotion under the saddle. Den-

THE FIVE-GAITED SADDLE HOESE. 221

mark, by imp. Hedgeford, was the Thorough-
bred stallioi;! whose name stands out most prom-
inently in the history of the breed, as does that
of imp. Messenger in the annals of the stand-
ard-bred. Development of the gaited saddler
has been in the hands of men of much intelli-
gence and in some cases more or less wealth,
and though the breed is by no means numerous,
nor the breeding studs large, it has overspread
much of the country, winning its way by its
delightful qualities, beauty and docility. Apti-
tude to go the five gaits is now a firmly fixed
characteristic, transmitted with much regu-
larity, but like the speed of the trotter and the
high 'action of the show ring Haclmey the pe-
culiar gaits as we see them in the arena are the
result of competent training. The get of the
gaited saddler will break its step naturally in
what is popularly termed a ''singlefoot,'' but
the running walk, fox trot or slow pace and
the rack are acquired correctly only under the
touch of the master hand. Not only this but
when once acquired in acceptable form the rack
is readily forgotten or becomes corrupted if
not persevered with.

Five gaits are required of the gaited saddle
horse — the walk, trot, rack and canter, and as
a fifth gait either the fox trot, running walk or
slow pace. Demand for three-gaited horses in
the eastern markets—walk, trot, canter— after
the English fashion has caused many of the

222 THE HORSE BOOK.

five-gaited horses to be marketed with the
three gaits only. In fact the five-gaited horse
has never been popular in the East. The West
and South have been his strongholds and Ken-
tucky and Missouri and to some extent Illinois
are his chief nurseries. The eastern prejudice
lagainst the five-gaited horse is against his
*^easy gaits," not against the horse. Kentucky-
bred five-gaited horses divested of their extra
gaits have been sold in the East for record-
breaking prices and won many firsts and
championships at the leading shows. The five-
gaited horse is fairly popular in Boston.

It is not altogether easy to describe the con-
formation of the five-gaited horse. The reader
is referred to the illustrations. It is still hard-
er to describe the gaits. One man only — W. R.
Goodwin, of The Beeeder's Gazette — has ever
succeeded in setting down on paper what
happens as the horse goes through his five-
gaits, and I present in full a descriptive article
by him which appeared in that paper and which
is accepted as standard authority on the sub-
ject.

"One of the present encouragements to horse breeding
is the keen and widespread interest in saddle horses.
The report of the seventeenth annual meeting of the
American Saddle Horse Breeders' Association in our last
issue gave proof sufficient of the stability of this branch
of American horse breeding. That association has sought
to establish types through the concentration of blood and
allow the user to select the gaits to which his mount
shall be educated. Whether the five-gaited or the three-
gaited horse, whether the horse that racks or the horse

THE FIVE-GAITED SADDLE HOKSE. 223

that walk-trots, the aim has been to get an animal with
inherited inclinations to carry weight under the saddle
with a sense of responsibility.

"It is interesting to note that not only in the cornbelt
(where saddle horses are not so common as in the south-
ern states) but also in the range countries where day-in
and day-out saddle work taxes the riders, there is a desire
to learn of the nicer points of horseback riding, the re-
finements of equitation. These are more readily taught
in the riding school than through the printed page, and
yet they must be taught in some way. Inquiries fre-
quently come for information as to how to use a saddle
horse that has been educated after the southern methods,
or in other words how to get a horse to go the gaits
to which he has been trained. We have had occasion to
try to enlighten readers on the subject, but recurrence
to it again seems necessary. In a recent issue we en-
deavored to describe the gaits of a trained saddle horse,
and the subject will stand yet further elucidation, to-
gether with some practical suggestions on changing the
gaits under saddle. A horse that 'gangs his ain gait' can
hardly be called a satisfactory saddler. No horseman
should rest content until he has taught his mount to
change his gait at a given signal, so that he may com-
mand any pace at will.

"First, let us get the names of the gaits straight before
we straighten out the gaits themselves. It must be ad-
mitted that the term 'single-foot' aptly describes the
'four-beat' gait, or that action in a horse in which each
foot has a separate fall on the ground; but 'the powers
that be' — the men who breed and train horses, and who
conduct the American Saddle Horse Breeders' Association
— years ago abandoned the use of that term and substi-
tuted the word rack. This is not so pretty a name, but it
is shorter, it is correct, and it has the greatest weight of
authority for its use. The single-foot and the rack are
one and the same gait, but it is better to use the word
rack in describing it.

"The word 'lope' is a contraction of gallop. There are
three words used to describe this action according to its
speed. When a horse is fully extended going fast it is
called a run; when he is going at moderate speed it is
called a gallop, and when the similar movement is exe-
cuted slowly it is called a canter. Yet another distinction
may be introduced, and that is a hand-gallop. This comes
between a canter and a gallop, but it is more nearly like
a canter. But there is much more of a difference in these

224 THE HOKSE BOOK.

movements than mere speed. The gallop and run are
natural gaits; the hand-gallop and canter are cultivated
gaits. The two first-named are rough to ride, the other
two are pleasant. The cultivated canter is not only the
slowest movement of this action, but it is performed with
more restraint; the horse works more on his haunches;
his hind legs are better under him; he bounds up in front
lightly and drops to the ground in the same manner, sus*-
taining his weight on his hind legs and haunches instead
of letting it come down *ker-plunk,' as in the gallop or run.
The canter is done on the curb, and the horse arches his
neck and sets his head a little lower than in trot or rack,
but the educated horse does not take hold hard in a can-
ter. The slower this gait is performed, when done with
promptness, animation and exactness, the better. Hence
the Kentucky expression: 'He can canter all day in the
shade of an apple tree.' But it should not be a lazy, list-
less, loose gait. The fore feet should rise from the ground
almost simultaneously and the hind feet likewise. The
'three-foot' canter — or a canter in front and a rack or
'jiggle' behind, — is not desirable; it is a mixed gait. The
horse that seems fairly aching to run and yet restrains his
spirits at the will of the rider and canters lightly on the
curb at about five miles an hour is doing the proper caper.
This is the educated saddle gait. A gallop is faster, unedu-
cated and far less pleasant to ride. When a horse can
canter the rider should have more pride in the gait than to
call it a 'lope.'

"All saddle horses educated in the South are broken prac-
tically alike. That is, they have been taught the same sig-
nals for changing gaits. When trainers themselves have
not been educated, but are of the rough 'home-spun' kind,
there is no such uniformity of signals. If your horse has
been educated by a competent trainer, let us ride out to-
gether and see what can be done with him. We will start
on the walk; that is the foundation of all sadde gaits. If
riding with a double-rein bridle, with curb and snaffle bits,
take him on the snaffle lightly. By word or touch of whip
or crop, or by touch of spur if necessary, urge him. to the
top of his speed at the flat-foot walk. Keep him up to the
mark. There is a time to lay the reins loosely on his neck
and loaf, but not now. Hold him steadily at the flat-foot
walk, and if he is a good walker he will carry you four
miles an hour; if he takes you five miles in that time you
have as good a walker as any man possesses.

"Now we will go from the walk to the running-walk or
slow-pace — the slow 'jiggle.' These are easier gaits than

THE FIVE-GAITED SADDLE HOESE. 225

the walk and faster. They are right on the edge of a 'four
beat' gait. That is, you can hear each foot-fall distinctly.
Loosen your snaffle reins and take hold lightly of the curb
and give him a touch of the spur, urging him just out of a
walk. These are gaits a little faster than a walk and not
so fast as a rack. They are what are called slow gaits.
Cleanly performed they are delightful to ride; they are all-
day gaits. The real old-fashioned plantation running-walker
is a 'nodder;' he keeps time to his paces by the nodding of
his head, just as a mule does by the flop of his ears. This
gait is literally named. It is an accelerated walk — a run-
ning walk, not a flat-foot 'heel and toe' walk The slow-
pace is not the side-wheel gait of the harness horse; there
is too much roll to that. It is a similar gait, but instead of
both feet on one side of the body striking the ground at
exactly the same instant, there is just enough break in the
impact to introduce a short interval and rob the gait of the
unpleasant roll of the side-wheeler. The fox-trot is the
other slow gait. It is a dog-trot, a slow and rather loose-
jointed trot, a 'shog.' Whichever gait the horse strikes
when pushed out of a walk hold him to it. Do not let him
forge ahead into a rack or a trot, or fall back into a walk.

"Now that your horse has shown that he can go along
nicely in the slow-pace we will rack down that smooth road
ahead which is not too soft on its surface — for the rack is
rather a hard gait on a horse and the going can easily be
too soft for him. You have him on the curb; increase the
pressure a little, give him the leg — that is, grip him with
your knees so that he will feel the clasp — and give him the
spur. A horse is taught to rack by spurring him forward
and curbing him back; he then flies into what may be
called a 'condensed trot' — which is a good description of the
rack. A racking horse must go up against the curb, and
above all things he must not be allowed to fall into the
swinging side-wheel pace. If he falters touch him with
the spur and lift him gently on the bit to steady him. Do
not gouge him or rip him. Spurs should be used thus for
punishment only in the most extreme necessity. A willing
horse will soon learn to respond instantly, when he feels
the heel move backward to his flank, even before he is
touched with the steel.

"Let us now drop out of the rack. Release the curb reins,
teach him to slow down at the word 'steady,' and come
down easily — generally through a running-walk — into the
walk. We now want to stir up our livers a bit, and hence
will trot over that stretch of road ahead of us. Of course
we could have gone into the trot from that fast rack that
15

226 THE HOKSE BOOK.

we were riding; that is, some horses could have done it,
but the ordinary rider will do well to go at each gait from
the flat-foot walk, except when stealing into the rack from
the slow-pace. Our horses have had a brief breathing spell
and are ready for the trot.

"Take your horse on the snaffle entirely; do not lug on
both curb and snaffle, as so many do who try to ride with
double rein but have never learned how. 'Cluck' to him,
and as he prepares to start off begin to post — that is, rise
in the saddle. If your horse is *on an edge' in his gaits he
will trot. Sometimes he will make a mistake and start out
on a 'jiggle.' Bring him immediately to a walk and try
again. As you give him the word this time reach forward
and with your right hand grasp him by the mane well up
on the neck. If he does not trot then he has forgotten his
early lessons and needs to be worked with. Some trainers
give the signal to trot by pulling an ear; this is anything
but sightly. It is bad enough to have to pull the mane,
but to twist and pull at the ear in the attempt to start a
horse on a trot is a trick that ought never to be taught.
The thoroughly broken horse should trot when he is taken
on the snaffle and touched on the neck with hand or crop.
This is getting down to a fine point, but that is just where
it ought to be.

"If you were riding with single curb-rein bridle you
would probably have to take hold of the mane and hold it
for a few seconds while you begin to post. The user of the
double-rein has the advantage; his signal to trot can scarce-
ly be noticed. This is desirable, as the less fuss and flurry
in changing gaits the better. When your horse strikes a
square trot hold him on the snaffle and make him work up
to it. Do not let him sprawl along in an extended trot, as
in harness. Keep him in hand; keep his legs working un-
der him, and post just as little as need be to catch the mo-
tion of the horse. Do not rise so high in the saddle at every
step that a man could throw a yellow dog by the tail under
you.

"Well, is your liver sufficiently agitated for this time?
Let us slow down then and walk a bit. We may even loaf
a while and let the horses .take care of themselves, but it
is well not to fall into the habit of it, as the horse will
quickly learn to want his own way in everything. And now
for the canter, the most graceful and enjoyable gait when
perfectly performed. Take your horse in hand. Let him
know that the loafing time is ended. Pull him together un-
til his legs are under him; balance him, and take him on
the curb lightly, lean forward a bit, and salute him with

HUNTERS, HACKS, POLO PONIES. 227

the right hand. That is, raise your right hand so that he
may see it. If he does not 'catch on,' snap your fingers. A
well broken horse will at once bound into a canter. An
educated saddler rarely forgets this signal.

"We have set forth the code of signals in ordinary use by
southern trainers of saddle horses. Of course there are
variations. All horses will not respond to all of these
signals. A horse has some individuality and a mind of its
own as well as a man. In that event something else that he
does comprehend, readily is tried. But by all means teach
your horse to change his gaits at your will and not his."

THREE-aAITED SADDLE HORSES,
HUNTERS, HACKS. POLO PONIES.

Walk, trot and canter are the three gaits in
che ordinary variety of saddle horse. All horses
go these gaits naturally, but it is a great mis-
take to suppose that any horse which is broken
to ride is a ^^plain-gaited'^ saddler. Far from
it ; the three-gaited riding horse has his qualifi-
cations as unmistakably as the park horse.
These qualifications are briefly summed up as
follows : He must be ^ ' a horse in front of you, ' ^
which means that he must have sloping shoul-
ders and a long well poised neck; he must be
short and strong in his back, powerful in his
quarters; he must be light in his forehand,
and he must stand higher in front than behind.
If he is made after this fashion there will be a
resiliency of motion to his progress which
makes for the comfort of the rider and the en-
durance of the horse. Straight shoulders, short
necks and heavy heads are very objectionable.
Proper mouthing and manner ing are as essen-
tial in the three-gaited as in the five-gaited sad-
dler.

It does not make much difference how this

228 THE HOESE BOOK.

sort of a saddle horse, if to be used for ordinary
pleasure riding, is bred, but of course the more
good blood he has in his veins the longer will
he last, the faster will he get over the ground
and the more agreeable mount will he prove in
general.

Conspicuous in this group of riding horses is-
the hunter, but as no great place exists for him
in our western equine economy much space need
not be devoted to him. The job of the hunter is
to carry a human being safely over the coun-
try, galloping fast, jumping fences and water as
he comes to them and staying over a distance of
many miles. There are only a few districts in
the United States where hunting is possible,
only a few packs of foxhounds and consequently
the home demand for hunters is quite circum-
scribed. Buyers for export to England keep
an eye out for horses lof the right stamp for
this business at leading American markets and
many a good western-bred animal has followed
the hounds on the other side in recent years.

Usually hunters are the get of Thoroughbred
stallions, though not always, but whenever the
sire is not clean Thoroughbred he is very near-
ly so. The blood is required to grant the neces-
sary speed and stamina. The type is well por-
trayed in the illustration — wiry, powerful and
of the ^^ varmint" order. Hunting is a harder
business than racing. The negotiation of such
obstacles as board fences, hedges, stone walls,
high banks with or without deep, wide ditches
on one side or other of them, and wide stretches
of water, continually recurring in runs of all

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HUNTERS, HACKS; POLO PONIES. 229

distances up to perhaps fifteen or twenty miles,
requires a high order of intelligence, stamina
and much education. It is small wonder then
that high-class hunting horses bring very long-
prices.

Hunters are of two classes — light and heavy-
weight carriers, the dividing line being fixed at
about 160 pounds. This is to say that a horse
capable of doing well over a country carrying
a man weighing less than 160 pounds is called
a light-weight hunter, and one that can carry
more, a heavy-weight hunter. Of course the
more weight a horse can pack away in the sad-
dle, go fast and stand up under, the more valua-
ble he is.

The hack is merely a pleasant riding horse,
good looking along the lines already described
and able to get over the ground at a lively pace.

The polo pony commands high prices. He
must stand 14.2 hands or under and he must
have speed, great intelligence and an aptitude
for dodging, swerving and wheeling around on
a dead run. The game of polo, in which he is
used, is a most exciting sport. It is played with
four men on a side, each armed with a long-
handled mallet, and the object is to drive a
wooden ball between goal posts. It is essen-
tially a rich man's game, and long prices are
paid for ponies of the requisite size, speed,
courage and adroitness of motion. Some of
the best polo ponies in 'the world are bred on
American ranches. The very best are got by
Thoroughbred stallions and reared under suit-
able conditions of treatment and care. Often,

230 THE HOESE BOOK.

too, COW ponies of the ordinary variety make
excellent polo mounts. The illustration shows a
team mounted on such ponies bred in Colorado.
The training and general aptitude for the game
are more essential to the receipt of large prices
than good looks, though all things being equal
the best looking sell for the most money. A
small but lucrative business is done by a few
dealers in picking up suitable ponies on the
range, breaking and mannering them, and then
offering them as the finished article. The polo
pony, however, is a negligible quantity so far
as the farmer is concerned.

SHETLAND, WELSH AND OTHER
PONIES.

Almost every country has its types of ponies.
Their name is legion. Some of these may be
dignified by the names of breeds and indeed a
few of them possess distinguishing character-
istics which some authorities claim entitle them
to distinction as separate species of the horse.
Prof. Cossar Ewart has of late years made some
extended investigations which lead him to dig-
nify certain of the Scotch types as distinct
varieties if not species. The Celtic pony is one
of them. These facts are mentioned as bearing
on whether all ponies are degenerate horses or
whether some of them at least have always been
as small as they are now. It would serve no
good purpose to enter into the arguments which
have been advanced on this subject. It will
suffice to say that Prof. Ewarc's investigations
point quite conclusively to diminutive size be-

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SHETLAND AND WELSH PONIES. 231

V

ing m some instances at least a varietal if not
a specific cliaracteristic.

Britain has many, and all northern Europe
IS studded with different breeds and types Asia
possesses many distinct sorts and even South
Africa has its peculiar variety. In Canada and
the United States the various pony strains,
such as the Chmcoteague and Sable Island, can

homo?ntf' '*^ f '^'l'^^' ^^""''Sii distinguishing
homologous character is becoming more
marked. These American strains arf Zely
degenerate horse reduced in size and altered
m conformation to suit their environment

TT f i lu°f "^ ?^ "*" ^^® breeds of ponies in the
United States is the Shetland. This breed is
indigenous to the Shetland Isles, lying oi¥ the
extreme north coast of Scotland and distant not
much over 350 miles from the Arctic circle
How long these ponies have existed on those
islands history does not record, nor yet tradi-
tion, but we have authoritative statement that

nTzon ""R^'^'r *^'^" P^'^^^t ''^'' °r smaller,

Dosed bV S^^f '**-"f "^ •'<'°«*''^t hardships im-'
posed by nature in her most unrelenting mood

about'hal ,f °^'^' "T " ^^^ first wriS
about has been famous for its utility, strength
and endurance. Its original use was for riding
statur?r.^ T'^ ^^ '''^ P^^«' -'>^re its small
thread H.fl P^^^^''?^' "^^^"^^"^ ^^^bled it to
of cTal fo'thHhfa "" '''' '^^-^ ''^'' -'^'^*
Extremely docile in temperament, the Shet-
land was early transplanted to the richer en-

232 THE HORSE BOOK.

vironment of the mainland of Scotland and
England. In addition to its more menial duties
a use was soon found for the Shetland as the
pet and plaything of children, and in later years
this has become almost wholly the sphere of its
activities. Importation of Shetlands to this
country began in the middle of the last cen-
tury and on the kindly soil of many states it
has taken root and flourished amazingly. Natu-
rally on the rich lands of the cornbelt there has
been some trouble experienced to keep it from
growing too large, but the breeders by selection
and the wise regulations of the stud book have
kept the size down most acceptably. Shetland
ponies over 11.2 hands or 46 inches high can
not be registered as pure-bred.

Hap-hazard matings in this country have not
done the breed any good. In an effort also to
keep the size down some breeders have made
use of ultra-diminutive stallions irrespective of
their individuality, with the result that too
often we find them ^^sheepy'' in conformation
and lacking in style, finish and action. On the
other hand some breeders have demonstrated
conclusively that even on the richest soil Shet-
lands m'ay be bred quite small enough and at
the same time little aristocrats from nose to
heels. Thick, rotund bodies, neat heads, well-
risen crests and short legs neither bucked in the
knees nor set in the hocks are points after which
the best breeders strive. The more action both
of knee and hock the better, but it is hard to get.
At that the market for Shetlands has of late

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SHETLAND AND WELSH PONIES. 233

absorbed all offerings good, bad and indiffer-
ent. The seal of approval has been set on the
Sheltie by the American people, his extreme
docility, picturesque appearance and trust-
worthiness giving him the best sort of a recom-
mendation as a child ^s mount.

All colors known in horseflesh are 'to be found
among the Shetlands, gray and roan being by
far the most scarce. Piebald and skewbald in
all the various combinations of bay, brown,
black, chestnut and white are common and so
are duns, mouse-colors, bays, chestnuts, browns
and blacks. The ponies of the Faroe Islands
and Iceland run tqucIi to parti-colors and it is
unquestionable that some of those strains have
been mixed with the Shetlands both in Scotland
and in this country, but not of later years.
These two types differ markedly from the Shet-
land in conformation, that of the latter being
infinitely preferable. The pony in the frontis-
piece is the champion of the breed in Scotland ;
the American champion is. the second from the
end in the group of four. It will be observed
that there is some slight difference in the type
favored here and in Caledonia.

The Welsh pony, the only other pony breed
for which a stud book exists in this country, is
of great antiquity — a little larger than the
Shetland, a little better set up about the head
and neck and generally a better actor. Many
of the Welsh ponies have a considerable degree
of speed, which is perhaps to be accounted for
in the fact that in a very early day small Nor-
folk Trotters were crossed into the breed on the

234 THE HOESE BOOK.

hills of Wales. Not all Welsh ponies, however,
show the effects of this cross. The prevailing
colors are bay and brown. Efforts have been
made of late to form a breed of Welsh cobs by
mating the pony mare with the Hackney and
some excellent results have followed the work
of the breeders in both England and Wales.
The Welsh mountains form about as bleak and
barren a territory as any in which ponies are
bred, but the breeders are going forward with
concerted -aim and still further improvement in
this type is confidently to be expected..

EANGE HORSES.

As there were no horses on the American con-
tinent at the time of its discovery it follows
that all the so-called wild horses of the plains
must originally have sprung from Spanish
stock. The spread of the American wild horse,
so-called, must have been from the Rio Grande
northward, and shape, color and size were as-
sumed according to locality. The cayuse or
Indian pony may fairly be accepted as the abo-
riginal type of the horse of the American plains.
We all know him. A perfect prodigy of en-
durance in himself he has yielded readily to at-
tempts at improvement wherever they have
been made and he is now not nearly so numer-
ous as he was twenty-five or thirty years ago,
but we will always have him with us.

Gradually as settlers crossed the continent
the range horse grew intO' existence. Individ-
uality and speed superior to that possessed by
the cayuse were required when the herds of

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KAXGE HOESES. 235

range cattle began to take on extended propor-
tions, and each cattle baron strove to breed a
line of cow ponies that would serve him well
under any and all circumstances. The necessity
of the situation developed a strain of hardy,
fleet ponies, cajDable of sustaining great effort
and hardshi}) on scanty rations — the cow pony,
of no particular breeding as a mass, yet pos-
sessing stamina second to none. Eunning at
will on the open range, the production of these
f)onies was governed by the inexorable law of
natural selection in so far as their environment
was concerned. All sort of stallions were
turned loose on the range, picked up their bands
of mares and got them with foal. The progeny
fended for itself, survived or dropped out as
the case might be, leaving only the best to
reach maturity. In time the holdings of the
range breeders became very great and prices
of both the broken and the unbroken were very
low comjDared to what native-bred horses
brought farther east. The supply was limitless,
the use practically limited to cowiDunching.

Desultory imi^rovement, attempted with pure-
bred stallions of the meanest sort, proved that
it was no great trick to engraft the individual-
ity of almost any jDure-bred sire on the ranger.
But the price to be obtained for the unbroken
progeny was so low that most of the rangemen
bought only stallions for which they had to pay
trivial prices. It would not pay, they said, to
put much money into stallions to turn out on

236 THE HOKSE BOOK.

the range. A few breeders followed a saner
policy and these have succeeded in making much
money. Then just about the time some impres-
sion was being made on the ranger by the use
of pure-bred stallions, the depression of the
early nineties hit the business so hard that it
was impossible to get any sort of a remunera-
tive price for a range-bred horse. Commission
men at wholesale centers refused to accept con-
signments as the horses would not realize
freight and commission charges. Then an en-
terprising genius established a cannery in Ore-
gon and thousands of horses were slaughtered
and made up into salt meat for export. From
$1 to $2.50 was paid per head and the owners
thought themselves lucky to get so much.

Not being worth anything, range horses re-
ceived no attention at all until Great Britain
went to work to crush the Boer rebellion in
South Africa. Her Britannic Majesty's agents
scoured the range country from the Rio Grande
to the Yellowstone, paying what seemed enor-
mous prices for everything able to carry a sol-
dier. Times were looking up in the range horse
business. Owners rounded up their bands and
sold them off as closely as they could. It was
a good riddance of bad rubbish. Times im-
proved. Horses became scarce in the East and
prices began to climb skyward. Then it was,
some four or five years back, that the few
breeders who had kept at the work of improve-
ment came into their own. Offerings of draft-
bred range horses were eagerly snapped up by

RANGE HORSES. 237

the carload. The attention of the breeders was
turned to the possibilities of the business.
Bands were collected and culled. A better class
of draft and other stallions was purchased and
more sensible methods of breeding adopted.

Wherever any persistent effort at improve-
ment by the draft route had been made a rich
harvest of profit was reaped. Breeders who
had piled two, three or four crosses of pure
draft blood on either a native or a range foun-
dation received prices not previously dreamed
'of. It was found that pure-breds could be pro-
duced on the range and perpetuate their charac-
teristics with great prepotency. Free grazing
was constricted. It became a choice of fewer
and better or get out of the business. The net
result today is that all draft-bred range horses
are bringing unprecedented prices, as high as
$161 having been paid per head for four-year-
old geldings and mares by the carload of twenty
head, unbroken, but weighing in grass flesh
from 1,350 to 1,500 pounds. Unfortunately
many of 'the breeders, despite the success which
they have achieved, are for the most part still
pursuing the short-sighted policy of using in-
ferior stallions. A disinclination to pay the
price for a high-class breeding horse seems in-
grained in the business, though evidence that
the best pay the highest dividends is by no
means wanting.

In short the range horse breeding business is
on a most prosperous footing at the present
time. The extraordinary development of the

238 THE HOKSE BOOK.

western country — railroad, irrigation, lumber-
ing and urban construction work — has absorbed
every available horse of size on the northwest-
ern range, prices increasing according to the
weight offered. This has induced breeders to
take better care of their mares and young
things and still greater betterment in this di-
rection must inevitably follow increase in
values. High-class carriage and driving horses,
too, are being produced on the range and the
cow pony flourishes and brings prices double
and treble those he brought in the good old days
when the cattle barons trailed their beef herds
hundreds of miles to a loading point. It does
not seem that the combelt can soon produce a
supply of drafters sufficient to its own and the
needs of the East. It will be a long time before
the Pacific Coast states can breed a sufficiency.
The outlook is surely rosy enough to warrant
the range breeders in making use of much bet-
ter stallions than they have hitherto purchased.

THREE FAMOUS STALLIONS.

In a reminiscent article written for The
Bkeedek's Gazette I cited as the three greatest
celebrities of the Clydesdale, Shire and Per-
cheron breeds the stallions McQueen, Holland
Major and Gilbert. This was from a show
yard point of view exclusively, but in point of
general usefulness to the Percheron breed Bril-
liant must be substituted for Gilbert. Holland
Major and the famous black stallion that made
so much of Oaklawn's early reputation have

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THREE FAMOUS STALLIONS. 239

long ago joined the silent majority, but Mc-
Queen is still hale and hearty.

It is unfortunate that good photographs of
Holland Major and Brilliant are not extant.
In those rather distant days the art of animal
portraiture by the camera was not developed as
it is now, but the picture of Brilliant is of his-
toric interest, as it is by Rosa Bonheur. The
photograph of McQueen was taken when he was
in his twenty-third year.

Holland Major was the standard for the aged
Shires in the American show ring for many
years. All the other importers bore him in
mind when scouring England for a horse that
could win. He was a Shire of much quality and
well nigh perfect in conformation with the ex-
ception of his rather effeminate neck and head.
George E. Blrown who owned him never gave
him a chance in the stud until death mercifully ,
removed the brown stallion Elcho, to which Mr.
Brown pinned his faith for many years. When
he did get his chance in the stud Holland Major
made good. His progeny was not, however,
numerous and his services to the breed must be
chronicled as having consisted more in his ex-
traordinary show yard career than in his great-
ness as a sire. He was foaled in 1882 and won
the championship at the Columbian in 1893 —
his crowning triumph on the tan-bark.
Brilliant belonged to a somewhat earlier era.

240 THE HOESE BOOK.

having been foaled in 1876. He was imported
in 1881, and it may truthfully be said of him
that he founded a family in the Percheron
breed the like of which the history of no other
draft strain records. His sons and his grand-
sons topped their classes with striking uni-
formity and his blood has been doubled and
twisted upon itself in the most extraordinary
mixture of in-breeding and line-breeding that
has no parallel in draft horse breeding. He
was never a great horse individually— even
Eiosa Bonheur's picture does not show him to
have been that— but he bred extraordinarily
well. Not only did his sons become celebrated
in the stud, but his mares did likewise, and I am
sure there are many horsemen who will agree
with me when I say that his daughters were
superior as a band to those of any other Per-
cheron stallion they have ever known.

McQueen was foaled May 15, 1885, was im-
ported in 1887 to Canada and to this country
the same year. His career in the show ring
extended from that fall to the Columbian, and
he never met defeat in his class and only once
in a championship. Premier in the Blairgowrie
stud, his get were synonyms for youthful
Clydesdale excellence and they kept coming
from foalho'od to maturity. Blairgowrie had
only a few mares at the most and McQueen be-
got comparatively few foals in the United
States. His percentage of prize winners is, not-

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THREE FAMOUS STALLIONS. 241

withstanding, higher than that of any horse I
know. In 1899 McQueen was returned to Can-
ada and his career in the Cairnbrogie stud
there since tlien is worthy of notice as showing
how much money may be made out of a really
successful getter even at a moderate fee. In the
season of 1899 he covered 182 mares and got
94 colts at a fee of $15 to insure. The next
season his fee was raised to $20 and has re-
mained in that notch ever since. Since 1900 he
has never covered less than 200 mares and his
smallest quota of foals was 123. Here are the
figures: 1900, mares covered 214, foals 127;
1901, mares 223, foals 147; 1902, mares 204,
foals 133; 1903, mares 209, foals 141; 1904,
mares, 261, foals 172; 1905, mares 217, foals
123; 1906, mares 208, foals 142— a grand total
of eight seasons, 1,717 mares covered and 1,078
foals. As he stood at $15 to insure in 1899 he
earned $1,410 that season, and in the seven
following years he begot 984 foals at $20 each,
amounting to $19,680— a grand total of $21,090
for his eight seasons' work. Verily he merits
the title I bestowed upon him— ^' The Matchless
McQueen.''

These figures are of much value as showing
that an old horse may be capable of doing ex-
tensive and excellent work in the stud and that
a really good getter is a gold mine.

16

PART III.

HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE.

In the first part of this book I have endeav-
ored to point out that certain things must be
done with horses in order to keep them in
health. In this chapter I have no intention of
specifically invading the domain of the veteri-
narian. It would be easy enough to explain
didactically the methods of treatment which
should be employed in stated diseases if one
could but be sure that every case would devel-
op alike, and the advice would be valuable if
every reader was an accurate diagnostician. It
is hopeless, however, to anticipate such an ideal
condition and hence I make no effort to pre-
scribe generally remedies and methods of treat-
ment. My experience shows me that the best
thing to do when a horse gets sick is to send
for some well qualified practitioner and let him
say what is to be done. There are a few rem-
edies of standard merit which may be used
without any danger and to much advantage—
remedies which I have proved to be satisfac-
tory—and the formulaB for them are detailed in
their proper places.

A horse is a robust animal, easy to keep in
health by the exercise of ordinary common

242

HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 243

sense. Epizootic and infections diseases will
invade stables despite all efforts to keep them
iont and most colts have a siege of strangles,
which is the correct name for the malady gen-
erally known as distemper. It is indubitably
owing to the outdoor life he leads that the horse
is practically immune from tuberculosis. He is
forced in working to be outside and to breathe
deep the free air of heaven. The exercise he
is made to take in the harness also keeps his
digestive apparatus working nicely, so long as
he is not over or underfed, so long as his food
is wholesome and is not suddenly changed.
Highly organized, the horse resists the ravages
of disease in a remarkable manner, and the
characteristic action of drugs is readily ob-
tained upon him. At that he is a complicated
subject. It takes a long time to learn about his
structure and it is admitted that accurate diag-
nosis in diseases of the horse is harder to make
than it is in the human subject.

As an all too frequent rule too- much med-
icine is given to horses. Some veterinarians
seem to have nothing short of a mania for or-
dering large doses of various combinations of
drugs given often. Nature should be given a
chance. The drug of itself is worth nothing
except that it gives the system a chance to work
out its own salvation. Farmer-breeders also
have a craze, it seems, for feeding condition
powders, stock-foods and other compounds to

244 THE HOKSE BOOK.

their horses indiscriminately, irrespective of
whether the animals are doing well or the re-
verse. If a horse is out of condition or sick
the remedies administered should be those
which have been proved to be curative under
similar circumstances. This ^^ doping'' a horse
with a lot of different drugs, whether in the
form of a stock-food, condition powder or any-
thing else, is all wrong. A shotgun prescrip-
tion never yet effected a cure. I am not much
of a believer in proprietary ^^dope" anyway.
A few of these proprietary remedies are of
standard and meritorious eJBficacy, but many of
them are worthless. I suggest that those who
desire to discover much about the composition
of patent remedies, designed for the human as
well as the equine subject, purchase the book,
^^ Secret Nostrums and Systems," by the late
Dr. Charles Oleson. Dr. Oleson was a friend of
mine and to my certain knowledge devoted a
great deal of time and care to collecting the
data presented in his most interesting work.

Among farm animals the horse is the only
one which is immune from tuberculosis, and
the manner of his life is conceded to be that
which grants him his immunity. He is out al-
most always by day and often at night. Pigs
and cattle are too often closely confined in-
doors. Sheep, which suffer little from tuber-
culosis, are also animals which live outdoors.
The lesson of this is that all stables in which

HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 245

farm animals— not merely horses alone— are
housed should be amply ventilated, with ade-
quate provision for the egress of the foul air
and the ingress of the fresh air from outdoors.
I can well remember in my early days in the
West when stables were shells and the blizzards
fierce. The horses which lived and grew old
in those miserable sheds throve and worked
and were healthier than their pampered rel-
atives of today, which are kept in barns which
are palaces in comparison to those old prairie
shacks. Horses will stand a great degree of
cold without injury.

Provide free ventilation, shutting off draughts
of course. Rather let the barn be cold and
freely ventilated, so that the supply of pure
air is constant, and use blankets on the horses,
than coop them up in close premises where the
air that has been breathed once must be
breathed over and over again. Systems of ven-
tilation for stock stables of all kinds have been
brought to the point of perfection. No farmer
has longer an excuse for keeping his animals in
foul quarters. On the whole I do not favor
underground or bank stables for horses. I
would rather have them up on the level. Bank
barns are usually dark and damp. S'anlight
and oft-changed air are the great destroyers
of filth germs. It has been stated before in a
previous chapter, but it will bear repetition:
stable litter, outside of the dirt of the city

246 THE HOESE BOOK.

street, is the most prolific of noxious germ life
of all known substances. In damp, dark, dirty
stables germ life multiplies at a rate altogether
incomprehensible to the average human mind.
Let in the air and sunlight. Those are the best
disinfectants. It should hardly be necessary
to enjoin on all horse keepers the absolute neces-
sity of cleansing the stalls freely at frequent
intervals and of keeping a supply of absorbent
bedding to take up the liquids voided by farm
animals. Horse manure in summer is the fa-
vorite breeding place for flies. At all seasons
of the year, when not in the light it fairly teams
with noxious microbic life.

Cleanliness in every department of the stable
should be insisted on. Mangers should be kept
clean at all times. Notwithstanding this, it is
the exception rather than the rule to find them
so. Corn on the ear is a very general food for
farm horses. The kernels are bitten off the
cobs and the latter are left in the feedbox,
covered with saliva and therefore most fertile
media for the propagation of germs of all sorts.
Nevertheless, it is no uncommon sight to see
farm help shove the cobs out of the box into
the manger, where they lie and sour and take
up room until they get to be troublesome when
they are thrown down into the stall and finally
find their way into the manure pile. Slovenly
methods of this variety should have no place in
the management of an up-to-date stable on the

HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 247

farm or anywhere else. Take the cobs out at
each feed and burn them. They make good in
the cook-stove or heater. Similarly stems and
trash should always be cleaned out of the hay
rack. A horse noses over his roughage quite
a good bit. What he leaves should be taken
away from his head at least. Mashes fed in the
feedbox leave a lot of dampness behind them
and as a consequence the box gets sour, which
is equivalent to saying that germs are prop-
agating apace. Iron mangers are the best, but
expensive. If the feedboxes are of wood, feed
mashes in galvanized iron buckets. Keep the
feedboxes dry and let the sunlight get to them
if possible, any way much light.

Pine makes most unsatisfactory stable fit-
tings. Beech wood, owing to its close and
cranky grain, is by far the best when it is avail-
able. Horses love to gnaw pine, and once they
get into the habit, no matter what is originally
the cause, they are hard to stop. Usually, how-
ever, horses get to chewing mangers and board
fences because they are not salted or fed
enough. This is not always true, but it most
generally is. Often, too, horses undergoing the
troubles of dentition will seek surcease from
troubling in gnawing wood. The beech wood
fittings, stripped with strap iron, or better still
iron fittings, are the best remedy, though after
all most wooden stalls get chewed more or less
with the lapse of time and many changes of
tenants.

248 THE HOKSE BOOK.

I do not like concrete floors for horses to
stand on. Concrete is cold and absorbs heat
quickly. A floor of the kind makes what the
Scotch call ^^cold lying'' for any animal. The
best floor for standing stalls is made of con-
crete with a portable floor of narrow slats
nailed to cross-pieces of about an inch in thick-
ness. This sort of a floor, plentifully bedded,
permits the liquids voided to pass readily away.
The concrete floor should of course have some
slight slope on this account, but never much.
A horse likes to stand with his head uphill a
little bit. In boxstalls the best floor is hard
clay— clay that will make good bricks. Lay
a foundation of coarse gravel and then tamp
down four to six inches of clay. Nothing is
much more abominable in a stable than a floor
of rotten old planks half -worn through and the
decomposing urine oozing upward whenever
the horse steps around. No amount of good
bedding can counteract the hurtful effect of
such filth.

Recurring again to the necessity of having
stables well ventilated and well lighted, let the
windows be large and many. Never under any
circumstances place a little cubby aperture
directly in front of each horse's head. Thou-
sands of bams have been spoiled and thousands
of horses have been ruined by this senseless,
though fortunately now obsolete method of ven-
tilating and lighting a stable. Make the doors

HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 249

plenty large enough and have screens for both
doors and windows for use in sununer. Keep
the grain in a feed room and make incessant
war to the death on rats and mice. Likewise
keep chickens away from the horse stable.
Chicken lice appear to thrive and multiply
amazingly on horses and the annoyance they
cause and the flesh they destroy are in propor-
tion. Show me a farm where the fowls and the
horses young and old hob-nob continually and
I will show you a lousy lot of stock. This is
perhaps a homely and inconsequential point in
the estimation of some folks, but it pays well
to keep stock of all kinds free from parasites.
In a previous chapter the necessity of feed-
ing clean grain and roughage to horses has been
emphasized. To this end an oats cleaner should
be installed and every pound of the grain fed
should pass through that most useful contriv-
ance. Oats may look to even the practiced ob-
server to be nice and clean and free from the
contamination of seeds that are worthless for
feed, and trash of various sorts, but the same
practiced observer will often be astounded,
when a bushel of the grain has been run through
the cleaner, to see the great heap of hurtful mat-
ter that has been eliminated. The awns of the
oats, bits of straw, fragments of binding twine,
leaves of weeds and a multiplicity of weed seeds
will show up in far greater volume than was
anticipated. These by-products of the oat har-

250 THE HOKSE BOOK.

vest may advantageously be burned. If they
are fed to the horse the trash will reduce the
feeding value of his ration and the seeds will
go through him whole, to be carted off with the
manure, scattered on the ground and in time
reproduce their kind. Good clean oats, as has
been stated before, contains about 18 pounds of
husk and 14 pounds of kernel to the measured
bushel, supposing that the same weighs 32
pounds. If there is a lot of other innutritions
matter in the feed, the proportion of nutriment
to the whole amount fed is reduced in just that
proportion.

Every season there is more or less immature
or soft com on every farm— some years more,
some years less. There never was a year yet
when the frost did not get somebody's corn
patch. This immature corn is of course left
on the stalks as long as possible and then
the freeze-up comes and the ears look hard
enough. Husking is done and the corn goes
into the crib. By and by the heating process
takes place and the corn becomes moldy. Per-
haps continued cold may keep the ears looking
well enough, but the mold is there just the same
and its germs spring into life as soon as the
damaged grain reaches the equine stomach. If
there is one thing that is worse than another
for horses in the way of feed it is moldy grain.
It should never be fed to them. If it is Hob-
son's choice— soft com or go without— then

HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 251

my advice is to spend money for good horse-
feed. It will pay. True, thousands of horses
have eaten moldy, half-rotten com and got
away with it all right, but enough have been
killed by such alimentation to have bought good
feed for them and all the rest and left a hand-
some balance on the credit side of the general
ledger. Oats that have heated in the stack and
have sweated out quite dry and free from dust
—which is a rare combination, by the way-
may be fed with little fear of evil results. When
they are dusty they are to be avoided, though
oats that have not been properly matured or
cured are not nearly as hurtful as moldy soft
corn. It is not always possible for the farmer
to feed just exactly what is best, but the point
to be emphasized is that whenever such a thing
is possible only the cleanest and best grain
should be fed to horses.

Immense bams in which great quantities of
grain and hay are stored and many animals
housed are not the most advantageous. The
risk of total destruction by fire is too great.
On well regulated breeding farms, where the
stallions are worth many thousands of dollars,
you never find them stabled in a large struc-
ture. It costs more, of course, but a small
stable for the work horses is infinitely prefer-
able to any part of a huge structure that looks
fine from the road and is liable with its con-
tents to go up in smoke any time some old

252 THE HOKSE BOOK.

tramp comes along. It never was good policy
to put the whole batch of eggs in one basket.
Horses are proverbially chuckle-headed in a
fire. I have in mind a splendid big bam that
was the pride of a great farm and was con-
structed in accordance with the plans of a
noted builder. An immense amount of hay and
grain was stored in its capacious loft and in
the boxstalls on the ground-level many mares
and foals were quartered. It went afire— how
no one ever knew— and life was risked to get
out the animals. The men who liberated the
first four mares and foals neglected to close
the doors after them. Three mares and four
foals dashed back into the blazing structure
and were cremated.

On the ruins of this palatial barn arose one
still grander in its proportions and equip-
ment. The insurance companies, which made
good many thousands of dollars for the build-
ing burned, were consulted absolutely as to the
plans. A handsomer structure than the new
bam there was not in one of the most populous
and best farmed counties in a great state, yet
it burned to the ground in a short time after
it was put into commission. Had the same
amount of money been utilized to construct
several smaller stables the loss could have been
confined to one of them. Besides it is easier
to provide for the thorough lighting and ven-
tilation of small stables than it is for large

HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 253

ones. In every instance, wherever it is possi-
ble, light a stable at night by electricity. With
the spread of the inter-nrban railway it is in
many places possible now to obtain the service
of the electric current at small cost.

A manure heap at the door of a stable is an
abomination. Experiments have proved that it
is most profitable from a fertilizing point of
view to haul manure to the field and spread it
as soon after it is made as it can be accom-
plished, but whether that is done or not, get
the litter far away from the stable. With a
great festering manurial sore right at the very
door of their dwelling horses cannot be expect-
ed to be and remain as healthy as they would
be with the stenches and flies and microbic life
such dumps breed removed far from them.
Keep the footing in front of the stable well
graveled, dry and free from accumulations of
every sort.

In a previous chapter the rearing and feed-
ing of young horses and the care of brood
mares have been gone into at length. Such stock
needs dry quarters and to be kept out of the
mud. Therefore it is the poorest sort of pol-
icy to let horses plow through muddy fields of
cornstalks. Keep them in the dry. If it be
necessary to use cornstalks as roughage, either
feed the stalks whole on dry footing and spread
over a large area or have them shredded and
feed in racks. Horses can stand almost any

254 THE HORSE BOOK.

degree of cold, but they do not thrive in the
rain. Give them good shelter always. Close
confinement is bad for any horse, more espe-
cially in his younger days. If he is kept up
closely his feet will grow awry somehow, un-
due strain will be put on some part or other
and unsoundness will develop as the inevitable
result.

Tracing the life history of the horse from
foalhood to maturity we find that the first thing
he is likely to encounter is joint disease (om-
phalo phlebitis) due to germ infection at the
navel. Usual symptoms of this dread malady
are droopiness, listlessness and swelling of the
joints. Protrusion of the intestines in the re-
gion of the navel (umbilical hernia) is also com-
mon, the apparent swelling being soft and capa-
ble of reduction by gentle manipulation with
the fingers, forcing the intestines back into
their proper place. In both of these cases the
services of a veterinarian should be requisi-
tioned as quickly as possible. Joint disease
is greatly to be feared and for that reason a
condition of the utmost cleanliness should be
provided when a mare foals.

As a yearling strangles is about the next thing
a colt will encounter. Like children and mea-
sles, few colts get away without a spell of this
trouble. This is a disease which is contagious
and which runs a well defined course, as a gen-
eral thing, and usually a benign one. It is a

HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 255

peculiar disease. Sometimes it will break out,
seemingly sporadically, on one farm, attack the
young horses on it and die out without farther
invasion of neighboring properties. At other
times it will take a whole countryside at a
sweep. When a colt is coming down with
strangles, he coughs huskily, his throat is sore,
and he has some difficulty in swallowing. He
sticks his head out and sometimes there is con-
siderable fever and sometimes very little. Some-
times the afflicted animal will keep on eating
and sometimes he will refuse all food. Later
there comes a swelling between the jaws which
in time will burst and relief will then follow.
Irregular strangles exists when abscesses form
in parts of the body other than between the
jaws. In such cases there is much danger of
blood poisoning. In all instances summon the
practitioner and let him treat each case as its
needs indicate. As a rule good nursing, keeping
the patient comfortable, the administration of
stimulants and coaxing the appetite to the limit
will do more than medication, though it takes
the veterinarian usually to say when medicine
should or should not be given. Purgatives
should never be administered to colts suffering
from strangles.

Worms are often troublesome to both colts
and horses. Many veterinarians use turpentine
in two-ounce doses administered in half a pint
of linseed oil, the horse having been fasted for

256 THE HORSE BOOK.

ten or twelve liours or more. Other practition-
ers insist that there is little virtue in this rem-
edy. Colts running loose may be given free
access to a ''lick'' consisting of equal parts of
common salt, ground gentian, sulphur and dried
sulphate of iron. Wild horses which can not be
dosed may be given a tablespoonful of this mix-
ture in the feed daily for ten days, then drop it
off for a similar period and repeat. This rem-
edy should not be administered to pregnant
mares.

At almost any stage of his existence a horse
is liable to colic. A sudden change of food,
damaged grain, watering immediately after eat-
ing and a half-dozen other causes may be as-
signed for colic, which is of two kinds— flatu-
lent and spasmodic. There is not a whole lot of
difference between the two, but in flatulent colic
the horse will bloat considerably, owing to the
presence of gas inside him and he will be con-
tinually in pain. In spasmodic colic the pain is
recurrent. In both the horse will look round
at his flanks, paw, lie down, get up again and
repeat. In his siDclls of ease the horse with
spasmodic colic will often appear quite com-
fortable. Both are the result of indigestion
and complications are frequent. It is said that
more horses die with colic than with any other
disease in the entire list of those to which they
are subject. Hence it is wise always to get the
veterinarian whenever possible and as promptly

HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 257

as may be. Primary^ symptoms of impaction
and inflammation of the bowels are much the
same as those of colic. However, if the services
of a practitioner are not immediately available
the following remedy may be administered in
any case of colic pending his arrival :

Turpentine one ounce, canabis indica one-half
ounce, alcohol four ounces, water one pint.
Shake well and give as one dose. A bottle con
taining this mixture may with profit be kept in
every stable from which the residence of a vet-
erinarian is far removed.

Founder (laminitis) has many causes, but a
primary essential is a deranged condition of
the digestive organs. The blood stagnates in
the very tender structures of the front feet and
sets up acute inflammation. As the structures
affected are confined within the horny box of the
hoof, intense pain is caused. There is not much
use for any laiyman to bother with a newly
foundered horse. Invoke professional advice,
but first get the horse down off his feet and into
some sort of a comfortable recumbent position.
Time and again I have seen men who should
have known better force foundered horses to
stand up, when every ounce of pressure on the
feet meant untold agony and comparative com-
fort ensued when the animals were forced to lie
down. Usually under prompt and skillful treat-
ment the horse may be relieved in a compara-
tively short time, but in cases that are neglected

17

258 THE HORSE BOOK.

or not treated properly chronic laminitis en-
sues. In such cases the soles of the feet come
down and the horse walks on his heels, being
practically worthless. Even this condition is
not incurable for I have known a horse whose
soles were very badly do'wn recover under he-
roic treatment and later go as sound as ever he
did. It is doubtful if it would pay to go to so
much trouble and expense with the general run
of horses suffering from chronic founder. I
mention this case to show that within my per-
sonal experience chronic founder has been cured
and the lowered soles of the feet elevated to
their normal position.

Azoturia has become more common of late
years than it was in the days when horses were
not as highly fed as they are now. Cause of
this malady is continued high feeding of grain
during suddenly enforced idleness. A horse,
commonly worldng hard, may be kept in the
stable for a couple of days and be given his
usual ration of grain without any exercise. On
being hooked up again he will start off blythely,
but after a short part of the road has been cov-
ered he will come to a standstill, break out in a
profuse sweat and stagger to a fall. The cause
of the disease is simply that in idleness the
eliminatory channels have not been able to re-
move the waste matter from the system. It
takes exercise to develop the malady and an in-
fallible syraptom is the dark, almost black, color

HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 259

of the urine. When a horse goes down with this
trouble, keep him as quiet as possible. Do not
move him. Get the veterinarian and the first
thing he will do, if he knows his business, is to
empty the bladder. Thereafter the treatment
must be governed by the indications of the case
and is too intricate to be attempted save under
the guidance of the practitioner. To avoid at-
tacks of the kind see to it either that horses
are regularly exercised or that when they must
be idle their rations of grain are very greatly
reduced.

Overheating is commoner in cities than in the
country. Attacks of this kind are brought on
by working horses too hard on very hot and
humid days, but there never was a case of the
kind known where the horse was not suffering
from some form of indigestion. It is extraor-
dinary what degrees of fever may be discov-
ered in badly overheated horses. I saw a case
last summer where the temperature ran up to
110"^ and of course dissolution supervened
speedily. Usual symptoms are that the horse
will dry up if sweating, lag behind his mate if
in a team, stagger and go down with a crash,
the common verdict being ' ^sunstroke. ' ' It is
not sunstroke, but exhaustion. The best thing
to be done is to turn the hose on the horse and
play the water all over his body. This cools
off the tissues, the force of the water materially
aiding this process. In default of the hose get

260 THE HOKSE BOOK.

cold water to him somehow in great volume.
When he arrives the veterinarian will adminis-
ter stimulants.

Influenza is a malady peculiar to the horse
and is caused by a specific germ. Its symptoms
are largely the same as in strangles and com-
plications quite likely. In this disease the mu-
cous membranes of the eyelids are quite fre-
quently enlarged and inflamed, giving rise to
the name of pinkeye, by which it is frequently
designated. G^et the veterinarian. Pneumonia
is now attributed to a specific germ and is known
to run a regular course, favorable termination
being dependent largely on the degree of re-
sistance developed by the patient. Usual symp-
toms are that the horse is dull, will not lie down,
will not eat and the membranes of the eyelids
and nostrils are highly colored. The tempera-
ture rises and if the ear is held to the ribs a
rough grating sound is heard in the lungs. The
horse stands with his head poked out in front
of him and inclined downward. If he holds his
head up he has not got pneumonia. When these
symptoms are observed, blanket the horse
warmly, bandage his legs and summon profes-
sional assistance.

Heaves are caused by feeding too much in-
nutritious, bulky, moldy or otherwise damaged
food, watering habitually immediately after
eating and putting to work too soon after meals.
While heaves affect the breathing of a horse,

HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 261

the tissue of the lung undergoes no material
change. The active cause seems to be a de-
ranged condition of the pneumo-gastric nerve.
Once fairly established heaves are incurable,
though the condition of the animal may be ma-
terially improved by feeding oats straw in place
of hay, and only a little of it, and good bright
oats, wetting all food, watering before meals,
never afterwards, and permitting a rest of at
least an hour after the food is eaten. A little
flaxseed jelly fed with the oats is also beneficial
and Fowler ^s solution of arsenic does more
good than any other drug that may be admin-
istered. The use of this remedy should, how-
ever, be deferred as long as possible, as its ef-
fect is cumulative and it can not be given con-
tinuously. An ounce a day is the maximum dose
which may be given and it should be tapered off
gradually when it is desired to stop. At that,
the condition of the horse will not be improved
when the effects of the drug have worn off.
There are many so-called heave cures. Some
will give temporary relief. A permanent cure
is an impossibility.

Whistling or roaring is caused by increase in
size of the laryngeal cartilages and the conse-
quent diminution of the passage through which
the air may be expelled from the lungs. The
only possibility of a cure lies in the removal of
the distended cartilages by surgical operation—
laryngectomy— but that is a most unsatisfac-

2(y2 THE HORSE BOOK.

tory and uncertain operation at the best. In
cases of cough it is always wise to consult the
veterinarian. The affection may be local and
it may be a symptom of pneumonia or some
other malady.

A horse's teeth will frequently require atten-
tion. The grinding surfaces are prevented from
coming together by jagged projections and the
food is not properly masticated and ensali-
vated. The result is a staring coat and general
lack of thrift. In such cases the veterinarian
will file or ^ Afloat'' the teeth into normal con-
dition and the horse will make proper use of
his food.

Periodic ophthalmia or moon-blindness is
common enough among farm horses. It is first
observed when the eyelids are seen to droop,
tears run freely and the horse keeps the eye
closed as much as possible. The eyeball at first
has a dull, rather opaque appearance and grad-
ually becomes covered with a light-colored
scum. One eye or both may be affected, or the
trouble may move from one eye to the other.
If left to itself the eye in the first attacks will
clear up in ten days or two weeks, but the trou-
ble will inevitably return sooner or later. There
is no cure for moon-blindness. When it ap-
pears put the horse in a darkened stall, cover
the eyes with wet cloths and obtain expert ad-
vice. The first treatment will usually serve as
an example for all the rest, but in the end the

HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 263

horse will go blind in spite of all that may be
done for him.

Wounds of greater or less severity are of fre-
quent occurrence among farm horses. It makes
a good deal of difference where the wound is
and how it was made, but there should be no
great trouble in healing one up if common sense
is used. A wound of any magnitude should be
submitted to the attention of a veterinary sur-
geon. If it is a clean cut he will sew it up after
cleansing it thoroughly and it will often heal
without farther trouble or as they say by the
first intention. Jagged wounds, such as often
result from contact with barb-wire, need not be
sewn up, for the partially isolated fragments
will slough anyway. Deep or punctured wounds,
caused by snags and the like, are the hardest
to heal and almost invariably suppurate and
discharge pus, healing from the bottom. The
surgeon will probe such wounds for foreign
bodies, syringe out the cavity with an anti-
septic lotion and be governed by future devel-
opments as to his further treatment.

In different localities and at different seasons
of the year wounds take on curious aspects.
Invasion of germs, development of proud flesh
and fungous growths cause so many vagaries
in their history that it is impossible to lay down
specific directions that will fit all cases. How-
ever, one thing is certain. The worst that can
be done to a wound of any sort is to be eternally

264 THE HOKSE BOOK.

fussing at it with soap and water. That com-
bination should always be kept away from a
wound after the first cleansing has been ac-
complished, and the laceration dressed. If the
cut or tear is small the daily application of a
little carbolic lotion (teaspoonful carbolic acid,
water one quart), or some good coaltar dip as
directed on the container, will be all that is
needed. In more severe cases the surgeon on
the spot, or fully advised of the conditions,
alone is competent to prescribe intelligently.

Fistula of the withers is caused by a bruise
of the tissues of the part named, perhaps by
the saddle, or collar, sometimes in mares by the
bite of the stallion during coition, and indeed in
any way in which a bruise may be inflicted.
Sometimes fragments of the processes of the
backbone are broken oif. The result of such a
bruise is that pus forms deep in the tissues and
burrows along, forming pipes. Symptoms are
swelling and intense pain. A fistula is a very
nasty thing to deal with and no one who does
not thoroughly understand it should attempt
to affect a cure himself.

Spavins, ringbones, sidebones, curbs and
navicular disease are the commonest unsound-
nesses of the bony structure of the legs. Spavins
are bony growths on the inside of the hock and
low down upon it. This bony growth or exos-
tosis interferes with the working of the joint
and the play of the tendons over it. There are

HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 265

many cures advertised to remove the lame-
ness caused by a spavin and also tlie bony
growth, but nothing short of a chisel and a
mallet will perform that latter feat. Ring-
bones are likewise bony growths appearing on
the upper and lower pastern bones, more fre-
quently on the hind extremities than the front.
Firing and blistering comprise the treatment
most likely to succeed in removing the lameness
in both cases. Sidebones are ossified lateral
cartilages in the fore feet. The lateral carti-
lages spring from the wings of the pedal bone
and in their normal condition are designed to
aid in taking up the concussion caused by the
contact of the foot with the ground. The side-
bone takes away this aid to resilience and lame-
ness supervenes after a time. There is not
much that can be done to cure lameness caused
by sidebones, but in certain stages of their de-
velopment the cartilages may be amputated and
the horse get along very comfortably for a
time.

Curbs are caused by the pulling apart of the
fibres of the sheath of the tendon on the hind
leg right on the back of the hock not far below
its point. Blistering and friction are the usual
methods employed to reduce the enlargement
and cure the lameness consequent on the rup-
ture of the fibres as described. Navicular dis-
ease is- caused by a roughening of the sesamoid
bone over which the large tendon plays at the

266 THE HOESE BOOK.

back of the coffin or pedal bone. Inflammation
having been set up within the foot, the surface
of the sesamoid bone puts forth small projec-
tions and the tendon playing over these, instead
of over a perfectly plain surface, creates in-
tense pain and general inflammation of the
structures within the hoof. There is no cure.
Relief may only be obtained by the operation
of neurectomy, which consists in the section of
the nerve which insures sensation in the part
of the foot affected.

Bog spavins have nothing to do with the bone
at all. They are situated on the inside of the
hock and take the form of soft puffs. They
are caused by the undue secretion of synovia
or joint-oil, which distends the bursa or sac
where it is stored and so the putf becomes vis-
ible. Many horses display very large bog spav-
ins and at moderate work never go lame, while
at hard work acute lameness frequently ensues.
There is little to be gained by blistering these
enlargements, but a skillful veterinary surgeon
may get rid of both them and the lameness by
a delicate operation with the firing iron.
Thoroughpins partake largely of the same na-
ture as bog spavins. They are distensions ap-
pearing at the back of the hock, well up toward
the top of that joint. The fluid may be pressed
from one side of the joint to the other. They
seldom give much trouble and are best let alone.
Splints are bony growths found just below the

HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 267

knee on the inside of the foreleg. They usually
appear in young horses, seldom cause lameness
when the horse is not overworked and are ab-
sorbed before the horse reaches maturity. It
seldom pays to bother with them, though at
times they cause lameness.

Sweeney is caused by the pressure of the
collar in young horses mostly and results in
atrophy or wasting away of the muscles of the
shoulder. It is a tedious process to restore the
muscular tissues to their normal condition,
blistering, the insertion of setons and the injec-
tion of turpentine beneath the skin being
variously advocated in the treatment of this
trouble. Collar galls are caused by the bruising
of the tissues by the collar and if not properly
attended to result in the formation of fibroid
tumors which must be dissected out before the
shoulder may be healed over smoothly. Ill-
fitting collars frequently cause sitfasts to form
on top of the neck. These are pieces of dead
skin closely adhering to the tissues beneath and
must also be dissected out. It pays to have the
collars fit properly.

Warts are of frequent occurrence about the
muzzle of the horse and sometimes they appear
on other parts of his body. If the warts are
broad and flat saturating them with glacial
acetic acid drop by drop daily for a short time
will cause them to disappear and the application
of castor oil has the same result in many cases.

268 THE HOKSE BOOK.

If the warts spring from a small neck they may
be snipped off with sharp scissors and the spot
from which they were cut seared to stop the
bleeding. Or a silk thread may be tied tightly
around the neck of the wart and in time it will
slough off.

Lice and diseases of the skin are best com-
bated by the application of some good coaltar
dip diluted according to the instructions of the
makers. Care should of course be taken to wash
for lice or dip for parasitic skin disease during
pleasant weather.

Sores on the legs of horses are an almost
sure sign that systemic treatment is required.
Scratches and cracked heels are no exception
to this rule. In cases of scratches and cracked
heels water should never be applied. Keep the
parts dry at any cost. Apply a little bland
ointment, wipe it off night and morning and
thoroughly hand-rub the parts. The friction
seems to be a necessary part of successful
treatment. In the meantime the horse's diges-
tive apparatus must be put in good working
order. Cases of grease heel are almost hope-
less and entail in the attempt to effect a cure a
long continued course of diet which includes no
grain, systemic treatment and surgical opera-
tion as well.

Finally we approach the subject of groom-
ing and clipping. To a fine-haired horse the
currycomb is an instrument of torture. Its

HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 269

sharp teeth cause him much pain and irritate
him greatly. The dirt may be got out of the
skin with the brush and the currycomb should
be used to cleanse the brush, not the hide. In
coarse-coated horses naturally the use of the
currycomb on the skin is more or less necessary,
but it should always be used lightly.

If horses in winter are forced to work so
hard that they must sweat freely and must
reach their stalls wet and uncomfortable, they
should be clipped and kept clipped all winter.
A horse with a long winter coat thoroughly sat-
urated with sweat will take from four to six
hours to dry out, the heat contained in his grain
ration being thus diverted from its proper uses.
On the other hand if he is clipped, rubbed off
lightly when he comes home and is then blank-
eted he will dry out in half an hour, remain
warm all night and his food will be utilized to
repair wasted tissue. If his work is such that
he does not sweat habitually, it does not make
much difference how long his coat is.

Abortion is the most deadly foe of the horse
breeder. Whenever a mare slips her colt iso-
late her at once and if the fetus can be found
burn it or bury it deep in quicklime. Summon
professional assistance promptly in order that
the mare may be treated intelligently until the
parts resume their normal condition. No
breeder can afford to take any chances with
abortion. The veterinarian will flush out the

270 THE HORSE BOOK.

vagina daily or give instructions how it should
be done with some antiseptic wash. Mares which
abort and are promptly treated should
not be bred again until the proper period
after the date at which they would have
foaled had they carried their young to
full time. Once she has aborted a mare
is very apt to repeat at about the same
stage of a subsequent pregnancy. Care should
therefore be taken to watch her closely about
that time and she should be kept as quiet and
free from excitement as possible. If she shows
signs of approaching premature birth get ex-
pert aid at once. Trouble may often be headed
off by administering fluid extract of black haw
in half -ounce doses every other day, beginning
perhaps three weeks before the time at which
she may abort and continuing as long after it.
It is best, though, to place the mare under the
care of a veterinarian. Still the black haw is a
standard remedy in such cases. Strong medi-
cines should never be given to in-foal mares.

Discharges from the vagina, such as leu-
corrhea (whites) should always be treated by
injecting into the vagina some antiseptic solu-
tion, such as a one-per-cent solution of perman-
ganate of potash. Solutions of coaltar dip are
also useful for this purpose, the strength being
gauged according to the instructions of the
makers, and often a simple alkaline solution—
of bicarbonate of soda for instance— will neu-

HYGIENE, UNSOUNDNESS, DISEASE. 271

tralize the acid secretions, clean up the organs
and facilitate conception. Mares showing any
discharge from the vagina should not be bred
until they have been thoroughly cleansed and
the discharge stopped.

I have made no effort in the foregoing chap-
ter to cover more than the commonest ills to
which horseflesh is heir. I have laid stress on
summoning professional aid promptly because I
have seen so much loss result from a disinclina-
tion to spend money on veterinarians' fees and
a desire to fuss and tinker with dangerous cases
until too late. Then aid would be summoned
when it was of no use. It is always best to
head off trouble as soon as possible.

272 THE HORSE BOOK.

APPENDIX.

STATE AND TERRITORIAL STALLION SERVICE LAWS

Most of the states now have laws granting liens on
mare and foal, or both, resulting from the services of
properly advertised stallions. These laws, as an examina-
tion of the following pages will disclose, differ very ma-
terially in the various commonwealths. Stallion owners
will find it very much to their advantage to comply abso-
lutely with the provisions of these laws as they relate to
the obligations imposed upon them, and in all cases to
seek protection under their terms. For a stallion owner to
file his list of mares, in order to perfect his liens, does
not imply distrust of his customers. Taking such action
is merely an evidence of sound business sense. When the
lien is perfected those who will not pay voluntarily may
be forced to pay and those whom the stallioner may desire
to favor are none the worse off. The wording of some of
the statutes is not clear; in such cases the advice of a
local lawyer should be sought.

ALABAMA.

"The owner of every stallion, jack, bull, ram, he-goat or
boar, who keeps it for a profit and charges a price for the
service thereof, shall have a lien, for the amount of the
stipulated price therof, on any mare, jenney, cow, ewe,
she-goat or sow," to which such sire shall have been bred
and also on the offspring born next after such service. The
statute provides that this lien shall be paramount over all
other liens^ but it has been held to be subordinate to a
prior recorded mortgage.

Upon filing bond and aflidavit the sire owner may have
an attachment,

1. When the claim is due and payment is refused.

2. Whether the claim is due or not, "when the defend-
ant has traded off, or otherwise disposed of, or there is
good reason to believe he is about to trade off or otherwise
dispose of, or remove from the county, any of the animals
on which the lien exists, without paying the stipulated
price for such service."

ARIZONA.

There is no regulation of the stallioner's business in Ari-
zona, and no lien is given to him.

THE HOKSE BOOK. 273

ARKANSAS.

"The owner of any male animal kept for the propagation
§f his species shall have a lien upon any female animal to
which such male is let, and the offspring of such breeding,
for the sum contracted therefor, which lien shall attach at
the time of service of such male, and shall not be lost by
reason of any sale, exchange, removal from the county, or
other disposition of such female animal, but upon such
sale, exchange, removal or disposition without the consent
of the person holding the lien, the same may be imme-
diately enforced."

CALIFORNIA.

"Every owner or person having in charge any stallion,
jack or bull, used for propagating purposes, has a lien for
the agreed price of its service upon any mare or cow and
upon the offspring of such service, unless some wilfully
false representation concerning the breeding or pedigree
of such stallion, jack or bull has been made or published
by the owner or person in charge thereof, or by some other
person, at the request or instigation of such owner or per-
son in charge.

"Every claimant of a lien provided for in the preceding
section must, within ninety days after the service on ac-
count of which the lien is claimed, file in the ofRce of the
county recorder of the county where the mare or cow sub-
ject thereto is kept, a verified claim containing a particu-
lar description of the mare or cow, the date and place of
service, the name of the owner or reputed owner of such
mare or cow, a description by name, or otherwise, of the
stallion, jack or bull performing the service, the name of
the owner or person in charge thereof, and the amount of
lien claimed. Such claim, so filed, is notice to subsequent
purchasers and encumbrances of such mare or cow and of
the offspring of such service for one year after such filing.

"Action to enforce this lien may be brought in any
county wherein any of the property subject thereto may
be found, and at the time of issuing summons in such
action the plaintiff may attach the animals on which his
lien exists, as provided in the code, by delivering to the
clerk an affidavit, showing that the defendant is indebted
to the plaintiff upon a demand for the service fee, and
that the sum for which the attachment is asked is an
actual bona fide existing debt, due and owing from the
defendant to the plaintiff, and that the attachment is not
sought, and the action is not brought, to hinder, delay or
defraud any creditor or creditors of the defendant."

274 THE HORSE BOOK.

COLORADO.

"The keepers of stallions, jacks, bulls, rams and boars
have a lien on the get of such animals for the space of
one year after the birth of the get, for the payment of the
service fee of such stallion, jack, bull, ram or boar."

CONNECTICUT.

There is no lien law in this state, but one who by false
representations obtains the registration of any animal,
or who knowingly gives a false pedigree of such animal, is
liable to a fine of not to exceed $100, or imprisonment for
not more than one year, or both.

DELAWARE.

"Prom and after the passage of this act each and every
colt in this state shall be liable for the service of the
stallion, its sire. Provided, however, that in any and all
cases where the pedigree or qualities of the stallion is
misrepresented by its owner or agent, then the foal shall
not be liable for the service as aforesaid.

"In order for the owner or owners of any stallion to avail
themselves of the benefits of this act, it shall be necessary
for such owner or owners to have printed and posted, at
ten of the most public places in the county in which the
said stallion or stallions are to stand or travel, a full
description and pedigree of his or their stallion or stallions,
and to exhibit a copy to the owner or owners of any mare
about to be served by such stallion." The stallioner must
bring his action within sixty days after the foal is dropped,
and after refusal to pay the fee. After judgment the lien
reverts back to the day of the foaling of the colt and is
prior to any other execution or mortgage.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

There is no lien given and no stallion regulation in the
District.

FLORIDA.

"Owners of stallions, jacks or bulls shall have a lien of
superior dignity upon the colt or calf of the get of said
stallion, jackass or bull: provided however, that such serv-
ice shall have been done upon the application of the owner
of the mother of such colt or calf."

GEORGIA.

The owner or keeper of any stallion, jack or blooded or
imported bull or boar in this state shall have a lien on

THE HORSE BOOK. 275

the get thereof, for the service of such stallion, jack or
blooded or imported bull or boar, for the period of one
year from the birth of such get, which lien shall be supe-
rior to all other liens, except the lien for taxes. The lien
herein provided for shall not become operative unless the
same be recorded in the office of the clerk of the superior
court of the county wherein the owner of the mother
resides, within six months after the performance of the
service, and the said clerk shall keep a book in which all
such liens are to be recorded, and said clerk shall receive
twenty-five cents each for recording such lien; Provided,
said animals shall be kept by the owners thereof inclosed
in their own pasture or otherwise.

IDAHO.

The owner or person in charge of a stallion, jack or bull
has a lien on the dam and offspring, provided that within
ninety days after the service he files with the recorder of
the county where the dam is situated, a notice containing
a particular description of the mare, when served and
the amount of lien claimed. This notice operates as a
notice to subsequent purchasers and incumbrances in good
faith for one year from the date of filing. Provided also,
that every owner of a sire charging a service fee shall file
a statement under oath, with the auditor of the county in
which the sire is kept, "giving the name, age, description
and pedigree as well as the terms and conditions upon
such sire is advertised for service."

The lien upon the get is valid for eighteen months from
the date of birth and has priority over all other liens and
encumbrances upon the get, provided that within twelve
months from the service the stallioner files with the aud-
itor of the county wherein the service was rendered a
statement of account properly verified, giving the amount
due and a description of the female.

If in a suit for service fees the court in rendering judg-
ment certifies in the record that the plaintiff has complied
with the statute and that the get of the service is subject
to the lien, the get is not exempt from execution on such
judgment.

ILLINOIS.

"Every owner of a sire charging a service fee, in order
to have a lien upon the get of any such sire * * * *
shall file a statement, verified by oath or affirmation of the
best of his knowledge and belief, with the secretary of the
State Board of Agriculture, giving the name, age, descrip-

276 THE HOBSE BOOK.

tion and pedigree, as well as the terms and conditions
upon which such sire is advertised for service.

"The secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, upon
receipt of the statement as specified above, duly verified
by affidavit, shall issue a certificate to the owner of the
said sire, a copy of which certificate shall be forwarded
to the clerk of the county court in which said sire is sta-
tioned or located, and another copy furnished the appli-
cant, which shall be posted by the owner in a conspicuous
place where said sire may be stationed, which certificate
shall state the name, age, description, pedigree and owner-
ship of said sire, the terms and conditions upon which the
sire is advertised for service, and that the provisions of
this act, so far as relates to the filing of the statement
aforesaid, have been complied with."

The owner who has complied with the statute has a lien
on the get of his sire and such get is not exempt from
execution on a judgment for the service fee if the court
certifies that the statute has been complied with, that the
get is subject to the lien and this finding, with a descrip-
tion of the claim, is endorsed on the execution.

INDIANA.

A sire owner in Indiana who takes out a license for his
horse has a lien on the get for the amount of the service
fee agreed on. If there was no specific agreement, then
for the amount of the advertised fee. To make the lien
good against third parties, the stallioner must file a notice
in the office of the recorder in the county where the owner
of the mare resides. This notice must be filed within one
year from the date of service, and gives the stallioner a lien
as against third parties for one year after such filing. This
constitutes notice to all of the existence of the lien and
the stallioner may take the get in any township in the
state, in which it may be founds in an action before a
justice of the peace in that township. The notice must
contain a description of the dam, owner's name, name of
sire, name and residence of its owner, date of service and
amount of service fee, together with any written agree-
ment which may have been made at the time of service.

Where the mare and get remain in the hands of the
same owner who brought the mare for service, the licensed
sire owner will have a lien for two years from the date of
service, and one year from the date of filing notice when
the colt has been disposed of.

Any owner who disposes or attempts to dispose of a
female without providing for the payment of the service

THE HOKSE BOOK. 277

fee or who falsely represents that she has been bred to an
improved sire other than the one to which she has been
bred, is liable to a fine of $50.

INDIAN TERRITORY.

The owner or keeper of a jack or stallion has a lien on
the mare for the service fee.

'*Such lien shall attach after the time of service of any
mare by any jack or stallion, and shall be enforced or fore-
closed at any time on or after maturity of the debt as
agreed upon by the parties to the contract, and may be
enforced or foreclosed in the same manner as laborers'
liens are enforced by law."

The lien may be enforced after the mare has passed to
the possession of third parties.

IOWA.

Any owner or keeper of any stallion, kept for public
service, or for sale, exchange or transfer, who represents
such animal to be pure-bred shall cause the same to be
registered in some stud book recognized by the Depart-
ment of Agriculture at Washington, D. C, and obtain a
certificate of registration, which must be submitted to the
secretary of the State Board of Agriculture of the state
of Iowa. If such registration is found to be correct and
genuine he shall issue a certificate setting forth the name
sex, age and color of the animal and the volume and page
of the stud book in which such animal is registered.

Anyone who represents his animal to be pure-bred shall
place a copy of the certificate of the State Board on the
door or stall of the stable where the animal is usually
kept. Any owner or keeper of a stallion kept for public
service, for which a state certificate has not been issued,
must advertise such horse by having printed hand bills
or posters, not less than five by seven inches in size, and
such bills or posters must have printed thereon imme-
diately preceding or above the name of the stallion, the
words "grade stallion," in type not less than one inch in
height, said bills or posters to be posted in a conspicuous
manner at all places where the stallion is kept for public
service. The certificate may be transferred to a purchaser
through the secretary of the State Board of Agriculture.
Any person who shall fraudulently represent any ani-
mal, horse, cattle, sheep or swine, to be pure-bred, or anv
person who shall post or publish, or cause to be posted
or published, any false pedigree or certificate, or shall
use any stallion for public service, or sell, exchange or

278 THE HOESE BOOK.

transfer any stallion, representing such animal to be pure-
bred, without first having such animal registered, and ob-
taining the certificate of the State Board of Agriculture,
as above provided, or who shall violate any of the pro-
visions of this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and
be punished by a fine of not more than $100, or imprisoned
in the county jail not exceeding thirty days, or by both
such fine and imprisonment.

KANSAS.

The owner of any stallion, jack or bull has a lien on
the offspring of his animal for the service fee, for one
year after the birth of such offspring: "Provided, That
at or before the time of foaling or birth of said offspring,
the owner of the stallion, bull or jack shall file in the
office of the register of deeds of the county where the dam
of said offspring is kept, a description of the dam on
whose offspring he claims a lien. Such a lien shall be en-
forced as other liens upon personal property under chapter
142 of the Session Laws of 1872 are enforced."

KENTUCKY.

"The licensed keepers of stallions, jacks and bulls shall
have a lien upon the get of such stallion, jack or bull for
one year after the birth of the same for the payment of the
service fee; but the get of such animals shall not be sub-
ject to the lien when a receipt for said services is shown
by the owner of such get."

LOUISIANA.

"No person or association of persons shall be permitted
to stand any stud horse, jack or bull in this state without
having first obtained a license from the parish or munici-
pal corporation in which such stud horse, jack or bull
shall stand; which license shall be equal in amount to
the greatest sum charged for the services of the same;
provided that no person or association of persons who
shall stand any stud horse, jack or bull without having
first obtained the license provided for in this section, shall
be permitted to recover any amount for such service.

"Any person or association of persons who shall stand
any stud horse, jack or bull in compliance with the terms
of this act, shall have a lien and privilege upon the issue
of said stud horse, jack or bull for the period of one year,
which lien and privilege shall prime all others."

THE HOKSE BOOK. 279

MAINE.

The owner or keeper of any stallion for breeding pur-
poses, before advertising, by written or printed notices
the service thereof, shall file a certificate with the register
of deeds in the county where said stallion is owned or kept,
stating the name, color, age and size of same, together
with the pedigree of said stallion as fully as attainable,
and the name of the person by whom he was bred. Who-
ever neglects to make and file such certificate shall recover
no compensation for said services, and, if he knowingly and
wilfully makes and files a false certificate of the state-
ments aforesaid, he forfeits one hundred dollars, to be re-
covered by complaint, indictment or action of debt, to the
county where the offense is committed. * * * whoever
knowingly exhibits, makes or gives a false pedigree of any
animal, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more
than ninety days, or by fine not exceeding three hundred
dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment."

MAEYLAND.

Every owner or agent who may have the custody or con-
trol of any stallion, who shall charge a fee for the services
of such stallion, shall before advertising or offering such
service to the public for any fee, reward or compensation,
file with the clerk of the circuit court for the county in
which such owner or owners, agent or agents, reside, or
m which such stallion shall be kept for service, or if such
service shall be offered in the city of Baltimore, then with
the clerk of the court of common pleas, a written state-
ment giving the name, age, pedigree and record, if known
and If not known then that the same is unknown, the
description, terms and conditions upon which such stal-
lion will serve. Upon filing such statement the clerk of
the circuit court for the county, or of the court of common
pleas of Baltimore, as the case may be, shall issue a cer-
tificate or license to the owner or owners, agent or agents
having the custody and control of such stallion that such
a statement has been filed in his office; the owner or
agent or agents of the owners of such stallion, shall then
post a written or printed copy of the statement so filed
with such clerk, in a conspicuous place in each locality in
which said stallion shall be kept for service.

Every owner or agent who shall proclaim or publish a
lalse or fraudulent pedigree or record, or statement of any
kind regarding any stallion or who shall neglect or refuse
to comply with the provisions of above section shall for-
feit all fees for the services of such stallion, and the per-

280 THE HOKSE BOOK.

son or persons who may be deceived or defrauded by such
false or fraudulent pedigree or record or statement may
sue for and recover in any court of competent jurisdiction
such damages as may be shown to have been sustained
by reason of such false and fraudulent representations.

Whenever the owner or agent of an owner or owners of
any stallion shall have complied with the foregoing pro-
visions of this sub-title, the services of such stallion shall
become a lien on each mare served, together with the foal
resulting from such service, for the amount agreed upon
between the owner of the mare and the owner of the stal-
lion at the time of the service, or in the event of no such
agreement, then in such an amount as is specified for the
service of such stallion in the statement hereinbefore re-
quired to be filed with the clerks of court of the respective
counties or of Baltimore City.

Any person entitled to a lien under this sub-title, shall
file a claim or statement of the same in the office of the
clerk of the court for the county where the owner of the
mare resides, or if such owner is a resident of Baltimore
City, then said lien shall be filed in the office of the clerk
of the superior court of Baltimore City; provided, that
the statement of said lien shall be filed within twelve
months from the date of the service of the stallion for
which the lien is claimed, and that the lien shall termi-
nate at the end of six months from the date of the filing
of the same.

Before standing any stallion or jackass the owner must
pay to the clerk of the circuit court of some county in the
state the highest sum which he intends to ask or receive
for the season of one mare. This payment to the clerk
must not be less than $10 and the receipt of the
clerk is a license for one year and exempts the stallion
or jack from all other state tax. Any owner standing his
stallion or jack without a license forfeits twice the sum
above mentioned. Upon information under oath, the sher-
iff may seize any stallion or jack standing without a
license.

MASSACHUSETTS.

"The owner or keeper of a stallion for breeding pur-
poses shall, before advertising the service thereof, file a
certificate of the name, colbr, age, size and pedigree, as
fully as obtainable, of said stallion, and of the name of
the person by whom he was bred, with the clerk of the
city or town in which said stallion is owned or kept, who
shall, upon payment of a fee of t\7enty-five cents, record
the same in a book to be kept for that purpose. Whoever

THE HORSE BOOK. 281

neglects to make and file such certificate shall recover no
compensation for the services of his stallion, and who-
ever knowingly and wilfully makes a false certificate shall
he punished by a fine of $100 for each offense."

MICHIGAN.

The stallioner has a lien on the get of his animal, for
the period of six months after the birth of get. In order
to obtain this lien the stallioner must post bills or posters
conspicuously at all places where the stallion is stood for
service and must post at least three along the route that
shall be travelled by the stallion. These posters must con-
tain a correct statement of the age and breeding of the
stallion, and of the terms of service, and having been
posted as above provided, constitute a contract between the
stallioner and owner of the dam. This lien is not good as
against subsequent purchasers of the dam in good faith
unless the stallioner files with the clerk of the township
where the dam is owned at the time of service, a notice
of the lien, a copy of the contract and a description of the
dam.

The lien may be enforced by seizure of the colt, but no
action for the service fee or seizure of the colt shall be had
until after demand for payment, and no recovery can be
had if the stallioner has wilfully or fraudulently misrep-
resented the breeding of his stallion.

MINNESOTA.

Any one standing a stallion for public service must
cause the name, description and pedigree to be enrolled in
the college of agriculture of the University of Minnesota,
upon which a license is issued to him. The license must
be recorded with the register of deeds in any county where
the stallion is used for public service. In order to procure
his license the stallioner must present a certificate from a
licensed, qualified and reputable veterinarian to the effect
that the stallioner is free from infectious, contagious or
transmissible disease or unsoundness. He must also fur-
nish the certificate of pedigree of the stallion and all other
necessary papers relating to the breeding and ownership.
The stallion registration board has the power to refuse a
certificate of enrollment to a diseased stallion and on the
same ground to revoke a license certificate previously is-
sued.

During the breeding season copies of the license certifi-
cate must be posted conspicuously on the main door lead-
ing to the building where the stallion stands for public

282 THE HOKSE BOOK.

service. Bills and advertisements of a licensed stallion
must contain a copy of the license certificate, but must not
contain illustrations, pedigrees or other matter that is un-
truthful or misleading. The registration fee is two dollars
with an annual renewal fee of one dollar. Stallions must
be examined every four years until ten years of age, and
after the first examination are exempt at ten years of age
or over. Upon change of ownership the license certificate
may be transferred by the secretary of the board of en-
rollment. Violators of any of the provisions of the act
are liable to a fine of from $25 to $100 for each offense.

MISSISSIPPI.

A privilege tax of $5 is imposed on all stallions or jacks
which stand for fee. The owner of a stallion, jackass or
bull has a lien on its offspring for the price agreed to be
paid therefor, and may enforce such lien in the manner
provided for enforcing the lien of stable keepers, subject
to all of the provisions of the chapter on that subject.
"But if the owner shall have falsely represented the breed-
ing, registration, or pedigree of his stallion, jackass or
bull, by advertisement or otherwise, he shall not have a
lien * * * as against any person who acted under the
belief that such representation was true; and, in such
case, the owner of the animal shall not have any claim for
the service of the stallion, jackass or bull."

This lien runs for twelve months after the birth of off-
spring and is good against the world, including subsequent
purchasers for a valuable consideration without notice.

MISSOURI.

The owner or keeper of any stallion, jack or bull may
advertise the terms upon which he will let any such ani-
mal to service, by publication in some newspaper of the
county where the animal is kept, for sixty days during
the season of each year, or by printed hand-bills conspicu-
ously posted during such period, in four or more public
places in the county, including the place where the animal
is kept; and such publication or posting shall impart no-
tice thereof to the owner of any female served by such
sire during that season, and the owner of the female
served shall be deemed to have accepted and assented to
the said terms, when so published or posted.

"When the terms of service as posted or published, shall
provide that the offspring of the service will be held for
the service fee, the owner of the sire shall have a lien on
the offspring of any female served, for the period of one

THE HOKSE BOOK. 283

t^rrJ^lT ^^^ ^''^^ f-^"'^"^^' ^^^^^ ^^'^ ^'^^ Shall be pre-
terred to any prior lien, mortgage or incumbrance what-

fno' ^?^^5^ publication or posting shall be deemed n^tfce
to any third party of the existence of such lien

"Any person who shall sell, convey or dispose of anv
ammal upon which there exists a lien as created in the
preceding section, without informing the person to whom
the same is sold or conveyed that such lien exists or wh^

same Tnr'^h'' '''''''" such animal, or aid or 'abet the
same, for the purpose of defrauding the lienor, or who
shall remove or conceal, or aid or abet in removing o?
concealing such animal with intent to hinder dilay or

the^ anim J^t^n hi ^r^^l? Pedigree or falsely representing
the animal to be eligible to registry forfeits all claim for
service fee, and all benefit of the lien law. The staHoner
may enforce his lien by replevin. staiiioner

MONTANA.

stamo7 whoTh.Ti T""^ '^^'* "^^y ^^^^ *^^ ^o^trol of any
lion Shan befnri n^f ^^ ^ ^'^ ^P'" ^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ stal-
the DubHP fnf «n ""f '''''^ """^ advertising such services to
the cWk nf f^y fee, reward or compensation, file with
the clerk of the county in which owner or owners or
agents reside, or where such stallion shall be lept for
service, a written statement, giving the name agl pedi^
gree and record if known, if not that the samf is un-
known, description, terms and conditions upon Zich such

^ff I'^^'hT."-'"''^"- ^P^^ fi"^S such statement The county
clerk shall issue a certificate or license to owner or own^
ers or agents having custody and control of such stallion
that such a statement has been filed in his office; the owner
or owners or agents of such stallions shall then poTt I
written or printed notice of a copy of the statement so filed
with the county clerk in a conspicuous place in each local
ity m which said stallion shall be kept for service

Every owner or agent who shall proclaim or publish a
false or fraudulent pedigree or record or statement of an?
?o romnff wH? ^stallion, or who shall neglect or refuse
to comply with the above provisions, shall forfeit all fees
for the services of such stallion and the person or persons
who may have been deceived or defrauded by such false
or fraudulent pedigree or record or statement, may sue
and recover in any court having jurisdiction, such dam-
ages as may be shown to have been sustained by reason of
false representation and fraud. xt^abou or

284 THE HORSE BOOK.

Whenever the owner or agent of any stallion shall have
complied with the foregoing provisions of this act, the
services of such stallion shall become a lien on each mare
served, together with a foal of such mare served from such
service in an amount agreed upon between the parties at
the time of service; or, if agreement was not entered into
by them, in such amount as specified as service fee of stal-
lion or stallions in the statement of the owner or agent
filed with the county clerk; Provided, a notice of lien shall
be filed within twelve months after such service; such
lien shall terminate at the end of the year from the date
of filing notice thereof, unless within that time an action
shall be commenced for the enforcement thereof.

NEBRASKA.

"Owners of stallions, jacks and bulls of the state of
Nebraska shall have a lien upon the get of such stallion,
jack or bull for the period of nine months after the birth
of same for the payment of the services of said stallion,
jack or bull; provided that the owner of such stallion, jack
or bull shall have filed in the office of the clerk of the
county in which such get is owned a description of the
same with date of birth within one hundred and twenty
days after the birth thereof. Said lien may be at any time
after the filing of said description foreclosed in manner
and form as provided by law for the foreclosing of chattel
mortgages,"

NEVADA.

"Any person who shall sell any stallion within the lim-
its of this state, intended for breeding purposes, and who
shall give a false or erroneous written pedigree, shall be
deemed guilty of a felony, and on conviction thereof, shall
be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a
term of not less than one year nor more than five years,
and such person so offending shall be liable to the person
so purchasing for aH damages he may sustain by reason of
such false record of pedigree; provided, that the provisions
of this act shall not apply to any representation concern-
ing pedigree unless the same has been reduced to writing
and signed by the party so making the same.

"Every person who shall keep a stallion for the service
of mares shall keep posted in a conspicuous place on or
near the stable where such stallion is kept, a full and
complete pedigree of such stallion headed by the name by
which said stallion is known; provided, that in cases
where the pedigree is unknown such fact shall be inserted
in such notes in lieu of pedigree. Any person violating

THE HORSE BOOK. 285

the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be fined in
any sum not less than one hundred dollars nor more than
five hundred dollars, and as a further punishment for the
offense the owner or keeper of such horse shall have no
legal right to collect any charges made for services of
such horse."

There is no lien given to the stallioner.

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

"Every person who offers for hire the service of a stal-
lion for breeding purposes shall make a certificate stating
the name, color, age, size and pedigree (so far as known)
and the name and residence of the person by whom he
was bred, and shall cause the certificate to be recorded
by the secretary of the Board of Agriculture. He shall
also insert a copy of the certificate in all posters and
notices advertising the stallion, and shall give a copy of it
to the keeper of each mare served by the stallion for hire."

Neglect to make or record the certificate, or neglect to
give a copy of it to the keeper of the mare forfeits the
service fee "unless he shall show that the person had
actual knowledge of it at the time of service." Making
false statements in the certificate or giving a false copy
of it to a mare owner makes the stallioner liable to a
fine of $100. Compliance with this statute gives the stal-
lioner a preferred lien on the colt until it is eight months
old, and colt may be attached at any time after it is four
months old.

NEW JERSEY.

There is no stallion law in this state.

NEW MEXICO.

There is no stallion lien law in New Mexico.

NEW YORK.

"On complying with the provisions of this article, the
owner of a stallion shall have a lien on each mare served
together with the foal of such mare from such service, for
the amount agreed on at the time of service, or if no
agreement was made, for the amount specified in the
statement hereinafter required to be filed, if within fifteen
months after such service he files a notice of such lien in
the same manner and place as chattel mortgages are
required by law to be filed. Such notice of lien shall be in
writing, specifying the person against whom the claim is
made, the amount of the same and a description of the

286 THE HORSE BOOK.

property upon which the lien is claimed, and such lien
shall terminate at the end of eighteen months from the
date of such filing, unless within that time an action is
commenced for the enforcement thereof, as provided in
the code of civil procedure for the foreclosure of a lien on
chattels.

"A person having the custody or control of a stallion
and charging a fee for his services, shall, before adver-
tising or offering such services to the public, file with the
clerk of the county in which he resides or in which such
stallion is kept for service, a written statement giving
the name, age, description and pedigree if known, and if
not, stating that the same is unknown, of such stallion and
the terms and conditions on which he will serve. On
filing such statement, the county clerk shall * * issue
a certificate to such person, that such statement has been
so filed and recorded." A copy of this statement and cer-
tificate must be posted in a conspicuous place in each
locality in which the stallion is kept for service.

Any one who neglects or refuses to file and post such
statement as required, or who therein falsely states the
pedigree of the stallion, forfeits all fees for the service and
is liable to ahy one injured thereby.

NORTH CAROLINA.

The owner of a stud horse, jack or bull has a lien on
the get which is in force until the service fee is paid. The
colt or calf is not exempt from an execution for the pay-
ment of the service fee by reason of any personal property
exemptions; Provided, the stallioner institutes action to
enforce his lien within twelve months from the birth of
get.

NORTH DAKOTA.

"Filing statement of Pedigree Pre-requisite. Every
owner of a sire charging a service fee, in order to have a
lien for service upon the offspring of any such sire under
the provisions of this chapter, shall file a statement, veri-
fied by oath, to the best of his knowledge and belief, with
the commissioner of agriculture and labor, giving the
name, age, description and pedigree or breeding of such
sire, so far as known, as well as the terms and conditions
upon which he is advertised for service.

"The commissioner of agriculture and labor, upon receipt
of the statement specified in the last section, shall issue a
certificate to the owner thereof, who shall file a copy of
such certificate with the register of deeds of the county or
counties in which such sire shall stand for service, and

THE HOBSE BOOK. 287.

copies of such certificate shall also be posted conspicu-
ously in all places where such sire shall stand for service,
which certificate shall state the name, age, description,
pedigree and ownership of such sire and the terms and
conditions upon which the sire is advertised for service.
Such certificate shall be procured and filed prior to the
service of such sire, and all certificates p-rocured and posted
according to this section shall be operative as long as the
terms and conditions remain the same. The original cer-
tificate shall follow the sire in all changes of ownership
and all transfers shall be recorded in the office of the
commissioner of agriculture and labor and a bill of sale
filed with the register of deeds, as is provided for the
filing of the original certificate, and that the provisions
of this chapter so far as relates to the filing of the state-
ment aforesaid have been complied with.

'The owner of any sire receiving such certificate shall
have a lien upon the offspring of such sire and upon the
female served, upon filing at any time within eight months
after the service, in the office of the register of deeds of
the county in which such female is kept at the time of
service, a statement of the account thereof, together with
a description of the female served. Such lien shall exist
for a period of three years from the date of filing the
statement and shall have priority over all other liens and
incumbrances upon the offs'pring and the female served.

"After the expiration of nine months from the filing of
the lien, or at any time after an attempt shall be made to
dispose of the female, or remove her from the county, the
lien may be enforced by a sale of the property covered
thereby, upon the notice and in the manner provided for
the foreclosure of mortgages upon personal property."

OHIO.

"That the keeper of any stallion or jack shall have a
lien upon the get of the same for the period of twelve
months after birth of the same, for the payment of the
service of any such stallion or jack. Such keeper or owner
may enforce said lien by replevin of the property before
any justice of the peace of the township where the prop-
erty is found, and after gaining possession of the same, he
may, after first giving ten days' notice to the reputed
owner thereof of his intention to do so, sell the same at
public sale after two weeks' notice of the time and place
of sale by notices posted up in five conspicuous and public
places in the township where proceedings in replevin are
had, and out of the proceeds of sale retain the amount due
him for said service, with the costs by him incurred in

288 THE HOESE BOOK.

said replevin suit, and accounting to the owner for the
surplus realized by said sale. And the owner of any such
stallion or jack, when payment is made to him or his
agent, for any such get, shall deliver to the payee a receipt
in full for the amount so paid, and stating for what paid.
And any such keeper or owner of any stallion or jack, who
misrepresents the pedigree, or fails to publish a correct
pedigree of his stallion or jack, when excellency of good
qualities are claimed on account thereof, shall, upon proof
of such misrepresentation, forfeit the services in any case
when legally contested and proven, and shall be otherwise
punished as provided by law against the use of false pedi-
gree."

OKLAHOMA,

"The owner or keeper of any stallion, jack or bull may
advertise the terms upon which he will let such animal
to service by publication thereof in some newspaper in the
county where such animal is kept for a period of sixty days
during the season Of each year, or by printed handbills
conspicuously posted during such period in four or more
public places in said county, including the place where
such animal is kept; and the publication or posting as
aforesaid of the terms of such service shall impart notice
thereof to the owner of any female served by such stal-
lion, jack or bull during such season; and in all action and
controversies in respect to the foal or other product of such
service the owner of such female animal so served shall
be deemed to have accepted and assented to said terms,
when so advertised or posted as provided herein.

"When the said terms of such service by any such ani-
mal, published or posted as provided in the above section,
shall provide that the foal or other product of such service
will be held for the money due for the services of such
stallion, jack or bull, then and in that event the owner or
keeper of any such animal may file with the recorder of
deeds of the county in which such animal is kept for
service, a certificate signed by the owner of the female
bred, or his representative, also the owner or keeper of the
male animal rendering the service, stating the terms of
such service, a description of the female served', also a
description of the male rendering the service, the date of
seiwice and acceptance of terms by owner of female, and
such certificate, if filed within three months after the
rendering of such srvice, shall become and continue a
lien on the offspring for the period of six months after
the birth thereof, and the filing of such certificate shall be
constructive notice to any third party of the existence of

THE HORSE BOOK. 289

the lien; Provided, that as between the owner of any stal-
lion, jack or bull, as provided in the preceding section and
the owner of any female served, a lien shall exist not-
withstanding no certificate as herein provided shall be
filed or notice given as in this article provided."

The recorders of the several counties are required to
keep a book especially for the recording of these certifi-
cates.

If the sire owner advertises a false pedigree, or falsely
represents his animal to be eligible to be recorded, he loses
all claim for the services of that animal and all benefit
of the stallion law.

The lien is enforced by replevin of the animal on which
it is claimed, and the replevin suit will take the course
and be decided as are other replevin suits.

OREGON.

The owner of any stallion within the state may file with
the county clerk of any county therein, on or before the
31st day of December of each year, a list of mares served
by such stallion during that year upon which such owner
claims a lien for the service fee of such stallion for such
year; and from the time of filing such lists and claim for
liens the owner of such stallion shall have and hold a lien
upon each mare therein described, and upon her colt, if
any for the amount of the service fee of such stallion due
on such mare. Such list and claim for liens shall contain
the name and a brief description of each of such mares,
the name of the owner of each mare, the terms upon
which such mare was bred, the amount of service fee due
on such mare, the tipie the same is payable, and a state-
ment that the owner of such stallion claims a lien on
such mare and her colt, if any, by such stallion for the
amount of said service fee, and such list and claim shall
be subscribed and verified by the oath of the owner of
such stallion or his agent.

The liens secured and provided for by the preceding
section shall expire in one year after the 31st day of De-
cember on or before which said claim for liens may be filed
as aforesaid, unless the same shall be renewed within
thirty days before the expiration thereof by the owner or
his agent, making and filing an affidavit to be attached to
the original list and claim for liens, setting forth the
service fees therein still remaining unpaid, and then such
affidavit shall renew and extend such lien for another year.
All persons holding any such lien may enforce the same
against the mare and colt, or either of them, by action in
any justice court in any county where such mare or colt,

290 THE HORSE BOOK.

or either of tliem, may be found, and such court may ren-
der judgments that such lien exists against such mare or
colt, or both of them, and direct that they be sold to sat-
isfy the said service fee, or any part thereof remaining
unpaid, together with the costs and disbursements of said
action, in the manner provided by law for the sale of per-
sonal property upon execution; and in all actions to en-
force such liens both the owner of such mare named in
said claim for lien and any person claiming any interest
or title to such mare or colt, may be made parties thereto,
but any such party may set up any defense to the claim
of the plaintiff in such action which the owner of the mare,
at the time of breeding, if a party, would be entitled to
make, and the filing of such lists and claim for lien as
aforesaid shall be constructive notice thereof to all persons
buying or in any way dealing with or in regard to any
such mare or her colt after such mare shall have been bred,
and any transfer or purchase of such property shall be
subject to such lien.

PENNSYLVANIA.

All stallions, used for breeding purposes, must be en-
rolled by name, description and pedigree, with the State
Livestock Sanitary Board, and the certificate of enrollment
must be recorded by the prothonotary of the county or
counties where the stallion is used for public service.

"In order to obtain the license certificate herein provided
for, the owner of such stallion shall file a certificate of
soundness, signed by a duly qualified veterinarian, or, in
lieu thereof, he may make oath before a notary public
that, after diligent inquiry, such stallion is, to the best of
his knowledge, free from hereditary, contagious or trans-
missible unsoundness or disease, and shall forward this
veterinarian's certificate, or his affidavit, together with the
stud-book certificate of registry of the pedigree of the said
stallion, and any other documents that may be necessary
to define and describe his breeding and ownership, to the
State Livestock Sanitary Board."

The board may in its discretion refuse a license to a
stallion because of transmissible physical unsoundness or
because of the pedigree not being recorded in a book recog-
nized by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Copies of this license certificate must be posted in a
conspicuous place both within and upon the outside of the
main door leading into any stable or building where the
stallion stands for public service, and must be kept in
place during the entire breeding season.

THE HORSE BOOK. 291

Bills, posters or advertisements must contain a copy of
the certificate of enrollment.

Upon transfer of ownership of the stallion, the certificate
may be transferred to the purchaser by the state board.
Violation of any of the provisions of the act is punishable
by fine not to exceed $50,

EHODE ISLAND.

There is no regulation of the service of stallions in this
state, and no lien is given.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

"The owner of any stock horse, jack, bull, boar or ram,
kept by him for the purpose of raising from, having a
claim by contract against the owner of any mare or cow,
or other stock, for service, shall have a prior lien on the
issue of such mare, cow or other stock for the amount of
such claim; provided, an action shall be instituted to en-
force such claim, by suit, before a magistrate or other offi-
cer having jurisdiction, within twelve months from the time
such shall have accrued."

SOUTH DAKOTA.

The owner of a stallion or bull has a lien upon the mare
or cow and upon the offspring, provided that within ninety
days after the service, he files with the register of deeds
in the county where the mare or cow is situated, a notice
in writing, containing a particular description of the said
mare or cow, when served, and the amount of lien claimed
upon the same, which notice when so filed is notice to sub-
sequent purchasers or incumbrancers for one year after
filing. (Statute of 1883, not repealed.)

Law of 1890. — Every owner of a sire, charging a service
fee, in order to have a lien on the get of such sire must
file a statement, verified by oath or affirmation, to the best
of his knowledge and belief, with the county clerk or audi-
tor, giving the name, age, description and pedigree, as well
as the terms and conditions upon which such sire is adver-
tised for service. Upon filing this statement the owner
gets a certificate, "a copy of which certificate shall be filed
with the clerk of the court in the county where the said
sire is stationed or located, and other copies furnished the
applicant, which certificates shall be posted by the ov/ner
in conspicuous places where said sire may be stationed for
service, which certificate shall state the name, age, descrip-
tion, pedigree and ownership of said sire, the terms and
conditions upon which the sire is advertised for service.

292 THE HOESE BOOK.

aud that the provisions of this article so far as relates to
the filing of the statement aforesaid, have been complied
with,"

Having obtained his certificate, the owner of the sire has
a prior lien upon the get of the sire, for eighteen months
from the date of birth, "Provided, said owner or owners
shall within twelve months from the time of rendition of
such service by such certified sire file for record a state-
ment of account verified by affidavit or affirmation with the
recorder of the county wherein the service has been ren-
dered of the amount due such owner or owners for said
service, together with a description of the female served."

No get of such sire is exempt from execution on a judg-
ment for service fee, provided the court rendering the judg-
ment certifies on the record, and on the execution with a
description of the dam that the progeny sought to be levied
upon is subject to the lien.

TENNESSEE.

Any person keeping a stallion, jack, bull or boar for
public use has a lien on the offspring of the same for the
season to be paid.

This lien continues for ten months from the birth of
offspring and is enforced as landlords' liens are enforced.
The pedigree under oath of any stallion, jack or bull,
claimed to be pedigreed live stock, and used for public
breeding must be filed and recorded with the clerk of the
county court, presumably in the county where the animal
is kept or stood for service. During the breeding season a
certified copy of the pedigree as recorded must be posted
conspicuously in three different places in the county where
the owner lives or the animal is stood for service. Anyone
who knowingly posts or records a false pedigree is liable to
a fine of from $25 to $100.

TEXAS.

"The owner or keeper of any stallion, jack, bull or boar,
who keeps the same confined for the purpose of standing
him for profit, shall have a preference lien upon the
progeny of such stallion, jack, bull or boar, to secure the
payment of the amount due such owner or keeper for the
services of such stallion, jack, bull or boar, and such lien
shall exist by reason of the force and effect of the pro-
visions hereof, and it shall never be necessary in order to
secure and fix said lien to secure, file or register any con-
tract or statement thereof with any officer, nor shall it be
necessary that the owner of such progeny execute any con-

THE HOKSE BOOK. 293

tract whatever, but that such preference lien may be fore-
closed in the same manner as the statutory landlord's
lien is by law enforced; provided that where parties mis-
represent their stock by false pedigree, no lien shall ob-
tain.

"The lien herein provided shall remain in force for a
period of ten months from the birth of said progeny, but
shall not be enforced until five months shall have elapsed
after such birth."

UTAH.

"Every person, firm or company, standing, traveling or
offering for sale any pure-bred or grade stallion in this
State, shall cause the name, description and pedigree of
such animal to be enrolled by the said board, and procure
a certificate of such enrollment from such board, which
shall thereupon be presented to, and recorded by the regis-
ter of deeds of the county in which said stallion is used or
sold for public service.

"In order to obtain the license certificate herein pro-
vided for, the owner of each pure-bred or grade stallion
shall make oath before a notary public, or any other officer
authorized to administer oaths, that such stallion is, to the
best of his knowledge, free from hereditary, contagious or
transmissible unsoundness, or disease, or, in lieu thereof,
may file a certificate of soundness signed by a duly quali-
fied veterinarian who shall be a graduate of a recognized
veterinary college, and shall forward this aflSdavit, or
veterinarian's certificate, together with the stud book cer-
tificate of registry of the pedigree of the said stallion and
other necessary papers relating to his breeding and owner-
ship, to the Board of Horse Commissioners.

"The owner of any stallion, standing for public service
in this State shall post and keep affixed, during the entire
breeding season, copies of the license certificate of such
stallion, issued under the provisions of the next preceding
section, in a conspicuous place where said stallion stands
for public service.

"Every bill, poster, or advertisement issued by the
owner of any stallion, enrolled under this act or used by
him for advertising such stallion, shall contain a copy of
its certificate of enrollment.

"Every person in the State of Utah complying with the
provisions of this Act, shall have a lien on the mare and a
first lien upon the offspring of such service to the amount
of the agreed service fee for the period of eighteen months
after service, and it shall not be necessary in order to se-
cure and fix said lien to secure, file or register any con-

294 THE HORSE BOOK.

tract or statement thereof with any officer, nor shall it be
necessary that the owner of such mare or foal execute any
contract whatever; the said lien may be foreclosed in the
same manner that a mortgage upon personal property is
foreclosed.

"The fee for examination and enrollment of pedigree is
$2 and the certificate may be transferred to a new owner of
the horse upon payment of a further fee of fifty cents."

VEEMONT.

"Colts foaled in this state shall be subject to a lien to
secure the payment of the service fee, which shall con-
tinue in force until the colt is eight months old, and may
be enforced by attachment of such colt after it is four
months old; said lien shall take priority of any other
claim subject to the following conditions:

"The owner or manager of the stallion shall, annually,
file in the office of the clerk of the town where such stal-
lion is kept, on or before the first day of April, or within
thirty days after such stallion is brought into such town, a
declaration of an intention to claim such lien and a state-
ment containing the name and age of such stallion and
his pedigree for two generations, if known, and the terms
of service; a copy of which statement shall be furnished
the owner of each mare served, and all bills or posters ad-
vertising such stallion shall contain a copy of such state-
ment; and when the owner or manager of a stallion has
complied with all the requirements of this section, if the
owner or person in whose name a mare has been mated
with such stallion for breeding purpose disposes of such
mare by sale or otherwise before foaling time without
first settling with the owner or keeper for the service of
the stallion or within ten days after the disposal of the
mare, he shall be subject to all and the same penalties that
he would for disposing of a colt encumbered by a lien;
provided that if such mare is returned for trial to the stal-
lion after three weeks from the date of the last service and
found not to have become pregnant and is not again served
during that breeding season, the provisions of this section
shall not apply to the disposal of such mare.

"If the owner or manager shall, in such statement make
a false representation regarding the pedigree of such horse,
the lien for such service shall be discharged and the service
fee thereby secured shall be forfeited.

"A person who owns, keeps or uses a stallion of two
years of age or over for breeding purposes in this state,
except for his own mares, shall cause such stallion to be

THE HORSE BOOK. 295

registered in tlie office of the town clerk of the town in
which he is kept or used. The owner or keeper of such
stallion shall furnish to the town clerk in the town where
such registration is made, a certificate of the name, age,
color, size, name of breeder and pedigree in full of such
stallion to the third ancestor on the side of both sire and
dam, if known, and as much of such information as is not
given shall be acknowledged as not known and so stated,
and pedigrees given in advertising such stallions shall be
as recorded in the town clerk's office. The town clerk shall
record such statement in a book kept for that purpose and
shall receive from the applicant the sum of fifty cents for
each stallion so registered and shall furnish the ov/ner or
keeper procuring such registration a certified copy of the
same. The owner or keeper of a stallion who fails to com-
ply with the provisions of this act shall be fined not more
than fifty dollars nor less than ten dollars and shall receive
no compensation for breeding services of such stallion. A
person who makes a false certificate under the provisions
of this section shall be fined one hundred dollars to the
use of the town where such stallion is registered."

VIRGINIA.

The owner of a licensed stallion, jackass or bull has a
lien on its offspring for a period of six months after the
birth thereof. If the claim for lien is recorded in the case
of a bull it has priority over other liens and is good against
subsequent purchasers for value. The statute does not de-
fine the extent of the lien in the case of stallion or jackass
but simply provides that the lien is in force from its
recordation. The license is necessary before an owner can
stand a sire, for compensation, and in the case of stallions
and jackasses the license fee is $10 and for bulls $2.50.

WASHINGTON.

"Every owner of a sire having a service fee, in order
to have a lien on the female served, and upon the get
of any such sire, under the provisions of this act for such
service, shall file for record with the county auditor of the
county where the said sire is kept for service, a statement
verified by oath or affirmation to the best of his knowledge
and belief, giving the name, age, description and pedi-
gree, as well as the terms and conditions upon which such
sire is advertised for service; provided, that owners of
sires who are not in possession of pedigrees for such sires
shall not be debarred from the benefits of this act."

Upon filing such statement the owner will get a certifi-
cate which must be posted by him in a conspicuous place

296 THE HOESE BOOK.

where the sire is stationed for service. Having complied
with the statute, the owner has a lien on the female served
for one year from the date of service, and on the get for one
year from the date of birth, provided the owner files with
the county auditor of the county where the service was
rendered, a statement showing the amount due and giv-
ing a description of the female served. This statement
must be on oath and must be filed within six months from
the date of service or the date of birth, according whether
the lien is to be on dam or offspring. This lien is a pre-
ferred lien and is foreclosed as other liens on personal
property.

WEST VIRGINIA.

The owner of a stallion, jack or bull has a lien on the
offspring of his animal if the service was by contract with
the owner of the female or his agent, at the time of serv-
ice. To perfect or enforce his lien the stallioner must
within six months from the birth of get file before some
justice of the county where the get may be, the affidavit
of himslf or of "some credible person," stating the amount
of lien, that it is due by contract and giving a description
of the foal or calf on which the lien is claimed. "Upon the
filing of such affidavit, the justice shall issiie a warrant to
the sheriff or to a constable of the county who shall dis-
train the colt or calf for the amount claimed and the
same shall be disposed of as if taken for distress for rent."

WISCONSIN.

Every person, firm or company using any stallion or
jack for public service must enroll the name, description
and pedigree in the department of horse breeding of the
University of Wisconsin, and record the certificate of en-
rollment with the register of deeds of the county in which
the stallion or jack is used for public service.

In order to obtain this license certificate the owner must
make oath before a notary public, or any officer authorized
to administer oaths, that the stallion or jack is, to the
best of his knowledge, free from hereditary, contagious or
transmissible unsoundness or disease, "or in lieu thereof,
may file a certificate of soundness, signed by a duly quali-
fied veterinarian, who shall be a regular graduate of a rec-
ognized veterinary college, or by a registered veterinarian
who shows proof that he was in practice in this state for a
period of five years prior to the year 1S87 and shall make
oath to said certificate before a notary public, or any officer
duly authorized to administer oaths," and the affidavit or
veterinarian's certificate, together with the stud book cer-

THE HORSE BOOK. 297

tificate of pedigree must be sent to the department of horse
breeding of the university.

Upon complaint the department of horse breeding may
examme a stallion or jack, to discover whether the animal
IS unsound, but the owner may be represented by a recog-
nized graduate veterinarian. If they do not agree they
may appoint a third, whose decision shall be final.

. "^y^ ,^Y"^^: ^^ ^"y stallion or jack used for public serv-
ice m this state, shall post and keep affixed during the
entire breeding season, copies of the license certificate of

hnfh ^^^fl"""" "".'' ^"^''H. * * * in a conspicuous place
iDoth within and upon the outside of every stable or build-
ing where the said stallion or jack is used for public serv-
ice at his home or elsewhere.

"Each bill and poster issued by the owner of any stallion
Zdf, ^'^'f^^i V^der this act, or used by him or his
agent, for advertising such stallion or jack shall contain a
nrfrf.nf- ^^^iH"'""''^ ""'^ J^^^''^ certificate of enrollment
«nM t'',/'' ^^"^ 5'''^^ ^^^'^ ^°^ ^^^^^^1^ than long primer on
said bill or poster, and first mentioned thereon the name
of the stallion or jack shall be preceded by the words
pure-bred, grade,' 'cross-bred,' or 'non-standard bred' in
accordance with the certificate of enrollment; and it shall
be Illegal to print upon the poster any misleading refer-
ence to the breeding of the stallion or jack, his sire or his
dam, or to use upon such bill or poster the portrait of a
sta lion or jack m a misleading way; and each newspaper
advertisement printed to advertise any stallion or jack for

ber Lnfi7.V'f ww.'^T '^'' enrollment certificate num-
hfpd^ n '^^^ yhether it reads 'pure-bred,' 'grade,' 'cross-
nLw i^S^ ^^^-^t^^da^d bred.'" (The foregoing paragraph

The enrollment license fee is two dollars, and bi-

tTn<ffl'''!f'^^^ ^''' ^''^ ^°"^^^ ^^^h- The certificate may be
tiansferred upon proof of change of ownership and a
duplicate certificate may be obtained upon proof of loss
or destruction of the original. Violation of any of the
ce'ed'l'^o''' ' '''' '' punishable by a fine of not to ex

^Z^Z^^^ °^"^^ ^^ ^ stallion or jack kept and used for
breeding purposes shall have a lien on any colt begotten
by such stallion or jack for the sum stipulated to be i a'd

Of said cniri'-.'^'f''' ^'''' ^"^^ ''''' ^°d '^'^^ posseslfon

vLr nirl n V^^'^'ll ^'"^^''^ ^^ ^"5^ ^''''^ before it is one

re^ninl ' 'T^ ^^'^ P"''^ ""^^^^^ ^P«^ for such service

teTdav;' n^r'"^' f "2 '"" ^^'' ^^^^ ^^ P"^^^^ auction upon
ten days notice, to be posted in at least three public places

298 THE HOKSE BOOK.

in the town where the owner of such colt resides, and
apply the proceeds of such sale to the payment of the
amount due for said service and the expense of such
seizure and sale, returning the residue if any to the party
entitled thereto; provided no such lien shall be effectual
for any purpose as against the innocent purchaser of such
colt or the dam thereof for value, unless such owner having
a claim for the service of such stallion or jack shall file
with the clerk of the city, village or town where the owner
of the mare served resides a statement showing that such
service has been rendered and the amount therefor."

The foregoing is a part of the old law, not repealed by
the new regulative act.

WYOMING.

The stallioner has a lien on mare and colt for the agreed
service fee, the lien being prior to subsequent liens or
encumbrances, except the lien for taxes.

"A notice of such lien shall within six months after the
day of such service be filed in the office of the county
clerk of the county in which the mare or colt is held or
pastured, or subject to taxation." The statute prescribes
the form of the notice. Breeders' liens may be released in
the same manner as chattel mortgages. At any time after
default in payment for the service, and within one year
from the date of service, the holder of the lien may take
possession of the mare or colt.

The statute is very explict in directing the manner of
sale under this lien. If both mare and colt are taken, the
colt must be sold first.

If the owner does not wish to foreclose his lien by tak-
ing possession he may have it renewed in the same way
that chattel mortgages are renewed.

THE HOESE BOOK. 299

AMERICAN STUD BOOKS.

American Association of Importers and Breeders of Bel-
gian Draft Horses — J. D. Conner Jr., Wabash, Ind., Secre-
tary.

American Breeders' Association of Jacks and Jennets —
J. W. Jones, Columbia, Tenn., Secretary.

American Clydesdale Association — R. B. Ogilvie, Union
Stock Yards, Chicago, Secretary.

American Hackney Horse Society — A. H. Godfrey, New
York, Secretary.

American Breeders' and Importers' Percheron Registry —
John A. Forney, Plainfield, O., Secretary.

American Saddle Horse Breeders' Association — I. B. Nail,
Louisville, Ky., Secretary.

American Shetland Pony Club — Mortimer Levering, La-
fayette, Ind., Secretary.

American Shire Horse Breeders' Association — Chas. Bur-
gess, Wenona, 111., Secretary.

American Stud Book (Thoroughbreds) — W. H. Rowe,
New York, Registrar.

American Trotting Register Co. — Frank E, Best, Chicago,
Registrar.

American Suffolk Horse Association — Alexander Gal-
braith, Janesville, Wis., Secretary.

Cleveland Bay Society of America — R. P. Stericker, West
Orange, N. J., Secretary.

French Coach Horse Society of America — Duncan E. Wil-
lett. Oak Park, 111., Secretary.

French Coach Registry Co.— Chas C. Glenn, Columbus, 0.,
Secretary.

German, Hanoverian and Oldenburg Coach Horse Breed-
ers' Association — J. Crouch, Lafayette, Ind., Secretary.

Morgan Horse Register — Joseph Battel, Middlebury, Vt.,
Editor.

National French Draft Horse Association — C. E. Stubbs,
Fairfield, la., Secretary.

Oldenburg Coach Horse Association of America — C. E.
Stubbs, Fairfield, la.. Secretary.

Percheron Society of America — Geo. W. Stubblefield,
Union Stock Yards, Chicago, Secretary.

Percheron Registry Co. — Chas. C. Glenn, Columbus, O.,
Secretary.

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Swine Pens Poultry Houses, Silos, Feeding Racks,
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THIS is not a book of proposed plans for farm
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