HORSE-BREEDING; BEING THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF HEREDITY The Business of Breeding Horses, INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE MANAGEMENT STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND YOUNG FOALS, AM) SELECTION OF BREEDING STOCK. Founder of "The Breeder's Gazette," "Breeders' Trotting Stud Book," "Percheron Stud Book, Honorary member of the Chicago Eclectic Medical Society, and of the Illinois Veterinary Medical Association, etc. CHICAGO I J. H. SANDERS PUB. CO. 1S93. Entered, according to Act of Congress, In the year 1885. BY J. H. SANDERS, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D- C Copyright, 1893, BY THE J. H. PANDERS PUB. CO. (All rights reserved.) TABLE OF CONTENTS. PREFACE 5 PREFACE TO THE REVISED AND ILLUSTRATED EDITION 9 CHAPTER I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING.— General Laws of Heredity — Causes of Variation from Original Types — Modifications from Changed Conditions of Life — Accidental Variations or "Sports"— Extent of Hereditary Influence— The Formation of Breeds — In-Breeding and Crossing — Value of Pedigree — Relative Size of Sire and Dam — Influence of First Impregna- tion— Effect of Imagination on Color of Progeny — Effect of Change of Climate on the Generative Organs— Controlling the Sex 11 CHAPTER II. STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. — Selection of Breeding- Stock—General Management of the Stallion— Controlling the Stallion When in Use -When Mares Should be Tried— The Number of Mares to be Served— Effect of Age on the Fertil- ity of the Stallion— Effect of Age on the Quality of the Get — Percentage of Foals to Mares Served — Management of the Stallion After the Season Closes— Effects of Castration on Stallions— Fighting Between Stallions— The Brood Mare- Causes of Barrenness in Brood Mares — The Productive Pe- riod in Brood Mares— Time of Foaling and Period of Gesta- tion—General Suggestions as to Food and Nursing— Feeding the Young Foal — Weaning the Foal — Effect of Exercise on Development— Breaking the Foal— Views of Dr. Reynolds, of Liverpool, on Horses 88 CHAPTER III. BREEDS OF HORSES. — General Features — Thoroughbreds — Trot- ters, Roadsters, Pacers and Saddle Horses— Orloffs or Rus- sian Trotters— French Coach Horses— Cleveland Bays- Hackneys— Shire or Cart Horses — Clydesdales — Percherons — Boulonnais— Other French Draft Breeds— The Suffolk Punch— Other Breeds. . ,,.184 101834 2 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING-STOCK.— Hygiene of the Eye— The Eye as Affected by the Teeth— Umbilical Hernia in Young Foals — Scours, or Diarrhoea, in Colts — Strangles, or Distemper. THE STALLION.— External Injuries— Inflam- mation of the Penis— Inflammation of the Testicles— Cancer of the Penis and Sheath — Prolapse, or Paralysis of the Penis — Scrotal Hernia — Waterbag, So-Called — Excessive Venery — Non-emission of Semen, or Proudness, So-Called—Sexual Sluggishness— Spermatorrhoea — Vesicular Eruptions on the Penis — Foul Sheath — Masturbation — Cryptorchids (Ridge- lings, So-Called) . THE BROOD MARE.— Barrenness— Nym- phomania — Tumors Within the Vagina and Uterus— Leucor- rhoea, or So-Called Whites — Colt-Founder, So-Called— (Edema During Pregnancy— Superimpregnation— Heat Dur- ing Pregnancy — Laceration of the Rectum — Abortion — Diffi- cult Parturition— Laceration of the Perinaeum— Mange- Lice on Colts .293 CHAPTER V. DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS.— Congestion and Inflam- mation of the Testicles (Orchitis)— Sarcocele— Hydrocele— Dropsy of the Scrotum— Varicocele— Abnormal Number of Testicles — Degeneration of the Testicles — Warts on the Penis —Degeneration of Penis (Papilloma, Epithelioma)— Extrav- asation of Blood in the Penis— Paralysis of the Penis— Self- Abuse (Masturbation) — Mai duCoit (Dourine) — Castration of Stallions — Conditions Favorable to Successful Castration — Castration of Cryptorchids (Ridgelings)— Pain After Cas- tration— Bleeding After Castration — Strangulated Spermatic Cord— Swelling of the Sheath, Penis, and Abdomen— Phy- mosis and Paraphymosis— Tumors on the Spermatic Cord- Castration of the Mare— Sterility— Indications of Pregnancy — Duration of Pregnancy — Hygiene of the Pregnant Mare — Extra-Uterine Gestation— Moles (Anidian Monsters)— Cystic Disease of the Walls of the Womb (Vesicular Mole)— Dropsy of the Womb — Dropsy of the Amnios — Dropsy of the Limbs, Perinaeum, and Abdomen — Cramps of the Hind Limbs — Con- stipation—Paralysis—Prolonged Retention of the Foetus (Foal)— Abortion— Symptoms of Parturition— Natural Pre- sentation— Difficult Parturition — Premature Labor Pains — Difficult Parturition From Narrow Pelvis— Fractured Hip- Bones—Tumors in the Vagina and Pelvis— Hernia of the Womb— Twistinff of t^e NecJr of the Womb— Effusion of Blood CONTENTS. 3 iu the Vaginal Walls— Calculus (Stone) and Tumor in the Bladder — Impaction of the Rectum with Faeces — Spasm of the Neck of the Womb— Fibrous Bands Constricting or Crossing the Neck of the Womb — Fibrous Constriction of Vagina or Vulva— Foetus Adherent to the Walls of the Womb— Exces- sive Size of the Foetus— Constriction of a Member by the Navel String— Water in the Head (Hydrocephalus) of the Foal- General Dropsy of the Foatus— Swelling of the Foetus With Gas— Emphysema— Contractions of Muscles— Dropsy of the • Abdomen in the Foal (Ascites)— Tumors ot the Foetus (In- closed Ovum)— Monstrosities— Entrance of Twins Into the Passage at Once — Table of Wrong Presentations — Fore Limbs Incompletely Extended — One Fore Limb Crossed Over the Back of the Neck— Fore Limb Bent at the Knee- Fore Limb Turned Back From the Shoulder — Head Bent Down Between the Fore Limbs — Head Turned Back on the Shoulder— Head Turned Upward on the Back— Hind Feet Engaged in the Pelvis— Anterior Presentation With Back Turned to One Side— Back of the Foal Turned to the Floor of the Pelvis— Hind Presentation With Leg Bent at Hock- Hind Presentation With Legs Bent Forward From the Hip- Hind Presentations With the Back Turned Sideways or Downward— Presentation of the Back— Presentation of Breast and Abdomen — Embryotomy — Flooding (Bleeding From the Womb) — Eversion of the Womb — Rupture or Lacer- ation of the Womb— Ruptures of the Vagina- Inflammation of the Womb and Peritoneum — Leucorrhoea — Laminitis, or Founder, Following Parturition— Diseases of the Udder and Teats (Congestion and Inflammation of the Udder)— Tumors of the Udder— Sore Teats, Scabs, Cracks, Warts ... .335 CHAPTER VI. DENTITION OF HORSES.— Incisors of Foal at Birth— Incisors of Foal at Birth— Incisors of Foal at Two Months— Incisors of Foal at Six Months— Incisors of Foal at One Year— Molar Teeth of Foal at One Year— Molars of Foal at Two Years- Incisors of Cart Filly at Two Years— Incisors of Horse at Three Years— Incisors of Horse at Four Years— Incisors of Horse at Five Years— Incisors of Horse at Six Years— In- cisors of Horse at Seven Years— Mclars of Horse at Two Years and Seven Months— Molars of Horse at Three Years and Eight Months— Incisors of Mare (Solace) at Ten Years —Incisors of Horse (Peep-o'-Day Boy) at Eight Years— In- cisors of Horse (Lothario) at Twelve Years 404 PREFACE. A very large proportion of the matter contained in this volume was prepared for publication several years ago when I had more leisure to study and write upon the topics herein considered, and when I was fresher from the field of practical experience than now. Much of it has since been printed in fragments at various times, some of it in the form of editorial articles for the monthly journal that was so long under my manage- ment, some in essays or addresses at meetings and con- ventions of breeders of live stock, and still other portions of it in the weekly stock-breeders' paper that for more than three years past has occupied my almost constant attention. A little more than four years ago I thought myself about ready to gather up the fragments that were already prepared and give them to the public in book form; but other and more pressing duties intervened, and it is only within a few months past, having been re- lieved from official duties that had for three years claimed all the time that I could possibly spare from the management of The Breeders Gazette, that I have found leisure to look over and arrange the matter which has been gradually accumulating for so long a period. I give it now to the public, realizing that, in common with all human effort, it must needs be far from perfect, but with a feeling of satisfaction in knowing that the work has at least been conscientiously done; and that 6 PREFACE. such parts of it as are not derived from a knowledge bought with my own personal experiences have, for their foundation, the teachings of others who are regarded as eminent authorities in the specialties upon which I have quoted them. To the introductory chapters, wherein the general principles of breeding are discussed, I have given much thought; and I am confident they may be studied with profit, not only by horse-breeders, but by all who are disposed to investigate the laws which govern the transmission of hereditary qualities from parent to offspring, whether it be in the human species or in the lower orders of animal life. In the descriptions of breeds I have endeavored to be judicially candid and fair; to "nothing extenuate nor set down aught in malice11 ; and where controverted points have been touched upon, while I have endeavored to state my views plainly, and to sustain them by such arguments and facts as to my mind are conclusive, yet I have tried to do so in a man- ner that would not prove .offensive to those whose opin- ions and conclusions may differ from my own. Aside from the introductory chapters on the general principles of breeding, which are applicable alike to all breeds and all varieties of live stock, I have endeavored to make the work a practical guide to the management of the breeding stud — a book which any farmer or farmers boy, or any novice in the business of horse- breeding, may read and study with profit. In the course of my long experience as editor of a live-stock paper, covering a period of about sixteen years, the constantly recurring questions that have been sent in for answer have served to direct my attention especially to the points upon which information is most frequently PREFACE. / sought, and these points I have endeavored to most fully answer in the pages which follow. While I have not intended that this book should in any sense be regarded as a veterinary, work, yet I have thought I might add greatly to its practical usefulness by incorporating with it the material portions of several articles, prepared at my request by Prof. James Law, of Cornell University, N. Y., and previously published under my direction, wherein he treats of some of the diseases to which stallions, brood mares and young foals are especially subject. And I have also added a number of pages of matter of a similar nature, prepared especially for this work by N. H. Paaren, M. D., State Veterinarian of Illinois, whose high scientific attain- ments and many years of extensive practice have espe- cially fitted him to give valuable counsel upon such topics. In the belief that the book will be found interesting to all students of the science and art of breeding, and especially helpful to those who have the care and man- agement of breeding studs, whether on a large or small scale, it is given to the public with a full consciousness of the fact that it does not contain a tithe of what might profitably be written or said upon the subject. J. H. SANDERS. CHICAGO, Feb. 1, 1885. PREFACE TO THE REVISED AND ILLUS- TRATED EDITION. A little over eight years have elapsed since this volume was first given to the public, and so favorable has been the reception accorded it that edition after edition has been called for, and many thousand copies have been printed and sold, both in this country and in Europe, it having been translated and republished in Germany under the especial supervision and patronage of Herman Von Nathusius. From time to time since the first edition was published many minor changes have been made in the text and a considerable amount of new mat- ter has been furnished as an appendix. But the demand for the work has continued so active that I have thought it but justice to the public as well as to myself that I should now thoroughly revise the work and incorporate therein such additional matter as the experience of the past eight years has suggested, to bring it more fully up to the requirements of the present day. Accordingly the entire work has been carefully gone over, some por- tions relating to matters that were in controversy at the time the work was written have been eliminated and much new matter, especially in relation to the various breeds, has been added. The original chapter concern- ing the breeding of trotting horses treated at consider- able length of what was then a matter of earnest contro- versy; and the correctness of the principles of breeding therein laid down has been so thoroughly demonstrated 10 PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION. by the experience of the world since then, and so gen- erally adopted, that I have felt constrained to leave that portion of the work substantially as it was originally written, although to the young breeder of to-day it may appear strange that so much space should be devoted to what ought to have been obvious to all intelligent men without waiting for the confirmation which the experi- ence of the past ten years has furnished. The chapter by Prof. Law on " Diseases of the Genera- tive Organs," taken by permission from the recent Gov- ernment publication on the " Diseases of Horses,1' more especially that portion devoted to difficult parturition, will, I am sure, be found a most valuable addition to the work. K! In the illustrations of the various breeds I have not attempted to give, in any case, a picture of the model horse of the breed, but rather to present an illustration that should in each case be typical and characteristic of the breed represented; and in this the artist has been in most cases reasonably successful. Feeling certain that with the changes made and the matter now for the first time incorporated in the work the book will prove vastly more valuable to the practical breeder than the previous editions, it is respectfully submitted to the public. J. H. SANDERS, CHICAGO, September, 1893. CHAPTER I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING, It is stated in Holy Writ that "God made man a little lower than the angels," and by common consent the horse is usually placed next highest in the scale of living things. It will not be inappropriate then, in a treatise mainly devoted to the breeding of this, the noblest of the brute creation, to discuss some of the general principles which govern the transmission of hereditary qualities from par- ent to offspring, and which are beyond a ques- tion substantially the same throughout all animal life. Through the practical application of these laws to the business of breeding domes- tic animals, which for many years past has so largely occupied the attention of intelligent men in Europe and America, the great mass of our agricultural population have become famil- iar with their inexorable power and force; and with a knowledge of the immutability of these laws has come a realization of the stern fact that the human species furnishes no exception to their operation. 12 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. The passage in the Decalogue, which declares that the iniquities of the "fathers are visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generations, is clothed with a new and startling significance since it has come to be generally understood that this declaration is a concise statement of the operations of a physiological law, from which there is absolutely no escape. That the physical as well as the mental and moral infirmities and peculiarities of the father and mother are visited upon the children, even beyond the third and fourth generations, is as true of the human family as it is of cattle, horses, sheep, and swine. It is not my purpose to attempt to contro- vert the principle that "all men are born free and equal," which stands as the corner-stone of our political system. Undoubtedly this is true when applied to "rights under the law," but that all men are born physically, mor- ally, and intellectually equal will scarcely be claimed by the most ardent admirer of our democratic institutions. There is a solid foun- dation, in physiological fact, for the admiration with which the "first families of Virginia" have been regarded, and the same may be said of many of the families of New England and other parts of our country. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes makes his "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table" give utterance to his belief in this great GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 13 truth and his faith in the value of pedigree in the human family when he says: "I go always, other things being equal, for the man who in- herits family traditions and the cumulative humanities of at least four or five genera- tions." To know that a man or woman is descended from an old family whose record has been honorable, beyond reproach and without taint, is the very best possible evidence, next to his own individual record, that he also is worthy of confidence and respect; and a taint in the blood of an opposite character should certainly be regarded with as much distrust as a similar taint in the blood of any of our domestic animals, and for the same reasons. What is "bred in the bone" will be transmit- ted. Beauty of form and feature, strength and force of intellect, elegance' and grace of motion, integrity and honesty of character, suscepti- bility of culture and refinement, or boorish stupidity, as well as all the virtues and vices, are as clearly transmissible and inheritable qualities in man as are the color of the hair and the shape of the body in horses and cattle. A subject of such vital importance, involving as it does so much of weal or woe to the human race, and which places in the hands of intelli- gent persons such power over the animal king- dom, may well command the attention of thinking men, aside from its practical value as 14 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. an aid to the reproduction of desirable forms and qualities in our domestic animals. It has been said of Bakewell, one of the first great improvers of live stock in Great Britain, that he regarded the animals upon his farm as wax in his hands, out of which in good time he could mould any form that he desired to create. In fact, all our domestic animals have been, to a great degree, moulded and fashioned by the hand of man. The same uniformity that now characterizes the bison, the elk and the deer probably belonged to the horse, the cow, the sheep and the swine, in a state of nature. The ponderous English Cart horse and the diminu- tive Shetland pony, are all believed to have descended from an original as uniform in its characteristics as are the members of a herd of bison upon our western prairies. The Short- horn, the Hereford, the Devon, the Jersey, and all of the various breeds into which our cattle are now divided, are descended, it is believed, from the same original type. CAUSES OF VARIATION FROM ORIGINAL TYPES. That the changed conditions of life to which animals have been subjected by domestica- tion— the variety of uses to which they have been put, the food upon which they have sub- sisted, the climate in which they have been reared, and selection for special uses— have GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING, 15 produced the varieties which are now so appar- ent, is generally admitted. Very much of this divergence is due to climatic influences, which alone are sufficiently powerful, iu the changes of food and of habit which necessarily follow, to account for nearly all the varieties which have been produced. A warm climate and a bountiful supply of nutritious food from birth to maturity promotes growth and development, while a scanty supply of nutrition and a rigor- ous climate have a positive tendency in the opposite direction. A knowledge of the effect of heat and cold upon growth and development has been taken advantage of by breeders for the purpose of producing dwarf specimens. The breeder, of Bantam fowls is careful to have his chicks hatched late in the season, so that the early approach of cold weather may arrest de- velopment. The bleak, barren and tempestu- ous islands (lying in the high latitude of 59 and 60 deg.) north of Scotland, with their scanty subsistence and long winters, have dwarfed the horse of that country until he appears as the diminutive Shetland pony, while, from proba- ably the same original, the rich herbage, nutri- tious grains and mild climate 10 deg. further south, on the European coast, have given us the immense draft horses of ancient Normandy and Flanders. But while climate andi the necessarily accom- 16 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. panying influences have done much to cause the divergence which now exists in races that were once uniform, selection by the hand of man has also been actively at work, in some cases co-operating with the influences of cli- mate, thereby accelerating the transformation, and in others counteracting its effect. We have an illustration of this in the horses of Canada. It is quite evident that the causes that have given us the tough, shaggy pony of Lower Can- ada, if continued without interruption for a succession of generations, and accelerated by the efforts of breeders in selecting animals for the purpose of reproduction, with the same object constantly in view, would in course of time give us a race as diminutive as the ponies of the Himalaya Mountains or of the Shetland Islands. But this climatic influence has been retarded and counteracted by Canadian breed- ers, who have rejected the smaller specimens for breeding purposes, and have constantly drawn upon the large draft breeds of Europe for fresh crosses. To such an extent has this infusion of fresh blood been carried, especially in Upper Canada, or Ontario, that the influ- ences of climate have been overpowered and the progression during the last twenty-five years has been decidedly in the opposite direc- tion. The efforts of Canadian breeders in this direction have been aided materially by the GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 17 improved condition of agriculture in the Dominion, which has led to a more liberal system of feeding and more thorough protec- tion from the rigor of the climate. And thus the forces and influences of nature, in some cases aided and in others counteracted by the efforts of man, have constantly been at work, breaking up the uniformity which originally characterized all our domestic animals, until divergence from the original type has become, in many instances, truly wonderful. The influences of selection, in creating diver- gence from a type singularly uniform, finds a most striking illustration in the case of the domestic pigeon, of which there are now nearly 300 known varieties, more or less distinct, and all probably descended from the common wild rock pigeon. Among these varieties the diver- gence is remarkable, not only in the color of the plumage, which in the original is uniform, but in the shape and markings of the various parts. Who would believe, at first thought, that the pouters, the carriers, the runts, the barbs, the fantails, the owls, the tumblers, the frill-backs, the jacobins, the trumpeters, etc., and all their sub-varieties, with differences so strongly marked, are descended from one com- mon parent stock! Yet that this is true, and that all the varieties from the original type have resulted from changed conditions of life, 18 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. climatic influences and artificial selection and crossing, is generally admitted by naturalists. It is one of the principles of heredity, that when there is a great uniformity in a species divergences from the usual type in the off- spring are slight and rare; but when this uni- formity, from no matter what cause, has been broken up, divergences in the offspring are frequent and great, although there is always present a tendency, more or less powerful, to revert to the original type. This tendency is most frequently manifested when breeds or races, widely differing in their present forms, are crossed upon each other. In such cases, or violent crosses as they are called, it frequently happens that the progeny resembles neither parent, but shows strong marks of the type from which both of its ancestors originally sprung. Darwin gives numerous illustrations of this tendency to reversion in his experi- ments with pigeons of various breeds and col- ors, one of which I quote, as follows: I paired a mongrel female barb-fantail with a mongrel male barb-spot, neither of which mongrels had the least blue about them. Let it be remembered that blue barbs are excessively rare; that spots, as has been already stated, were perfectly characterized in the year 1676, and breed perfectly true ; this likewise is the case with white fantails, so much so that I have never heard of white fantails throw- ing any other color. Nevertheless, the offspring from the above two mongrels were of exactly the same blue tint as that of the wild rock pigeon, from the Shetland Islands, over GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. • 19 the whole back and wings; the double black wing bars were equally conspicuous; the tail was exactly alike in all its characters, and the croup was pure white; the head, how- ever, was tinted with a shade of red, evidently derived from the spot, and was of a paler blue than in the rock pigeon, as was the stomach. So that two black barbs, a red spot and a white fan tail, as the four purely-bred grandparents, pro- duced a bird of the same general blue color, together with every characteristic mark, as in the wild Columba livid, or rock pigeon.* This tendency to reversion in different breeds of domestic animals when crossed accounts for many of the disappointments which breeders experience in their efforts to improve their stock, and serves greatly to complicate the breeding problem. MODIFICATIONS PRODUCED BY CHANGED CONDI- TIONS OF LIFE. It is quite certain, from what we know of the effect of climate and of changed habits upon animals in a state of domestication, that if two branches of the same tribe or species, essentially alike in every feature, should, by some chance, become separated and compelled to subsist under widely different conditions of life, being left entirely to themselves and the operation of natural laws, in course of time a * Those who have a desire to investigate this subject, as illus- trated by the breeding of pigeons, will find a very full history of the various breeds, their processes of formation, and the effects of selection and crossing of breeds, in Darwin's " Variations of Ani- mals and Plants under Domesti cation," Vol. I, pp. 163 to 272. 20 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. very m-arked difference would occur in their structure or habits. There is a tendency in all animal life to adapt itself to the conditions under which it must exist; but the change may be so abrupt and complete as to overcome this tendency; and, under such a condition, the race would speedily become extinct, or gradually die out with a few generations of sickly and en- feebled descendants; but, under circumstances less abrupt and unfavorable, a few might sur- vive, being those individuals that, from some peculiarity of organization, suffered least from' the change. These animals, in their turn, would reproduce the peculiarities of their race, modi- fied to some extent by the new conditions which environed them; and these again would produce animals still better adapted to the new order, until, in course of time, we should have a race widely differing from the original type, created or evolved by a survival of those best fitted to exist under the new order of things, and remoulded and refashioned by the changed conditions of life. If we accept the commonly-received doctrine of the origin of the human race — that is, that all mankind are descended from a common par- entage— we are driven to the conclusion that all the differences which are so apparent in the human family at the present day are the re- sult of the operation of the law of adaptation GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 21 to changed conditions and of climatic influ- ences, to which I have just referred. And yet there is as great a divergence from a uniform type in the human race as in any of the lower orders of animals that are recognized as belong- ing to a single species. In the practical business of breeding domes- tic animals it is important that due promi- nence be given to the operation of the laws to which I have alluded, for it follows that a race or breed most perfectly adapted to a certain locality, a certain mode of life, conditions of climate, and character of subsistence, may, in time, when transported to a distant clime, or even when subjected to changed conditions of life in the same locality, lose all its distin- guishing characteristics and become practi- cally worthless. On the other hand, a race of but little value in its native state may be so modified by a change in climatic conditions, or by the character, quality and quantity of the aliment furnished, as to become of the highest value to the breeder; and these modi- fications, although frequently so slow as to be almost imperceptible in a single generation, are accelerated by the power of inheritance under a continuation of the conditions which inaugurated them. A high or low temperature, and abundant or scanty nutrition, will, as be- fore stated, affect physical development either 22 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. favorably or unfavorably. Elevated plains, low marshes, and mountain ranges are each adapted to support a species of animal life in some re- spects distinct from the others; and hence a knowledge of the effect of the various climatic conditions, and of the different kinds of food, becomes of the utmost importance to the breeder in determining the kinds of domesti- cated animals that he can produce with profit. There is perhaps no variety of animals that has been domesticated by man in which the effects of climate and nutrition are more apparent than in horses. Temperate regions, grassy plains, and, consequently, abundant nutrition, produce increased size and strength; mountain ranges, with bleak, cold climate and scanty subsistence, dwarf the frame and pro- duce the hardy, diminutive pony. The fertile plains of Germany and Flanders, with their salubrious climate and abundant herbage, have been the home, from the very earliest period of history, of the ponderous draft horses which still distinguish that region, and have been the sources from which all the countries of the world Tiave drawn the foundation for their draft breeds. The bleak and barren Shetland Islands, and the mountainous tract wThich lies between the plains of India and the crest of the great Himalaya range, are the homes of races of diminutive Donies, rough, shaggy and GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 2 hardy. The highest inhabited land of Asia, which forms the source of the Granges, the Indus and the Bramapootra — a country as rug- ged and bleak as can well be conceived — con- tains immense numbers of small, sinewy and agile horses. The extreme regions bounded by the mountains of Siberia on the north, the Sea of Okhotsk on the east, and the Little Altaic Mountains on the west — the home of the Kal- mucks—^abound in a tough and hardy race of ponies. I have not been able to find an exception to this law of nature in the history of the world. Wherever the horse has existed for centuries on rich, fertile plains, and in a temperate cli- mate, we find him distinguished for size and strength; wherever he has been the inhabitant of inhospitable, mountainous regions he be- comes diminutive and hardy. Of course these results have obtained where the horse is left largely to take care of himself. Man may do much by supplying warm stables and abundant food, and by selection, to counteract the influ- ence of climate, but in spite of his utmost care the tendency will constantly be as Nature has pointed out. Mountainous regions and a rigor- ous climate will produce the smallest, tough- est, hardiest horses (as we have seen in the New England Morgans and the Canadian ponies of our own country), while our rich and fertile 24 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. prairies and luxuriant valleys are adapted by nature to be the home of the ponderous draft horse. Prof. Low in his great work, "The Domesti- cated Animals of the British Islands/' has a very interesting chapter on the effect of cli- matic influences upon animal life, from which I quote the following : The effect of heat is everywhere observed, as it modifies the secretions which give color to the skin, and the degree of covering provided for the protection of the body, whether wool or hair. In the case of the human species the effects of temperature on the color of the skin, and, with this, on the color of the eyes and hair, are sufficiently known. We can- not pass from the colder parts of Europe to the warmer with- out marking the progressive diversities of color, from the light complexion of the northern nations to the swarthy tinge of the Spaniards, Italians, and Greeks, and when we have crossed the Mediterranean into Africa the dark color, which is proper to all the warmer regions of the globe, everywhere meets the eye. The Jews, naturally as fair as the other inhabitants of Syria, become gradually darker as they have been for a longer or shorter time acclimated in the warmer countries; and on the plains of the Ganges they are as dark as Hindoos. The Portuguese who have been naturalized in the African colonies of their nation have become entirely black. If we suppose, indeed, the great races of mankind to have been called into existence in dif- ferent regions we must suppose that they were born with the color, as well as with the other attributes, suited to the climates of the countries which they were to inhabit. It accords with this supposition that the Negro remains always black, even in the highest latitudes to which he has been carried; and that the black races of the Eastern Islands retain the color proper to them in the mild temperature of Van Diemen's Land. The Mongolian, even in the coldest GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 25 regions of Northern Asia, retains the hue distinctive of his family, but with a continually deepening shade as he approaches to the inter-tropical countries. The native of China, of a dull yellow tint at Pekin, is at Canton nearly as dark as a Lascar The American Indian retains his dis- tinctive copper hue amid the snows of Labrador, but on the shores of the Caribbean Sea becomes nearly as black as an African. Temperature likewise affects the size and form of the body. The members of the Caucasian group towards the Arctic Circle are of far inferior bulk of body to the natives of temperate countries. The Central Asiatics, in elevated plains, are sturdy and short, the result of an expansion of the chest; the Hindoos are of slender form and low physical powers, so that they have almost always yielded to the supe- rior force of the northern nations from the first invasion of the Macedonians to the ultimate establishment of European power in the Peninsula. The Negro, on the other hand, in the hottest and most pestilential regions of the habitable earth, where the Caucasian either perishes or becomes as slender as a stripling, is of a strength and stature which would be deemed great in any class of men — affording a strong pre- sumption in favor of the opinion of the distinctness of his race and its special adaptation to the region in which it has been placed. In quadrupeds the effects of temperature are everywhere observable in the covering provided for their bodies, whether wool or hair, and which in the same species is always more abundant in the colder than in the warmer countries. In all quadrupeds there is a growth of down or wool underneath the hair, and more or less mixed with it. In warm countries this wool is little if at all developed; but in the colder it fre- quently becomes the principal covering of the skin, forming along with the hair a thick fur. In the warmest regions the domestic sheep produces scarcely any wool; in temperate countries he has a fleece properly so called, and in the cold- est of all his wool is mixed with long hair which covers it externally. The wool, an imperfect conductor of heat, pre- serves the natural temperature of the body, and thus pro- 26 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. tects the animal from cold, while the long hair is fitted to throw off the water which falls upon the body in rain or snow. But in the warm season the wool, which would be incommodious, falls off, to be renewed before winter, while the hair always remains. The dog, too, has a coat of wool which he loses in countries of great heat, but which in colder countries grows so as to form along with the hair a thick fur, so that in certain cold countries there have been formed breeds of. dogs to produce wool for clothing. The dogs of Europe conveyed to warm countries frequently lose even their hair and become as naked as elephants, and in every country their fur is suited to the nature of the climate. Similar to the effects of temperature is that of humidity, the hair becoming longer and more oily in the moister coun- tries. Even within the limits of our own islands, the ox of the western coasts, exposed to the humid vapors of the Atlantic, has longer hair than the ox of the eastern dis- tricts. Even the effects of continued exposure to winds and storms may modify parts of the animal form. There are certain breeds of gallinaceous fowls which are destitute of the rump, so called. Most of the common fowls of the Isle of Arran, on the coast of Scotland, have this peculiarity. This little island consists of high hills, on which scarcely a bush exists to shelter the animals which inhabit it from the continued gales of the Atlantic. The feathers of a long tail might incommode the animals, and therefore, we may suppose, they disappear; and were peacocks to be "reared under similar circumstances it is probable that, in the course of successive generations, they would lose the beautiful ap- pendage which they bring from their native jungles. The effects, likewise, of altitude are to be numbered among those which modify the characters of animals. In general the animals of mountains are smaller and more agile than those of the same species inhabiting plains. In man the pulse increases in frequency as he ascends into the at- mosphere, so that, while at the level of the sea the number of beats is 70 in a minute, at the height of 4,000 feet the number exceeds 100. The air being rarer a greater quantity of it must be drawn into the lungs to afford the oxygen GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 27 necessary to carry off the excess of carbon in the system. But gradually, as man and other animals become natural- ized in an elevated country, the digestive and respiratory organs, and with these the capacity of the chest and abdo- men, become suited to their new relations. Humboldt re- marks on the extraordinary development of the chest in the inhabitants of the Andes, producing even deformity; and he justly observes that this is a consequence of the rarity of the air, which demands an extension of the lungs. The effects have been referred to of use or exercise in modifying certain parts of the animal form. The limbs of many animate inured or compelled to speed become extended in length, as of the dogs employed in the chase of the swifter animals. The limbs of an animal deprived of the means of motion become feeble and small, as the wings of domesti- cated birds. In the natural state the cow has a small udder, yet sufficient to contain the milk which her young requires; in the domesticated state, by milking her, the organ be- comes enlarged so as to contain a quantity of milk beyond what the wants of her own offspring demand. Nor are the characteristics thus acquired confined to the individuals on which they have been impressed, but may be transmitted to their posterity. The lessons taught by these illustrations are obvious. None of our improved breeds are adapted to all climates and all conditions of life. To be at their best they must each be kept, as nearly as possible, under the same conditions of food and climate as those under which they have attained their excellence. Any material change in either of these conditions is liable ultimately to make a material change in the character of the breed. These changes are usu- ally unfavorable ones, although not necessarily so. Change of itself, when in the direction of 28 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. « better care, more generous feeding and more genial climate, will tend to produce greater size, a more graceful form, and greater excel- lence. At the same time improvement in these particulars is quite likely to be at the expense of what is termed hardiness, or ability to with- stand exposure and rough usage. ACCIDENTAL VARIATIONS OR " SPORTS." When animals in a state of nature are not disturbed in the enjoyment of the conditions under which they have existed for ages, as the American bison or buffalo, the elk, the deer, the wolf, etc., the uniformity which prevails among all the individuals of the race is remark- able; and all the peculiarities of structure, color and character are transmitted from generation to generation with almost unerring certainty; and here the maxim of the breeder, thab "like produces like," scarcely ever meets with an ex- ception. Such animals are, in the truest sense of the word, thoroughbred, or purely bred. There has been no commingling of blood or crossing of various strains to give the race a composite character, and hence when we have seen the sire and dam we can tell with certainty what the progeny will be. Were any of our domesticated animals purely bred, in the sense that the bison, the elk or deer are purely bred, the breeding problem would be a simple one, GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 29 and like would invariably produce like so long as the conditions of life remained the same. The same principle holds true in the reproduc- tion of vegetable life. An absolutely pure seed reproduces its kind, but when cross-fertilization has once taken place the result is uncertain. If the flower of the Baldwin apple tree be fer- tilized by the pollen of a Winesap the seed from this union will produce neither the one nor the other. It will be an apple because both of its parents were apples; but as they were of differ- ent varieties, or forms, or characters, so the produce will have a character of its own, differ- ing from both of its ancestors. And even if the stigma of the Baldwin be fertilized by pollen of its own kind the result is uncertain, because the parent is itself the result of cross-fertiliza- tion. The application of this principle to the crossing of different races of domestic animals is evident, and I shall have occasion to refer to it hereafter. But, notwithstanding the uniformity of which I have spoken, in the produce of absolutely pure or unmixed races there arises occasionally what is termed an accidental variation from the es- tablished type — a sport, as it is frequently called. The color of the American deer is of a fixed type, and a departure from uniformity in this particular is very rare — yet a white deer is occasionally found — and so of other animals in 30 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. which the color is an equally well-established characteristic. Man has five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot, and in this particular the race is uniform; yet a "sport" is occasionally found where the number of fingers or toes is increased to six. When these accidental variations once occur they are liable, under favorable conditions, to be transmitted by inheritance; but under the ordinary oper- ations of Nature's laws, when the conditions of life remain unchanged, these anomalies usually disappear within one or two generations and the normal and characteristic type of the race is resumed. A well-authenticated instance of the transmission of accidental variations is found in the oft- quoted case of Edward Lambert, whose whole body, with the exception of the face, the soles of the feet and the palms of the hands, was covered with a sort of horny excres- cence, which was periodically molted. His six sons all inherited the same peculiarity, and the only one of the six that survived transmitted it, in turn, to all his sons. This abnormal char- acteristic was transmitted through the male line for six generations, and then disappeared.* It is a very remarkable illustration of the pecu- liarities of heredity that the females of this family should have failed to inherit this pecu- * "Philosophical Transactions," Vol. XVII, p. 23. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 31 liarity. Another very remarkable case of this nature that came under my own observation was that of a family residing in Iowa, where the mother and three daughters were entirely destitute of hair, but the sons all had quite as much as the average of men. We have also several well-authenticated cases of the trans- mission, for a few generations, of an abnormal number of fingers or toes, as in the case of the Colburn family, where each of the members had a supernumerary toe and finger, which anomaly was transmitted, although irregularly, for four generations before it entirely disap- peared. The writer is personally cognizant of a case in -which the second and third toe of each foot were united, and which anomaly has been transmitted for three generations to one only out of an average of eight descendants in each family. But, as before remarked, when the conditions of life remain unchanged these anomalies almost invariably disappear, and the descendants ultimately resume the typical character of the race. From the fact that these accidental varia- tions have shown themselves to be, in a limited degree, transmissible by heredity, we may infer that if selections were made with a view to their perpetuation they might ultimately be- come fixed characteristics. Indeed, there is a considerable weight of evidence tending to show 32 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. that even variations produced by mutilation, or by other artificial means, are sometimes trans- mitted, especially when the mutilation has been intimately' connected with the nervous system. Dr. Prosper Lucas gives numerous well-authen- ticated instances of this character, and is decid- edly of opinion that variations or mutilations that are the result of disease are transmissible. That eminent scientist, Dr. Brown-Sequard, gives an interesting account of some experi- ments with guinea pigs. By an operation upon a certain nerve he produced epileptic convul- sions; and the produce of the animals upon which this operation was performed manifested the same symptoms.* But, notwithstanding the numerous instances given by the eminent authorities above quoted, I am of the opinion that the cases of the transmission of these arti- ficially produced variations are so rare as to be practically of no account in the calculations of the breeder. The law which governs the transmission of these accidental variations, whether they be the result of a "sport" or of external influences, appears to be that when such variations from the common type are in antagonism to the conditions of life to which the individual is *4 'Proceedings of the Royal Society of Great Britain," Vol. X, p. 297. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 38 subjected the variations are not perpetuated; while, on the other hand, if 'they are in con- formity to the existing wants or conditions, thereby better fitting the individual to succeed in the struggle for existence, natural selection and a survival of the fittest will tend to perpet- uate them. It is evident, therefore, that the laws of heredity tend to reproduce in the progeny the character of the ancestors, and that when the ancestry is of a fixed and uniform type the maxim that "like produces like" admits of few exceptions. Yet there are exceptions even here, as we have seen in the case of sports; and the modifications produced by changed conditions of life, adaptation to new uses and new modes of subsistence, tend to vary what, under the operation of the unrestricted laws of heredity, would fix a given type and leave the breeder's art powerless to effect change or improve- ment. Heredity, which makes of every individual the sum, or aggregation, of that which has lived before him, is essentially a conservative force, and opposes all changes, all progress, all im- provement; but evolution, which compels he- redity to give way to internal and external causes, and modifies both the physical and mental organism, places in the breeder's hands the means of effecting wonderful changes. 34 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. EXTENT OF HEREDITARY INFLUENCE. I have spoken of two forces that, in their effects, appear to be diametrically opposed to each other — heredity, which makes of every in- dividual the sum, or aggregation, of that which has preceded it, and evolution or spontaneity, which constantly tends to give to animal life new forms and to each individual peculiarities which belong to it alone. Of these heredity is unquestionably the stronger force, because, as I have before remarked, when uniformity has once been established the general principle that like produces like finds very rarely an excep- tion. In fact the influence of heredity is always present, and in the reproduction of animal life never fails to assert itself in a greater or less degree. Every living thing brings forth young after its own kind — in some cases the exact counterpart of the parent, and in others slightly modified; but always showing more or less of the parent type. Men do not gather grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles, neither do Short-horn COWTS bring forth buffalo calves nor draft mares produce thoroughbred race horses. Hence, al- though we may frequently meet with very strik- ing differences between the parents and the progeny, yet a moment's reflection will show us that the points of resemblance are always very much greater than those of difference. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 35 We are so accustomed to look at the operation of this law in its details that we overlook the aggregate of results. We mate a purely-bred black Essex sow and boar, and look upon it as a matter of course that the pigs produced will all be black and possess the general characteristics of the Essex breed; but if, having selected our breeding pair with a view to the transmission of a peculiar form of the head or shape of the ear we find in the produce that few, and possi- bly none, possess the peculiarity which we have sought to perpetuate, we are apt to lose faith in the power of heredity. And yet it would be an argument against the uniform operation of this law were the produce all to possess the peculiarity which distinguished the sire and dam, for this was in them an exceptional fea- ture; and the fact that the pigs possessed, in lieu of this peculiar mark, the character that belonged to their ancestors in general is rather a testimony to the inherent power of heredity than otherwise. Were our pair of pure Essex swine to produce Poland-China or Berkshire or Yorkshire pigs there would be room for suspi- cion or for complaint that the laws of heredity had been violated; but such a transgression of Nature's law so rarely occurs that when it does take place we may properly call the result a " sport." Hence, the failure of an individual to reproduce features that are peculiar to itself, 36 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. or of a pair of individuals distinguished for the same peculiarity, to transmit it to the offspring should excite no surprise in the mind of the breeder. Let it be remembered always that heredity transmits with certainty, only what has become a fixed characteristic in the race. Sports, accidental variations and individual peculiari- ties only occur in opposition to this law, and their transmission is at best uncertain. Hered- ity may be depended on to govern the general characteristics which determine the species and the less general ones which distinguish the breed, but when we come to individual charac- teristics, which have never acquired a general character in the ancestry, it frequently fails. In short, the transmission of the greater share of all the characteristics is a thing of universal occur- rence, but their transmission in toto is an ideal conception that is never realized; and only in pro- portion as the ancestry has assumed a fixed and unvarying type do we find this ideal of the effect of heredity approximated. That peculiarity called atavism, or reversion, so often noticed in our domesticated animals, and which has so frequently set at naught the calculations of the breeder, has often been quoted as an illustration of the failure of the law of heredity; but it is in fact only a tribute to its power. By selection, change of climate or of nutrition, or by crossing, or by all of these GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 37 means combined, we may succeed in obliter- ating certain well-defined characteristics, and in modifying a given type, until the new form or character that we have created will, in its turn, be transmitted with reasonable certainty; but suddenly the germ that has lain dormant for so many generations asserts itself, and, greatly to our surprise, the characteristics of the original stock will reappear. As I have before remarked, these cases of reversion most frequently occur when cross-breeding is re- sorted to. The counter currents of hereditary influence, which are, by this means, brought into contact, having a common origin, appear to awaken into being a germ which has for generations been a silent factor in each of the newly-created breeds, and enables it to again assume control of the organism. In addition to the general and well-defined operation of the laws of heredity to which I have alluded, its operations in the transmis- sion of individual characteristics, although not clearly defined, and never to be depended upon, are often wonderful. The son is frequently, in some respects, the exact duplicate of the father, and the daughter of the mother. Sometimes a peculiarity which belonged to the grandsire lies dormant in the son, but crops out as strong as ever in the second or third generation. Again, we find peculiarities transmitted from father 38 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. to daughter, and from mother to son, and even especial sexual characteristics transmitted by the father through a daughter to a grandson, or by the mother through a son to a grand- daughter; but it is worthy of remark that in no case are all the peculiarities of. any one individual transmitted. Indeed, it would be strange were it otherwise, because each indi- vidual is the joint product of two other individ- uals, each endowed with peculiarities of its own; and that each should be transmitted as an entirety is absolutely impossible. Rarely do we find in the offspring a blending of the peculiarities of the parents in exact proportion —as one might theoretically argue would be the result were the parents of equally well- established types — but rather that in some re- spects the offspring resembles the father, in others the mother, in some forming a partial or exact mean between the two; and in still others the produce being utterly unlike either, but possessing an individuality or character peculiarly its own. I might illustrate this by instances from the experience of every breeder, but it is not necessary. The effect has been observed by all who have given any attention whatever to the subject of breeding. THE FORMATION OF BREEDS. I have spoken of the uniformity which char- acterizes animals of a given species in a state GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 39 of nature, and of the various causes that serve to disturb this uniformity in our domesticated animals when subjected to changed conditions of climate or nutrition. I have also treated of the effect of heredity, which makes of the off- spring the sum or aggregation of the qualities that existed in its progenitors, and of the oppos- ing law of evolution or spontaneity which tends to give to each animal a character of its own. I now propose to consider how these known laws and forces may be utilized in the forma- tion of breeds; and, at the threshold of this division of my subject, it is necessary that we should understand what is meant by the terms used. The animal kingdom is divided by natural- ists into four great loranches — RadiatayMollusca, Articulala, and Vertebrate. These branches are again divided into classes. The Vertebrata, to which branch all our domesticated animals be- long, are divided into eight classes, the last of which are the Mammalia, embracing all ani- mals that give suck to their young. These classes are divided into genera, and these again into species. For example: we have the genus Equus, of which the horse, the ass, the zebra and the quagga are species; and these differ- ent species are again divided, with reference to certain peculiarities, into breeds. A breed, therefore, is a classification by which we dis- 40 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. tinguish a group of animals possessing qualities which are not common to all animals of the same species, and which peculiarities have be- come so firmly established that they are uni- formly transmitted by heredity. Thus, we have the Shetland ponies, a breed of horses possess- ing all the general characteristics of the species to which they belong, but especially distin- guished from other breeds by their diminutive size; and the Devons, a breed of cattle uni- formly of a deep red color, and possessing other distinctive features that are not uniform- ly found in any other breed of cattle. It will be observed that these divisions, from first to last, are more or less arbitrary; and, as it is impossible to define exactly the point where the mineral kingdom leaves off and the vegetable kingdom begins, or to distinguish pos- itively the line of demarcation between vegetar ble and animal life, so throughout the entire animal kingdom the various divisions or classes approach each other by almost imperceptible gradations, until in many cases it is impossible to locate the dividing line. This is especially true of breeds. We may assume any standard that our fancy may dictate, as the color or texture of the hair; the shape or size of any particular part of the body, as the head or the ear; any particular function, as the quantity or quality of the milk in cattle; peculiarities ' GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 41 of locomotion, as the trot or pace in the horse; of habit or instinct, as exemplified in the Setter or in the Shepherd dog, etc.; and classifying with reference to the possession of any one of these assumed peculiarities we may divide a species into breeds. Theoretically there is no limit to the extent to which this division into breeds may be carried; but practically it is confined to marked differences in appearance, function, use, disposition or quality.. And when- ever we have, by any means, produced a group or family of animals possessing and transmitting uniformity in any particular, in which there is a lack of uniformity in the species to which they be- long, they are fairly entitled to be classed as a breed. Taking advantage of the almost numberless shades of divergence from the original type to be found among the different species of domes- ticated animals, the laws of heredity and spon- taneity enable man to work wonderful trans- formations and improvements by selecting such individuals as most nearly approximate to his ideal and which manifest a tendency to assume the desired form. By coupling such individuals there is a probability that the quality for which they were selected will be reproduced in the offspring, and that it will be even more promi- nent than in the parents. I say there is a prob- ability that this will be the result, but it is 42 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. by no means certain; for, as I have remarked, only the general and firmly-fixed characteris- tics which distinguish the species are trans- mitted with absolute certainty, and the trans- mission of accidental qualities or especial ex- cellence in any given particular, while always possible, can never be depended upon with certainty. If, however, we select parents both distinguished for the same accidental variation or accidental excellence the chances that this will be transmitted to the offspring are, theoret- ically, twice as great as when only one of the parents is in possession of the desired quality; and if in the produce from this coupling we see manifestations of the desired tendency we may unite the animals so bred with an increased probability that they, in turn, will transmit it to their offspring. It is mainly .by this process of selection and coupling, with a view to the attainment of certain desirable qualities, per- severed in for many generations, that all noted breeders have succeeded in moulding the forms or establishing the breeds that have given them celebrity. It must be borne in mind that the very proc- esses of Nature w^hich make it possible for man to effect improvement in any species of domes- ticated animals conspire to make the work of creating a new type of heterogeneous materials extremely difficult. In making selections with GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 43 a view to the perpetuation of any variation from an established type we must always be- gin with such individuals as have manifested a tendency to assume the desired form and transmit it to their offspring. With a mixed and heterogeneous ancestry, representing vari- ous shades of divergence from the original type of the species, progress in any given direction by selection will, under the most favorable cir- cumstances, be slow, and the results will fre- quently be anything but satisfactory. There is always a tendency in the offspring of a mixed or improved race to revert to the original form of the species from which it is deriveji. This tendency, as I have shown, is most fre- quently manifested where animals of a widely different character are coupled, as in the case of cross-breeding with distinct varieties or breeds; and this, although not without its com- pensating advantages in many cases, introduces new elements of divergence. Hence the breeder will of ben find failure where he had most ex- pected success. The force of heredity is usually exerted to compel the progeny to adhere to the character which has become fixed in the species, rather than to follow a variation from the estab- lished type that was accidental or spontaneous in the immediate ancestry; but when, through selection of both parents with reference to this particular for several generations, the influence 44 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. of heredity has once been enlisted in the trans- mission of an accidental variation, it lends its powerful aid in favor of the perpetuation of the improved form. Spontaneity may occasionally interpose a new feature, or atavism turn us back toward the original; but by continuing to select from the families which have been bred with reference to the desired form we shall eventu- ally succeed in fixing the new type so firmly that its transmission will be the rule and fail- ure the exception; and ichen this point has been reached we have succeeded in forming what may justly be called a breed. IN-BREEDING AND CROSSING. It has been claimed by many that success in establishing desired forms or qualities may be obtained with the greatest certainty, and in the least possible time, when selection is confined to the same family. Thus, we find a certain male that manifests an unusual degree of excel- lence in some particular, and which, it has been found, he usually transmits to his offspring. We select a female manifesting the same ten- dency, and the two are coupled. Possibly the offspring may not show a trace of the unusual excellence we have sought to perpetuate. We reject this, and couple the same sire and dam a second time, and perhaps we are rewarded by offspring possessing the desired quality. This GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 45 produce, if a female, when of proper age is cou- pled with her own sire, and this produce again, if a female, is bred to the same male, that was her sire as well as her grandsire. This process is sometimes resorted to for three or four suc- cessive generations, with a view of intensifying or perpetuating a quality for which the sire is especially noted, and which it is found he trans- mits with certainty; for it is a well-known, although inexplicable fact, that of two animals bred precisely alike, and manifesting the same spontaneous variation, one will transmit the peculiarity with considerable certainty, while not a trace of it will appear in the produce of the other. The same principle often finds its application in coupling tho son with his own dam, and then, if the produce be a female, using upon her the same male, that is at once her brother and her sire. This process of cou- pling near relatives, which is generally termed breeding in-and-in, is unquestionably very ef- fectual, and is frequently the only available source from which breeding- stock can be obtained that possess and transmit the desired quality. But there is always danger that such a course of breeding will result in a loss of constitutional vigor and fertility in the prod- uce, and it should be practiced with great caution. Should any constitutional defect or weakness be noticed as tho result of breeding 46 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. in-and-in an infusion of fresh blood must be obtained by resorting to a male or female not closely related, but possessing as nearly as may be the desired quality. It should be borne in mind that defects are quite as liable to be transmitted as good qualities; and while we are fixing a type of superior excellence in one particular, we should be careful that we are not, with equal certainty, perpetuating and in- tensifying a serious defect. It is believed by many that breeding in-and- in has a refining tendency — that its effect is in the direction of fineness of texture, lightness of bone, smoothness, evenness and polish, at the expense of robustness, strength, vigor and power; hence, it is one of the most potent of agents in the production of dwarf breeds, and the main reliance of breeders of Bantam fowls and other diminutive races. It is certainly a powerful and invaluable agent in the hands of an intelligent person in the formation or mod- ification of a breed, but can never be success- fully followed by general farmers, who must produce hardy, prolific and vigorous animals. The great number of intermarriages which took place in the royal family of Egypt during the reign of the Ptolemys has occasionally been referred to by the advocates of close in-breed- ing; and the magnificent personal appearance of these rulers, their close resemblance in form GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 47 and feature, and especially the widely-famed beauty of countenance and form, as well as the mental vigor displayed by Cleopatra, the last of the line, have often been quoted as a strong argument against the theory that breeding in- and-in necessarily produces physical deteriora- tion; but a close examination of the line of descent leaves the balance of the argument rather on the other side. Gal ton, in his " Hered- itary Genius," in speaking of this family, says: This race of Ptolemys is at first sight exceedingly inter- esting, on account of the extraordinary number of their close intermarriages. They were matched in-and-in like prize cattle; but these near marriages were unprolific — the inheritance mostly passed through other wives. Indicating the Ptolemys by numbers, according to the order of their succession, II married his niece, and afterward his sister; IV his sister; VI and VII were brothers, and they both con- secutively married the same sister — VII also subsequently married his niece; VIII married two of his own sisters con- secutively; XII and XIII were brothers, and both consecu- tively married their sister, the famous Cleopatra. Thus there are no less than nine cases of close intermarriages dis- tributed among the thirteen Ptolemys. However, when we put them into the form of a genealogical tree we shall clearly see that the main line of descent was untouched by these intermarriages, except in the two cases of III and VIII. The personal beauty and vigor of Cleopatra, the last of the race, cannot therefore be justly quoted in disproof of the evil effects of close breeding. On the contrary, the result of Ptolemaic experience was distinctly to show that intermar- riages are followed by sterility. Galton then proceeds to show that nearly all of these incestuous marriages were unfruitful, 48 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. the only exceptions being that of Ptolemy II with his niece, from which was produced Pto- lemy III, and Ptolemy YII with his niece, the produce being Ptolemy VIII, the grandfather of Cleopatra, the descent in all other cases pass- ing through wives that were not nearly related to this family.* The testimony of experienced naturalists and of intelligent and careful observers among prac- tical breeders is uniformly in favor of the prop- osition that a cross in the blood gives increased size and vigor to the produce. It is an equally well-established fact that cross-breeding, or the pairing of animals of distinct varieties, usually results in increased fertility; but it is rather singular that, while this result usually attends the pairing of distinct varieties of the same species, yet if cross-breeding be carried so far as to unite distinct species, although increased size and vigor are still attained, fertility is almost entirely lost. A familiar illustration is seen in the produce of the horse and the ass. The mule, resulting from such a union, is often larger than either parent, and is noted for his hardiness and powers of endurance, but the power of reproduction is in nearly all cases totally wanting. The same is true of most other hybrids. It is a singular fact that a loss of fertility is also one among the very first bad *" Hereditary Genius," by Francis Galton, p. 152. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 49 results manifested from long-continued breed- ing in-and-in — which is the very opposite of violent out-crossing; and yet all experience proves this to be true. The space that can be devoted to a discussion of this branch of the subject will not admit of an elaborate investigation of the principles of genesis by which this apparent contradiction is explained. The majority of my readers are more concerned with facts and results than with theories and philosophical abstractions. But, at the risk of giving more of theory than will be relished, I will venture to state that, in order to produce a sexual union which shall be fruit- ful, and call into life a new organism, accord- ing to the opinion of most scientists, it is essen- tial that the sperm-cell and the germ-cell, which, united, form the source of life to the new being, shall each proceed from a different organism; and that breeding in-and-in, as usu- ally practiced — being the selection of individ- uals of as nearly as may be a similar organi- zation, with the avowed purpose of creating uniformity of character — will, in the course of time if not counteracted by opposing influences, produce such a unity of organism in the mem- bers of a given family as will result in a loss of that differentiation which appears to be neces- sary to insure the fusion of the sperm-cell of the one with the germ-cell of the other. 50 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. In commenting upon this aspect of genesis, Herbert Spencer says: Remembering the fact that among the higher classes of organisms fertilization is always effected by combining the sperm-cell of one individual with the germ-cell of another, and joining with it the fact that among hermaphrodite organisms the germ-cells developed in any individual are usually not fertilized by sperm-cells developed in the same individual, we see reason for thinking that the essential thing in fertilization is the union of specially-fitted portions of different organisms. If fertilization depended on the pecu- liar properties of sperm-cell and germ-cell, as such, then in hermaphrodite organisms it would be a matter of indiffer- ence whether the united sperm-cells and germ-cells were those of the same individual or those of different individuals. But the circumstance that there exist in such organisms elaborate appliances for mutual fertilization shows that un- likeness of derivation in the united reproductive centers is the desideratum.* After explaining at some length the apparent contradiction of this theory which is found in plants that are self-fertilizing, Mr. Spencer fur- ther remarks: There is reason to believe that self-fertilization, which at the best is comparatively inefficient, loses all efficiency in course of time. After giving an account of the provisions for an occasional, or a frequent, or a constant crossing be- tween flowers, and after quoting Prof Huxley to the effect that among hermaphrodite animals there is no case in which "the occasional influence of a distinct individual can be shown to be physically impossible," Mr. Darwin writes: "From these several considerations, and from the many special facts which I have collected, but which I am not here able to give, I am strongly inclined to suspect that, * "Principles of Biology," Vol. I, p. 279. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 51 both in the vegetable and animal kingdoms, an occasional intercross with a distinct individual is a law of Nature. * * * In none, as I suspect, can self-fertilization go on for perpetuity." This conclusion, based wholly on observed facts, is just the conclusion to which the foregoing argu- ment points, * * * If, then, in a self-fertilizing organ- ism, and its self-fertilizing descendants, such contrasts as originally existed among the physiological units are pro- gressively obliterated — if, consequently, there can no longer ba a segregation of different physiological units in different sperm-cells and germ-cells, self-fertilization will become im- possible; step by step the fertility will diminish, and the series will finally die out.* A similar view of this subject is presented by Mr. Darwin in a letter published in the London Agricultural Gazette of May, 1878, from which I extract the following: I will venture to add a few remarks on the general ques- tion of close interbreeding. Sexual reproduction is so essen- tially the same in plants and animals that I think we may fairly apply conclusions drawn from the one kingdom to the other. From a long series of experiments on plants, given in my book "On the Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilization," the conclusion seems clear that there is no mysterious evil in the mere fact of the nearest relations breeding together; but that evil follows (independently of inherited, disease or weakness) from the circumstances of near relations generally possessing a closely similar constitution. However little we may be able to explain the cau.se, the facts detailed by me show that the male and female sexual elements must be dif- ferentiated to a certain degree in order to unite properly and to give birth to a vigorous progeny. Such differentia- tion of the sexual elements follows from the parents and their ancestors having lived during some generations under dif- ferent conditions of life. •"Principles of Biology," Vol. I, pp. 281, 282. 52 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. The closest interbreeding does not seem to induce varia- bility, or a departure from the typical form of the race or family, but it causes loss of size, of constitutional vigor in re- sisting unfavorable influences, and often of fertility. On the other hand, a cross between plants of the same sub-variety, which have been grown during some generations under dif- ferent conditions, increases to an extraordinary degree the size and vigor of the offspring. Some kinds of plants bear self-fertilization much better than others; nevertheless it has been proved that these profit greatly by a cross with a fresh stock. So it appears to be with animals, for Short-horn cattle— perhaps all cattle — can withstand close interbreeding with very little injury; but if they could be crossed with a distinct stock without any loss of their excellent qualities it would be a most surprising fact if the offspring did not also profit in a very high degree in constitutional vigor. If, therefore, any one chose to risk breeding from an animal which suffered from some inherita- ble disease or weakness, he would act wisely to look out not merely for a perfectly sound animal of the other sex, but for one belonging to another strain, which had been bred during several generations at a distant place, under as different conditions, as to soil, climate, etc., as possible, for in this case he might hope that the offspring, by having gained in constitutional vigor, would be enabled to throw off the taint in their blood. The view of the case presented by Darwin and Herbert Spencer in the foregoing extracts affords an explanation of many apparent con- tradictions which result from breeding in-and- in. The farmer who permits his stock to pair miscellaneously, without infusing fresh blood for many generations — as is the case with some —must necessarily practice breeding in-and-in; but, as in such cases the stock is almost inva- riably, at the beginning, of a heterogeneous GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 53 character, it will require a much greater period of time before breeding in-and-in shall have produced a sufficient degree of unity of organ- ism to interfere with fertility or to cause a loss of vitality than in cases where the stock, to begin with, is of a uniform type, or "purely bred." In such cases, also, there is no effort on the part of the farmer to produce uniformity by selection of individuals for coupling. If there be any selection at all the standard by which it is made is a capricious one, changing from year to year; and it is a well-known fact that in such hands uniformity of type is never reached, neither have any bad effects usually been observed from in-breeding in such cases. If the theory above advanced be correct no bad results will necessarily follow from breed- ing in-and-in until uniformity of type, which implies unity of organism, is attained, and this, as we have seen when breeding from a mixed stock, is a very slow process. Upon this aspect of the case Herbert Spencer remarks: Relations must, on the average of cases, be individuals whose physiological units are more nearly alike than usual. Animals of different varieties must be those whose physio- logical units are more unlike than usual. In the one case the unlikeness of the units may frequently be insufficient to pro- duce fertilization; or if sufficient to produce fertilization not sufficient to produce that active molecular change required for vigorous development. In the other case both fertiliza- tion and vigorous development will be made probable. 54 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. Nor are we without a cause for the irregular manifestation of these general tendencies. The mixed physiological units composing any organism being, as we have seen, more or less segregated in the reproductive centers it throws off, there may arise various results, according to the degrees of differ- ence among the units and the degrees in which the units are segregated. Of two cousins who have married the common grandparents may have had either similar or dissimilar con- stitutions; and if their constitutions were dissimilar the probability that their married grandchildren will have off- spring will be greater than if their constitutions were similar. Or the brothers and sisters from whom these cousins descended, instead of severally inheriting the con- stitutions of their parents in tolerably equal degrees, may have severally inherited them in very different degrees; in which last case intermarriages among the grandchildren will be less likely to prove infertile. Or the brothers and sisters from whom these cousins descended may severally have married persons very like or very unlike themselves, and from this cause there may have resulted either an undue likeness or a due unlikeness between the married cousins. These several causes, conspiring and conflicting in endless ways and degrees, will work multiform effects. * * * Hence it may happen that among offspring of nearly-relaled parents there may be some in which the want of vigor is not marked, and others in which there is decided want of vigor. So that we are alike shown why in-and-in breeding tends to diminish both fertility and vigor, and why the effect can not be a uniform effect, but only an average effect.* It follows, then, as a practical deduction from the foregoing, that the more purely bred and uniform in type our stock becomes the greater is the danger from breeding in-and-in. That while, as before remarked, it is a powerful * "Principles of Biology," Vol. I, pp. 283 and 284. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 55 agent in the hands of a skillful and intelligent person in the formation of a breed, it must be used with the greatest of caution with animals of a uniform type, and that with miscellane- ously-bred stock its evil effects are compara- tively slow in showing themselves. Many who have given the subject of breed- ing as a science only a casual investigation — who have studied only the methods of a Bake- well, a Colling, a Booth, or a Bates, without taking into account the circumstances under which these methods were practiced — have hastily adopted the conclusion that what was success- ful in such hands as theirs must still be correct in practice; that because Bakewell and Colling bred in-and-in to fix a desired type, and by con- tinuing that process for a time succeeded in effecting substantial improvement in their cat- tle and sheep, it must necessarily follow that the surest method of preserving the excellence attained by them is to continue in precisely the same road. Or, to put it rather more mildly, because in the formation of a breed these men experienced little if any damage from the prac- tice of breeding in-and-in to the extent to which they carried it, modern breeders of purely-bred animals can continue to breed in- and-in with impunity! There -is no one point upon which practical breeders, as well as scientists, are more per- 56 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. fectly agreed than that the ultimate tendency of breeding in-and-in is injurious — that when carried to excess it will always result in a loss of constitutional vigor in the produce; that while its tendency may be in the direction of fineness of texture, lightness of bone, smoothness, even- ness and polish, it is invariably at the expense of robustness, strength, vigor and power. On the other hand, scientists as well as practical breeders, with perhaps equal unanimity, concur in the belief that a cross in the blood usually gives increased size and vigor to the produce, and that cross-breeding, or the pairing of ani- mals of distinct varieties, usually results in in- creased fertility. The belief has largely obtained among prac- tical farmers and feeders that all purely-bred races or breeds are lacking in hardiness and stamina; and that when breeding for the dairy, the shambles, or for practical use on the farm, the greatest measure of success is attained through the medium of cross-breeding. The first of these assumptions is not necessarily true. When the breeding and management of purely-bred races have been in accordance with Nature's laws ther§ is no foundation for the assertion that they are deficient in hardiness; and the widespread belief to the contrary has resulted mainly from the bad effects which in- evitably follow long-continued incestuous or in- GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 57 and-in breeding. That with certain kinds of purely-bred stock this course of breeding has been so extensively practiced as to very greatly impair the vitality of the animals so bred no intelligent, careful observer will deny- while in others, where selection has constantly been made with reference to hardiness, strength and endurance — where close in-breeding has been avoided, and where there has been no un- natural forcing and pampering, the pure races or breeds have no peers in these valuable qual- ities. The lack of hardiness complained of in purely-bred stock where it exists is due to a peculiar course of breeding not justly charge- able to the fact that the animal is a purely- bred one, and not necessarily following the course of breeding essential to the creation of a breed. The thoroughbred race horse, or "blood horse," the purest and best established of all our breeds of domesticated animals, is a pointed illustration of this fact; and the reason is obvious. With the breeder of the race horse vitality has always been a paramount consider- ation, as upon this depends the ability of the horse to last in a long and closely-contested race; hence, a course of breeding that had a tendency to impair the vital forces has never found favor with breeders of these horses. None of the practices that have combined to impair the strength and vigor of purely-bred 58 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. cattle, sheep, or swine, have been resorted to by them. In-breeding and pampering have both been frowned upon. Selection of the stoutest and best specimens of the breed has been the touchstone of their success. Once in and twice out has been as near an approach to in-breeding as has ever found favor among them; hence we find the thoroughbred horse of to-day the superior of all the other representa- tives of the equine race in speed and endur- ance. It appears evident that if the laws of heredity are as I have here stated — that is: that the ten- dency of in-breeding with established races or breeds is to weaken the vital forces, and that cross-breeding gives increased vigor and vital- ity— we have an explanation of why the gen- eral farmer finds it most profitable to raise grade or cross-bred stock for the dairy or for feeding purposes. The purely-bred races or breeds, as a rule, have been perfected to a wonderful degree in certain qualities; and when the general farmer, desiring to improve his flocks and herds in any of these particulars, procures a purely-bred male to use as a sire, even though such animal may be suffering some of the bad effects of in-breeding himself, the excellence that characterizes the breed to which he belongs, reinforced and reinvigorated by contact with the current of fresh blood that GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 59 he meets in the farmer's mixed stock, gives a produce of greatly increased value for every- thing except the purposes of reproduction. All intelligent breeders agree in condemning close in-breeding; but they are not agreed as to what constitutes close in-breeding. May we not, upon the theory herein advanced, base a rule which will safely govern our practice? With purely- bred stock, or well-established breeds, keep as far from in-breeding as is compatible with uni- formity of type and purity of blood; but in the formation of a breed from heterogeneous ma- terials, use it as the most potent of all agents, without fear of bad results, provided the par- ents are healthy, vigorous, and well formed, until a considerable degree of uniformity has been reached; bearing in mind the cardinal fact that in proportion as unity of form and organism is attained, constitutional vigor and fertility is endangered by such a course of breeding. May we not, also, find in this theory an explanation of the well-known fact that in- bred animals which are barren when coupled with each other frequently prove fruitful when united with individuals of a different breed? THE VALUE OF PEDIGREE. A pedigree is the genealogy of an animal. As usually understood it consists of the names of the ancestors for a greater or less number of 60 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. generations. Its value consists, not so much in the number of generations through which the ancestry can be traced to some distin- guished progenitor, as in the quality or charac- ter of the ancestry; and in proportion as \ve approach the "top" of a pedigree — that is, the immediate progenitors of a given animal — the more important does the character of the an- cestry become. As has been clearly shown in the preceding pages, it is a well-settled fact in breeding that, as a rule, the longer the line of descent in un- broken succession through ancestors uniformly distinguished for unusual excellence the greater is the probability that that peculiar excellence will be transmitted. Hence the true test of the value of a pedigree is not so much in its length as in the merits of the individuals that compose it. 5 'OUT or five "top crosses" with animals of rare individual merit make a pedi- gree of much greater value to the practical breeder than ten, twenty or as many more as you like of animals of no special excellence. The farther back this genealogy of good ani- mals extends, and the more uniform the qual- ity of the ancestry, the better; but the more immediate the ancestry in any given case the more important does its quality become. Each immediate parent contributes one-half of the blood or pedigree inheritance of the individual, GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 61 while each great -gran dam or sire contributes one-eighth only; and the farther the removal the more unimportant does any given factor or cross become for good or evil in a pedigree. However desirable it may be to have a record connecting our horses with Flying Guilders, Eclipse or Messenger, and our cattle with Hub- back or Favorite, at a distance of ten to twenty generations, it is manifestly of far greater im- portance to know that our own cattle and horses are good, and that their ancestors for the last four or five generations were of sur- passing excellence. If our own animals are good, and the. top crosses have been uniformly of the same character, we may reasonably ex- pect the progeny to be satisfactory; while, on the contrary, if there be no special merit in the sire and clam, or their immediate ancestors, we may show as many lines as we like to some great ancestor ten or fifteen generations re- moved an'd it will not wipe out the stain of the defective recent crosses. No pedigree can be a good one that does not usually produce good animals; no pedigree should be prized above other pedigrees unless it usual ly produces better animals. If, tried by this test, any pedigree fails, no matter how much it may have been idolized, its value is fictitious and its effect is hurtful rather than beneficial. The only true aristocracy of blood 62 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. is one that brings superior merit; without this it is a delusion and a snare. No matter what it may have been eight or ten generations ago, if from a wrong system of breeding, if from a lack of care in selection, or from any other cause, any particular strain has ceased to be uniformly superior, in itself, it has lost its patent of nobility. Let all young breeders, and old ones, too, for that matter, try "pedigrees," and "families," and "strains" by this test, with- out being dazed by some imaginary halo that attaches to a name handed down from the misty traditions of the past, and it will be the better for them, no matter what particular line of breeding they may be engaged in. RELATIVE SIZE OF SIRE AND DAM. The relative size of sire and dam is a subject upon which much has been written, and upon which I am satisfied there has been much wrong teaching. It is true that nearly all writers up- on the subject have laid down the rule that, in coupling, the male should be smaller than the female; but it is also true that very many per- sons write dogmatically upon subjects which they know very little about; and it is further true that writers upon heredity, for years and years past, have done but little more than to repeat each other, accepting what has been said by others as true without question, not knowing or caring to know anything about the GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 63 facts in the case. I imbibed the doctrine that the male should be smaller than the female from my early reading upon the subject, and began writing from the same standpoint; but very early in my career as a writer upon stock- breeding my esteemed friend, the late Judge T. C. Jones, of Ohio, from whom I have taken many valuable lessons, called my attention to the manifest unsoundness of this theory, and said that he was fully convinced that the teach- ing of the books upon- this subject was all wrong, and that, while he did not advocate great disparity in the size of parents, he was satisfied that when there was a difference it should be the reverse of what the books taught — that the male should, as a rule, be larger than the female. It was a startling proposition to me, but it set me to thinking and watching the subject closely ; and now, looking back over more than a quarter of a century of experience, I say emphatically that Nature's plan, as exemplified in all mammalia, is that the male parent should be the larger of the two. In all animals, from the horse down to the hog, wild as well as tame, the male, as a rule, is larger than the female of the same breed. No observant man can have failed to notice this. What pure breed or race of ani- mals, in any country, can be named as an ex- ception to this rule? And is this not also true 64 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. of the human race? How many of my readers are there who can call to mind numerous in- stances of handsome, well-formed and robust children the offspring1 of a large father and a small mother ! The same result has been ob- served in hundreds of other cases where large draft horses have been coupled with small or medium -sized mares. In fact, it is the almost universal testimony of those who have watched closely the result of the cross of the imported draf^ stallions brought to this country from France and Great Britain, that the very best re- sults have been obtained, not from large, coarse, and loosely- made mares, as theorists would have us suppose would be the case, but from those of medium size, compactly made and highly bred. The excellent results obtained by crossing bulls of the large breeds upon our small native cows; also, the health, vigor, and fine form of the lambs got by large Cotswold rams out of small ewes of the Merino breed, all go to prove that this supposed law of Nature is no law at all. In fact, if we study Nature, we shall be compelled to admit that her law is just the reverse of what has been claimed. It is, there- fore, safe to assume that the results are more likely to be satisfactory where large males and small females are coupled for breeding purposes than where the reverse is the method practiced. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 65 I would not recommend, neither does it fol- low as a legitimate deduction from this general law, that great extremes of size should be cou- pled. In fact, Nature has herself interposed many obstacles to prevent such a course of breeding. There is not, as has often been alleged, any iijcreased danger in parturition from the use of sires larger than the dams. It is the dam that determines the size and growth of the foetus, and not the sire. Wrong presentations, faulty construction of some parts of the organs of gen- eration or of the pelvic bones of the female, an emaciated or too plethoric condition of the dam at the time of parturition, an unnatural or de- formed foetus, are the usual causes of difficult parturition, and these conditions are brought about independent of the relative size of sire and dam. It goes for nothing to say that improvement in any breed has resulted from the use of males of a smaller breed upon females of a larger. If one desires to bring about improvement in any direction he must select with a view to that quality, independent of other considerations. Were I desirous of improving the butter-pro- ducing quality of the Holstein cow I should use a Jersey bull, notwithstanding the male might be smaller that the female. I would couple large, coarse-wooled ewes with a Merino bb A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. ram if I desired to increase the density of the fleece; and I would breed large draft mares to thoroughbred or trotting sires if I desired to procure fine style, better action and greater powers of endurance. But all of this is inde- pendent of, and does not conflict with, the gen- eral law of relative size, and does not disprove the proposition that it is Nature's plan that the male should be the larger of the two parents. INFLUENCE OF FIRST IMPREGNATION. One of the most interesting as well as one of the most stoutly-disputed questions connected with the business of stock-breeding is this: Does the first impregnation of a female have any influence over the character of the prod- uce from subsequent impregnations? Experi- enced practical breeders have been arrayed on opposing sides in discussing this question, and each has been ready to maintain his position by illustrations from his own observation. Prof. James Law, of Cornell University, who is one of the most learned and eminent of living vet- erinarians, and whose reputation as a patient, conscientious, painstaking investigator of prob- lems of this nature is second to that of no other man in the world, was requested by me some years ago to prepare an exhaustive article upon this subject. He complied with this re- quest, and the article, which was published at GENERAL PRINCIPLES QJ?^8KS£B£»G. 67 the time in a monthly journal then under my charge, I herewith reproduce as the most thor- ough treatise upon this interesting subject I have yet seen: Physiologists and breeders have long noticed that the in- fluence of the sire is not always confined to his immediate offspring, but that the subsequent progeny of the same female by other males often reproduce in a remarkable man- ner the personal traits of the first sire and his produce. All quadrupeds show this tendency in a greater or less degree. We find the statement made by the immortal Haller: that where a mare had borne a mule by an ass and afterward a foal by a horse, the foal exhibited traces of the ass. The same thing has been noticed by Becker, Haussman, Low and others. Lord Moreton bred a hybrid between a young chest- nut mare (seven-eighths Arabian) and a quagga. The hybrid had the bristly mane, striped body and large head of its sire. One or two years later this mare was covered by a black Arabian horse, and the resulting foal had the erect, short, bristly mane, the dun color, and stripes on neck, body and limbs of the quagga. A third foal, produced two years later, got by the same Arabian horse, still showed the same marks of the quagga. This case is all the more striking in that the mane of the Arab is especially soft and silky and lies flat on the side of the neck, and that the Arabian horse has never been known to show a striped marking of the body. A case entirely similar is recorded by Harvey : A mare of Sir Gore Ouseley's was bred to a zebra, producing a hybrid, and in the two succeeding years was put to two thorough- bred horses, but the foals in both cases were striped and partook of the character of the zebra. In the Royal Stud at Hampton Court a number of mares were bred to the horse Colonel, and the following year to the horse Acteon, but the progeny of the last horse bore unequivocal marks of the horse Colonel, the sire of their half-brothers and sisters. Again, a colt belonging to Earl Suffield, got by Laurel, strongly resembled the horse Camel by which his dam had had a foal the preceding year. 68 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. McGillivray records the following cases: A polled Angus heifer bore her first calf to a Short-horn bull, and was then served by a black polled Angus bull; but the calf resulting from the last connection approached the Short-horn bull in color and shape, and grew horns. Another polled Angus cow was served by a cross-bred bull (one-fourth polled An- gus, three-fourths Short-horn) and bore a cross. Next year, though served by a pure black polled Angus bull, the result was still a cross, .as shown by shape and color. Dr Wells, of Grenada, put a flock of white ewes to a choco- late-colored, hairy ram, and the following year to a white ram of their own breed, and yet the lambs got by the last had the fleece more or less of a chocolate hue and largely mixed with hair. Mr. Shaw, of Leochel Cushnie, Aberdeen, divided his flock of black-faced Highland ewes, and had one part served by a Leicester ram and the other by a South- down. The next year he had all served by a ram of their own race, but the lambs showed the persistent influence of the English rams in their hornless heads and brownish faces. Again, in the following year, they were served by a pure black-faced ram, and there still resulted two hornless lambs, two dun-faced, with very small horns, and three white-faced, with horns quite rudimentary. Mr. Giles put a black-and-white Essex sow to a wild boar of a deep chestnut color, and obtained a crossed litter, with the color of the wild boar predominating in several. After the wild boar had been dead some time this sow was put to a black-and-white boar of her own breed and produced a litter of pigs, some of which were distinctly marked with chestnut. A second litter, by a boar of her own breed, again showed the chestnut markings, which had hitherto been un- known in the pure Essex. Among dog-fanciers it is a matter of notoriety that an entire litter of pure-bred puppies cannot be expected from a thoroughbred bitch which has once been lined by a dog of another breed. This was noted by the French poet Jacques Savery as early as the middle of the seventeenth century, and is confirmed by writers on dogs generally. I will quote but one example from Harvey: A pure Skye terrier, of a GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 69 dark brown color, with red legs, bore two litters of puppies to a mongrel cur, all of which were colored like the sire — black, with red legs and white feet. On the third occasion she was lined by a pure Skye terrier, of a grey color; and, to avoid accidents, was locked up with this dog during the whole continuance of the heat. The issue was two puppies closely resembling the mongrel cur in color, shape and gen- eral appearance. Instances of the same kind have fallen under the observation of almost every dog-fancier. Many have sought to explain the phenomenon as a simple result of the strong impression made upon the mind of the dam by the sire of her earlier offspring; and, doubtless, this may sometimes co-operate, but is altogether inadequate to account for the frequency of the occurrence. The imagina- tion affects the progeny of a very limited number of females, whereas the phenomenon we are considering— among the domestic quadrupeds— is the rule rather than the exception, so that a more satisfactory cause must be sought for. McGillivray advances the theory that the elements from the blood of the foetus, absorbed into that of the mother, contaminate her blood, and reduce her to a cross, thus render- ing her forever after incapable of producing a pure-bred off- springi Not that he supposes the blood of the foetus, as such, to circulate within the veins of the mother, but that fine particles from the blood of the offspring pass through the intervening layers of cells, and thus reach the maternal blood and reproduce themselves there. But the whole the- ory is an assumption. We know that the placenta, or after- birth, by which the foetus is connected to the mother, serves the purposes of both stomach and lungs. From the glands in the walls of the womb a milk-like liquid is con- stantly secreted, which, being absorbed by the foetal vessels branching in the placenta, is carried into the blood of the young animal and serves to nourish it, just as the milk from the udder does after birth. Again, from the blood of the offspring circulating in the placenta carbonic acid is given off and taken into the maternal blood, while oxygen supplied by the blood of the dam is taken up by the blood of the foetus. So far these membranes fulfill the functions of stomach and 70 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. lungs to the young animal. But we have no proof of living particles from the blood of the foetus entering into the cir- culation of the mother, unless we accept as such the very phenomenon we are endeavoring to find an explanation for: and this would only be admissible if no other or more reason- able explanation could be found. A slight modification of McGillivray'« theory is that of Darwin, advanced in his doctrine of pangenesis. He teaches that throughout the blood and system of every animal there are living particles, infinitesimally minute, but with certain plastic or formative powers, by virtue of which they can build up particular forms or produce peculiar characteristics in the animal economy. That such particles may remain dormant for months or years, or even for a number of suc- cessive generations of animals, being, meanwhile, transmitted from parent to offspring through the microscopic ovum and spermatozoon, and will only be roused to activity and growth and build up the forms and beings, like those from which they were derived, when there occurs a change of circum- stances favorable to their development. By this means he explains many cases of apparent "sports," or variations from the type of the known ancestors; many sudden advances in excellence,, and retrogressions. As applied to the phenomenon under consideration it is taught that these infinitesimal particles (gemmules), passing through the membranes from the blood of the foetus into that of the mother, circulate with it, affecting the ovarium of the female, so that the ovules and offspring subsequently pro- duced by her when impregnated by other males are plainly affected and hybridized by the first male. It will be readily conceded that such particles circulating in the blood of the mother will be much less likely to affect her own system, already matured, insusceptible and under- going the changes of nutrition only, than the growing ele- ments of the ovum or the tissues of the embryo in active process of growth, and with a power of development equal in some cases to the reproduction of an organ accidentally lost. Much, indeed, might be said in favor of the theory; yet, as in its less elaborate. form propounded by McGillivray, it is GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 11 founded on pure assumption and supported by no clear proof. The gradual extinction of the influence of the first male in successive pregnancies by other males is what would scarcely be expected if the blood was charged with gemmules from the first capable of reproducing themselves and especially prone to rapid increase and development in connection with the development of offspring. Again, similar elements must be introduced into the maternal blood when the vital fluid has been transfused into her veins from those of another person or of a beast, and the ovules then in course of devel- opment in her ovaries must be "affected and hybridized" if such blood is not exactly identical in composition with her own. But though transfusion of blood into the female sys- tem is not uncommon, and though that blood has been re- reatedly taken from a person of a widely different race, no complaint has ever been made that the children have been thereby affected. A more satisfactory explanation is that advanced by the present writer, in a paper read in 1875 before the American Public Health Association: "It is a well-known pathologi- cal fact that adjacent cells tend to engraft their plastic or formative powers upon each other. I prick my skin with a needle; immediately the injured cells and nuclei undergo a rapid increase in size and numbers. But the effect does not end there; those adjacent take on a similar action, and the extent of the resulting inflammation is only limited by that of the injury and the susceptibility of the parts. Again, in placing a slice of scarf skin in the middle of a raw sore we inoculate the cells of the adjoining granulations and em- power them to develop scarf skin. How, then, can we avoid the conclusion that the impregnated ovum impresses its own characters on the mass of the decidua, and through this on the maternal mucous membrane, and that this in its turn impresses its characters on the membrane and embryo of the next succeeding conception?" It has been opposed to the theory of contamination of the mother's blood, that in the case of woman the father of the first child rarely affects the appearance of those by other fathers. Mr. Allen has known instances in which white 72 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. women had their first children by negroes, and afterward marrying white men had children as purely white as those of their neighbors. Instances in which an opposite result has ensued he attributes to the effect of imagination. Now, the theory I offer will perfectly explain the in frequency ol the occurrence in the human subject, as compared with the lower animals. In the mare the connection of the afterbirth with the womb takes place over the entire surface of the latter. The points of intimate attachment, therefore, in successive pregnancies, are the same. In the cow and ewe the womb is studded with button-like processes, to the num- ber of fifty or sixty, containing the uterine gland, and form- ing the points of attachment for the foetal membranes in all pregnancies alike. In the sow the foetal membranes of each pig are attached to the whole adjacent uterine mucous mem- brane as in the mare. Lastly, in the bitch each foetal mem- brane has a broad, circular, villous belt embracing almost its entire surface, and connecting it to the mucous membrane of the womb. In all of these animals the foetal membranes are connected with the same parts of the uterus in each succes- sive pregnancy, so that the ingrafting or inoculation between membranes and womb, and between womb and membranes and foetus, cannot fail to take place. It must be borne in mind that these membranes are outgrowths from the ovum or embryo, and thus, through the male and female genera- tive elements, partake of the nature of both sire and dam. In other words, like the young animal, the product of con- ceptions of which they are a dependency, the membranes have been produced by the union of the male and female elements; and where they lie in direct contact with the womb, separated only by a thin layer of cells in part pro- duced by the womb and in part by the membrane, an inocu- lating, engrafting or modifying action is effected by the one on the other. In woman the arrangement of the foetal mem- branes is altogether different. Their intimate connection with the walls of the womb is confined to one circumscribed portion of the surface of each; and as the point of attach- ment can hardly fail to be different in successive pregnancies the chances of a former child influencing the characters of GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 73 the next are correspondingly reduced. Yet it is evident that this may occur, and, as a matter of fact, we find cases in which the bearing of a mulatto by a white woman has affected the appearance of some of her later children by a white man. But such a result is very exceptional in the human family, and this is precisely what is to be expected if our explanation of its cause is the right one. It has been objected that a similar phenomenon has been observed in pigeons, and that in them this law of cell-inocu- lation could not take place. But this is, manifestly, a mis- take. The eggs of birds are impregnated even as high up as the ovary. Says Owen: "In coitu spermatozoa enter the cloaca and penetrate the oviduct, ascending to the ovarium." The impregnated egg goes on enlarging by subdivision of its cells in the ovary and upper end of the oviduct, and, being as yet destitute of shell, its cellular structure is in direct contact with the maternal tissues. There is, therefore, a similar opportunity for cell-inoculation as in the mammal, although more limited in duration. But our manner of viewing this subject is still further sup- ported by a series of. phenomena observed in hybridized flowers. Darwin quotes instances from Wiegmann, Gartner, Berkley, and others, to show that where the flowers of the white pea had been fertilized by pollen of the blue pea the resulting pods contained a mixture of blue and white peas. And this coloration was not confined to the cotyledons of the seed (the true embryo), but extended to the skin as well. More remarkable still: Mr. Laxton, of Stamford, ''fertilized the tall sugar pea, which bears very thin, green pods, becom- ing purplish-brown when dry, with pollen of the purple- podded pea, which, as its name expresses, has dark, purple pods with thick skin, becoming pale, reddish-purple when dry." Mr. Laxton has "cultivated the tall sugar pea during twenty years, and has never seen or heard of its producing a purple pod; nevertheless, a flower fertilized by pollen from the purple pod yielded a pod clouded with purplish red, which Mr. Laxton kindly gave to 'me. A space of about two inches in length, near the extremity of the pod, and a 74 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. smaller space near the stalk were thus colored. On compar- ing the color with that of the purple pod, both pods having been first dried and then soaked with water, it was found to be identically the same; and in both the color was confined to the skin lying immediately beneath the outer skin of the pod." Some of the peas were also clouded with purple, whereas the tall sugar pea is a pale, greenish brown — never purple. Darwin collects a number of other instances in which the fruit or seed capsule was affected by fertilization with strange pollen, in the case of stocks, palms, oranges, lemons, cucum- bers, maize, daffodils, rhododendrons, cress and apples. Perhaps the latter furnish the most important examples. The fruit here consists of the lower part of the calyx and the upper part of the flower-peduncle in a metamorphosed con- dition, so that the effort of the foreign pollen has extended even beyond the limits of the ovarium. Cases of apples thus affected were recorded by Bradley in the early part of the last century; and other cases are given in old volumes of the "Philosophical Transactions." In one of these a russeting apple- and an adjoining kind mutually affected each other's fruits; and in another case a smooth apple affected a rough- coated kind. Another instance has been given of two very different apple trees growing close to each other, which bore fruit resembling each other, but only on the adjoining branches. It is, however, almost superfluous to adduce these or other cases after that of the St. Valery apple, which from the abortion of the stamens, does not produce pollen, but, being annually fertilized by the girls of the neighborhood with pollen of many kinds, bears fruit differing from each other in size, flavor and color, but resembling in character the hermaphrodite kinds by which they have been fertilized. Mr. Darwin evidently sees that his system would demand that the gemmules from the strange pollen should serve to fertilize or modify each other and distant flowers and buds then being formed on the same tree, for he remarks: ' 'There is not the least reason to believe that a branch which has borne seed or fruit directly modified by foreign pollen is itself affected so as subsequently to produce modified buds; GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 75 such an occurrence, from the temporary connection of the flower with the stem, would be hardly possible." Yet, if the gemmules were given off by the pollen it would be quite reasonable to expect such to be carried on with the descending sap, and to modify the buds then in process of formation, as they are represented to do the ovules in the female ovary. But, as in the case of the blood, so in that of the vegetable sap — we have no evidence that it con- tains particles possessed of plastic powers equal to the de- velopment of tissue. This is affected only by the nuclei or cells present in the substance of the tissues themselves; and as these nuclei communicate or are continuous with each other through minute branching processes, they easily affect those immediately adjacent, but have comparatively no in- fluence upon those that*are somewhat remote. The modifi- cation, therefore, of the fruit capsule, pod, fleshy drupe and fruit stalk surrounding the seed, is only what is to be ex- pected from the contact of the male pollen with the cells of the female flower, and. of these in their turn with those adjacent, while all other parts of the plant are entirely un- affected by the act. In the animal the process is identical in every respect; the continuous cells — maternal and foetal — rendered continuous or placed in direct opposition with each other through their minute branching processes mutually influence the vital processes and formative powers of each other; and thus it comes that the nuclei of the womb, but one step removed from its contained embryo, acquire certain new characters from it, and in due time transmit these to later progeny. The efficiency of this new inoculating pro- cess will, of course, be greatest where the vascular connec- tion is the most intimate; and, as we have seen, the effect on the progeny is most patent when these points of intimate vascular connection between mother and offspring are the same in successive pregnancies. A correct view of this subject is of more practical im- portance than may at first sight appear, for, although the animal modified by the influence of the sire of an elder half- brother is necessarily a cross, whatever the mode of exerting such influence, an important question may arise regarding 76 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. the purity of other offspring that bear no evidence of hav- ing been subjected to such modifying cause. If Mr. Dar- win's theory is correct, that the whole blood of the mother is charged with gemmules from the embryo, which gemmules pass into all future ova, then all future offspring are essen- tially crosses, as will appear in their progeny, even if they themselves show no sign of modification. But, on the other hand, if the result is only due to the mutual influence of adjacent cells in the womb and foetal membranes, as vege- table as well as animal physiology seem to imply, then the general system of the dam is unaffected, and her progeny, which have personally escaped such influence and show non3 of the modified characters, may be held to bs of pure lineage, and may be bred from without fear of degraded offspring. While there are many instances in history which go to confirm this theory, as presented by Prof. Law, yet I am inclined to the opinion, from long years of close observation, that the cases wherein the first impregnation of mam- mals affects the subsequent progeny are so rare as to make it practically of but little account in the calculation of the breeder. Indeed the cases wherein such resemblances are noticed in horses, cattle, sheep, and swine are so few and obscure as to lead me rather to the conclusion that they are accidental, or owing to an inher- ited similarity in the remote ancestry, rather than to some occult influence exercised by a first impregnation. The case of Lord Moreton's mare and the quagga foal has been pressed into service by every man who has written upon this subject within the last half century, and yet it proves nothing. The black stripe is a GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 77 distinguishing mark that belonged to the feral dun horses in general, and which to this day occasionally crops out in all breeds of horses. And if the influence were as potent as some writers have claimed, especially when applied to the breeding of horses, it is time some more modern case might be cited. Hundreds upon hundreds of excellent mares,, many of them thoroughbreds, in Kentucky and Tennessee, have produced their first foals to a jack and have afterward produced beautiful offspring from highly-bred sires. I can recall many illus- trations upon this point that have come under my own observation. In fact the whole theory of gestation, the manner in which the foetus is attached io and nourished by the womb of the female, seems to make the commingling of the blood of the latter with that of the former an impossibility. In the case of the bitch there is a marked difference from all other domestic animals in the manner in which the placenta is attached to the womb — as is very clearly shown by Prof. Law in the foregoing article— and here alone, among domestic animals, do we find any considerable number of results which tend to confirm the theory that a first impreg- nation affects subsequent ones. It is noticed so frequently, however, here, that dog-fanciers almost universally recognize it as a rule, and exercise the greatest possible care lest a bitch 78 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. should first be lined by a mongrel or a dog of some other breed. But aside from this single exception I do not think the cases are suffi- ciently well authenticated or sufficiently nu- merous to justify the practical breeder in pay- ing any especial attention to it, especially when to do so would require a departure from plans that would otherwise be followed. EFFECT OF IMAGINATION UPON THE COLOR OF PROGENY. The question has frequently been asked, Does a sudden fright, or any peculiarity of as- sociation in a pregnant animal, have any effect upon the color or markings of the progeny? and the answer given has sometimes been "yes," and sometimes "no." In fact both sides of the question have been stoutly maintained by in- telligent gentlemen, who have claimed to speak from extensive personal observation and ex- perience. Ever since the day when Moses wrote the .account of the method employed by Jacob to over-reach his father-in-law in the division of his cattle (see Genesis, chap. XXX), there have been those who believed it possible, through a strong mental impression, to affect the color and otherwise mark the offspring; and ever since the day when I, then in my early boyhood, first read the account of Jacob's suc- cess in breeding cattle that were "ring-streaked, GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 79 speckled and spotted,'7 I have been on the look- out for evidence bearing upon the old patri- arch's theory. The result of these observations has been to confirm me in the belief that while color, as well as all other peculiarities, usually follows the ordinary laws of heredity, it is nevertheless true that strong mental impressions do some- times set aside the ordinary laws of Nature and produce surprising results. One very clearly- defined case came under my observation wrhen a lad on my father's farm. A flock of sheep had been bred on this farm, without any in- fusion of fresh blood, for many years. Not a black sheep, nor one with a black spot or mot- tled face, had ever been known among them. On one occasion, after most of the ewes had been bred, a black ram was turned into a small lot with them. Had a strange dog, a wolf, or any other wild animal, been suddenly let down among them they could not have been more terribly frightened. They circled round and round the lot, and made the most frantic efforts to escape from the supposed monster, while he kept turning round and round in the center of the circle, in vain trying to approach the ewes, that seemed almost ready to die with fright. This was kept up until from sheer exhaustion the ewes began to slacken their pace; but it was not a long time before the flock became 80 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. reconciled to the presence of the stranger. Now what was the result? Evenj ewe that ivas pregnant at the time of this fright dropped off- spring more or less marked with black, while some of those that were served by this ram a few weeks later, after they had become accustomed to his presence, dropped lambs that were pure white. The case attracted much attention in the neighborhood at the time, and has often been referred to since as a convincing illustra- tion of the effects of color-marking from severe fright. Other instances have come under my obser- vation; none of them so convincing as the one above narrated, but showing unmistakably the effect of imagination or association. A grey mare owned by a friend of mine was bred to a grey Percheron horse for four years in succes- sion, and produced four foals. During her first impregnation she had for a stable companion and working mate a bay mare, and the foal was a bay. The next year her mate was a chestnut and the foal was a chestnut. Afterwards she was worked and kept with several different animals, of various colors, and her foals were all greys, like herself and the sire. These cases, with many others of a similar character, that have come under my own observation, as well as hundreds that have been noted by others and reported to me, have, as GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 81 before stated, confirmed me in the belief that ''markings" do sometimes occur from strong mental impressions; but the precise conditions under which this phenomenon takes place are unknown. The effect is so uncertain that, practically, it may be entirely ignored by the breeder with impunity, until some modern Jacob shall arise who can tell us just how and when to use the "peeled rods." EFFECT OF CHANGE OF CLIMATE ON THE GENER- ATIVE ORGANS. It has often been remarked that a change of climate appears at times to have a serious effect upon the organs of reproduction, especially those of the male. A well-informed writer in an English journal not long since stated that experience had taught him that no water- fowl will breed the same year that its home is changed, referring, I presume by the context, to a material change as to distance or climatic conditions. I have noticed the same result with quadrupeds, more especially with horses imported from France, England and Scotland. Several horses that, within my knowledge, have totally or partially failed to get foals for a year or two after importation, have, after becoming thoroughly acclimated, proved themselves very sure foal-getters. I have also had many cases of a similar nature reported to me concerning 82 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. bulls of the various breeds, and a still greater number, perhaps, of rams and boars. It is quite reasonable to suppose that a mate- rial change in climate, or even in the mode of feeding, may so derange the organs of repro- duction as to cause partial or total loss of sex- ual power. We know that a change in climate, or even in food, or water, often completely up- sets a race horse; and that they are never con- sidered fit to do themselves credit upon the turf when taken from this country to England, and vice versa, short of a year's acclimatization. It is not strange, therefore, that the effect should be equally as marked upon the generative or- gans as upon the motor apparatus; and upon cattle, sheep, and swine as upon horses. And breeders should not be in too great haste to declare an animal a non-breeder under such circumstances. Ample time should be given for thorough acclimatization in all cases of this nature. CONTROLLING THE SEX. It has been said that there is nothing new under the sun, and that each succeeding gener- ation spends most of its time in shoveling over the same earth that has been examined in vain by its predecessors in search of hidden treasures. Theories that have been advanced, investigated and abandoned come up again year after year to be discussed, investigated, and again cast GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 83 aside as unreliable. They appear periodically; and the lapse of a decade is sufficient to pass in review, through the agricultural press, the whole brood upon any given subject bearing upon agriculture. That of controlling the sex of offspring has, ever since the days of Aristotle, been one of the most fruitful topics of discus- sion, and the various theories that have been advanced appear and reappear with perennial vigor. These theories may be briefly summa- rized as follows: 1st. A strong mental impression on the part of the parents, but especially of the mother, at the time of conception, will determine the offspring. 2d. The concentration of the attention of the dam on her peculiarly feminine qualities, at the time of sexual union, will secure female progeny. 3d. If the amorous desires of the male are stronger than those of the female the progeny will be a female, and vice versa. 4th. The development of the foetus in the right side (horn) of the womb will secure a male, and in the left side a female. 5th. The point of origin of the artery of the testicle from the main abdominal trunk (aorta) will determine the sex of the majority of the offspring, the male sex predominating in proportion as the origin is more anterior. 6th. The male germ is supplied by the right testicle or ovary, and the female by the left. 7th. The excitation of one side or the other of the system of the male at the time of coition will determine the sex of the young. 8th. The persistent selection for breeding purposes of females which yield one sex mainly, and of males from females of the same kind, will finally secure a race produc- ing a great excess of the sex in question. 84 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. 9th. In uniparous animals every successive ovum that reaches maturation is of the opposite sex from that which immediately preceded it. Hence, by serving1 on the second occurrence of heat we may secure the same sex as in the last foetus. 10th. The stage of development attained by the ovum at the period of impregnation determines the sex of the product of fecundation, the less developed proving females, the more mature males. llth. The personal preponderance in strength and vigor of the one parent will determine an excess of its own sex in the progeny. 12th. The nature of the food of the parents, and particu- larly of the mother before conception, will influence the pro- duction of the different sexes. The theory that just now appears to be more generally believed in than any other is the 9th in the foregoing list. This in based upon the belief that, naturally, animals which usually bring forth but one at a birth will produce the sexes alternately — that if the first ovum pro- duces a male, the next ovum, if impregnated, will produce a female; consequently, if a cow or a mare, after having produced a female, is impregnated at the first period of heat there- after, the produce will be a male. If female produce only is desired, one period of heat should elapse after the birth of a female be- fore the dam is again served by the nlale. This is what is known as the Stuyvesant theory, and many cattle-breeders of my acquaintance firmly believe that it can be relied upon in a majority of cases. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 85 Several other theories have been advanced, but the foregoing are among the principal ones. It inay be that several of these causes have some influence in determining the sex, but it is quite certain that some of them, notably the 4th, 6th, and 7th, can have no influence what- ever, and that none of them can be depended upon. Nature has wisely provided, in order to preserve an equilibrium in the sexes, that their determination should be placed beyond the con- trol of any single cause. It is known that some males get a large preponderance of one sex or the other, and that some females will produce one sex only; sometimes, for a series of years, the observations of one man will tend to con- firm a certain' theory of sex production, while in other hands the same theory will utterly fail. Taking up at random Part I of Vol. V of the English Short-horn Herd Book I find not less than thirteen cows that have produced five calves or over, the entire produce being of one sex. In two of these cases three different bulls were used, in eight cases four different bulls, and in two instances six different bulls. Some very remarkable cases were noted : The cow Ann by Abraham (2905) dropped nine bull calves in succession, the last two by Belshazzar (1703), and then her tenth calf, also by Bel- shazzar, was a heifer. Dorothy by Fisby (1040) dropped six bull calves in succession by four 86 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. different sires, the fourth and sixth being by Roman (2561), but the seventh, by the same bull, was a heifer. Her eighth calf was also a heifer. Down Horn by Budget (1759) began with a heifer; her next was a bull by the same sire as the first, and then she dropped five more bull calves in succession by as many different sires. Fair Helen by Young Albion (15) began with a bull calf, and then went on with five cow calves in succession by four different bulls. Florence by Lindrick (1170) began with a heif- er, then a bull, then six heifers by six different sires, and then two bulls, also by different sires. With mares the same law doubtless applies. Turning to the Stud Book I find that the thor- oughbred mare Rosemary produced two males from two different sires; next she produced three females, two of them by the same horse that got the males, then another male, and then eleven females in succession from nine different sires. Scythia produced six females, and no males, from three different sires. An- other mare by Scythian, recorded on the same page, produced four males in successive years from as many different sires; and still another on that same page, also by Scythian, produced four females by as many different sires. ^Erolite produced six males to successive covers of imp. Australian ; while Dolly Carter, bred to the same horse, produced nothing but females. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 87 Mary Lewis began with two male foals, the second being by Glencoe; her next foal, also by Glencoe, was a filly, and all her foals after that (six more), by four other sires, were females. Olivia produced seven males in succession from four different sires before she dropped her first filly. Neither Jack Malone, Muggins, John Mor- gan nor Bonnie Scotland could get anything but fillies out of Lantana. Mollie Hambleton produced six fillies in succession, three of them by Planet, and then she faced about and threw two male foals to Planet. In short, the pages of the stud and herd books furnish a complete refutation to any rule that has yet been formu- lated upon this subject. It may be that we shall ultimately discover the circumstances under which these various causes operate upon each other, so that we shall be able, in many cases, to produce a given sex at will, but at present we know but little if any more upon the subject than was known by our grandfathers. 88 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. CHAPTER II. STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. If the reader has given any thought to the general principles which govern stock-breeding as elucidated in the preceding pages he must be well aware of the fact that he cannot gather grapes from thorns nor figs from thistles. The general rule that "like produces like" is true throughout all animal and vegetable life. Ev- erything brings forth after its kind. We sow pure seed and expect the produce to be of the same kind. Wheat does not produce rye, neither will oats produce barley. The rule is just as true in animal life. The great principle that each begotten creature is but the essence of what has preceded it admits of very few ex- ceptions. We have only to apply this general principle, with a knowledge of the special char- acteristics of the various breeds and families of horses, as portrayed in this volume, and the business of breeding horses of any given type becomes greatly simplified. No man would breed to a Shetland pony with the expectation of producing a draft horse, nor to the ponder- STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 89 ous Shire or Clydesdale with the hope of the produce turning out a winner on the race course. The general characteristics of the hreed to which the parents belong will be transmitted to the progeny; and in proportion as the breed is firmly established and uniform in its charac- teristics so will the produce be uniform in its character. Whatever has been "bred in the bone" will be transmitted. A pair of Shetland ponies will produce a Shetland pony with un- erring certainty; because in all the character- istics which distinguish the ponies from other breeds of the horse kind they are uniform; but we cannot count with certainty upon the color of the hair or the individual peculiarities in many minute details, because in these minor points uniformity in the race has never been established. But whatever has been firmly fixed as a characteristic of the breed, whether it be peculiarity of gait, form, color, size, dis- position, or speed, will be transmitted with a certainty in proportion to the degree of uni- formity which has been attained in that par- ticular in the ancestry. The horses of the United States are of a heterogeneous character — a conglomeration of every breed and type of the horse kind in the known world. Until within a comparatively recent period no intelligent effort was made to keep any of the breeds pure except the thor- 90 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. oughbred. We have crossed in and out " with- out rhyme or reason" until, with the single exception of our thoroughbred horses, it is scarcely possible to trace the pedigree of any given American-bred horse four generations back without finding an admixture of all the various breeds and types that have ever been known. With such an ancestry it is not to be wondered at that disappointments meet the novice on every hand. He selects a fine-look- ing bay mare that will weigh nearly 1,500 Ibs., in moderate flesh, clean-limbed and strong, and he looks about for a stallion possessing the same characteristics that he may couple the two to- gether to produce a first-class draft horse. He has been told that "like produces like" so often that he believes it, and this theory leads him, very properly, to think that from such a pair his hopes of producing good draft horses will be realized. But he is disappointed; the prod- uce is not like either of the parents; and he pronounces breeding a lottery, and the doctrine of the transmission of the peculiarities of the parents to the progeny a humbug. He forgets that heredity transmits with certainty only what has been firmly fixed in the ancestry; and he loses sight of the fact that his large, fine bay mare was herself the produce of a mixed ancestry — perhaps of a bay Clydesdale stallion and a little sorrel mare of unknown blood, and . STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 91 that his stallion was probably got by a half- blood French draft horse out of a dun pacing mare, whose dam in turn was a Mexican Mus- tang. The possession of the desired qualities in the sire and dam selected was an accidental circumstance; and intelligent breeders, with a knowledge of this fact, would not expect that these accidental qualities would be transmitted with certainty. SELECTION OF BREEDING STOCK. In the application of the general laws which govern the transmission of hereditary qualities to the business of breeding horses the first step is for the breeder to decide, in his own mind, what sort of horse he wishes to produce. If his fancy or interest leads him to breed horses for the race course he must keep constantly in mind the fact that for this purpose, whether for running or trotting, speed and endurance of the very highest order are indispensable; and here the least unsoundness will prove fatal. In order to live through the severe ordeal of train- ing, and the still more trying one of the bruis- ing campaign, which taxes the utmost powers of the horse day after day, there must be no weak spots in his composition. There must be no soft, spongy bones and joints; no brittle or contracted feet; no tendency to curbs, spavins or ringbones: no weak tendons nor feeble lungs 92 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. in the horse that is to prove a profitable cam- paigner. No matter how much of mere speed the get of any stallion may have shown, if, as a rule, they have proven seriously defective in any part of their machinery, he should be avoided as a sire by those who are breeding for speed, whether runners or trotters; for the race course will quickly search out and bring to light the least taint of unsoundness or weak- ness in any part of the organization. Feet and legs, and bones and tendons, and joints and muscles, and heart and lungs, and brain and eye, must each do its part thoroughly in the great race horse. There must be that nice adaptation of the machinery, and that firmness and fineness of texture in the material of which the machine is built, which shall enable it to withstand the tremendous strain that is put upon it, and which distinguished great cam- paigners, like Lady Suffolk, Flora Temple, Gold- smith Maid, English Eclipse, and his American namesake, from the flashy ones that blaze out for a single season, like a brilliant meteor, and then sink into obscurity. It is this perfection of organism which ena- bles the horse to stand up, under preparation and training, year after year, profiting by his education and improving with age, that makes the really valuable race horse. It is a quality more valuable than speed, because whatever STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 93 measure of speed it possesses can be depended upon and improved. In short, it is the quality which distinguishes the thoroughbred from the dunghill; the great race horse that, like a Gold- smith Maid or a Lexington, will always be in condition to struggle for a man's life, from those band-box race horses and newspaper trotters that are never heard from outside of private trials and breeders' catalogues. These are the considerations that should in- fluence breeders of horses for the turf; and no blind devotion to a fashionable pedigree, nor promise of mere speed in the youngsters got by any stallion, should induce us to overlook a prevailing tendency to any unsoundness or lack of endurance in his get. The number of heats and races won, and the number of successful years upon the turf, are more reliable lamps by which the breeder may guide his footsteps than the record of colt stakes and mere speed tests. The ordeal of the race course, and more espe- cially the trotting course, is very trying upon the legs and feet; and here soundness and quality of the highest order is essential. The turf horse that is always troubled with ua leg" is a nuisance. Curbs, spavins, ringbones, weak- ened or sprained tendons, "bucked" knees and stiffened joints are some, of the troubles that affect the legs of the horse and greatly impair his usefulness, 94 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. The indications of a good leg are firmness, hardness and smoothness to the touch, showing an entire absence of adipose tissue; large, well- defined joints, entirely free from abnormal ap- pendages; firm, but elastic, cords; a short pas- tern, short from knee and hock to pastern -joint. The shape of the bone should be broad and flat, and the legs should stand squarely and firmly under the horse, the toes turning neither in nor out. The bone should be of good size just be- low the knee, and flat: and large-sized cannon- bones, with strong, clean back sinews and sus- pensory ligaments are of great importance. "Curby hocks," "cow hocks." "bowed legs," "calf knees," and "over on the knees" are indi- cations that are always unfavorable^ All these points are to be examined mainly when the horse is not in motion: and when fully satisfied in these particulars it is very es- sential to see that, having four good legs, the horse has the ability to use them properly; that he steps with a firm, free, elastic tread; that the legs and feet do not get in the way of each other when he is in motion, but move freely, without interference, and yet without any pad- dling or straddling motion. Stiffness of the joints may be most readily detected by causing the horse to step backward, and by seeing him in motion when first taken from the stall, be- fore he has been warmed up. STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 95 The feet are, of course, a very important ap- pendage to the legs. . In shape, a medium be- tween a flat foot and a mule-shaped one is to be preferred ; and it should always be of good size, with a large degree of concavity in the bottom. The frog should be full and lively, free from thrush or canker; and the hoof must be hard and elastic, without cracks, and free from brittleness. If all these details were looked after by breed- ers in selecting brood mares, as well as stallions, we should soon note a marked improvement in the legs and feet of our horses; for there is not a single good point or. defect among those above enumerated that is not liable to be transmitted to the offspring. It is too often the »case that mares especially, after having broken do\\n through some inherent defect in the feet or legs, so that they can no longer be profitably used, are relegated to the breeding stud to trans- mit again to their progeny the malformation that made them worthless. Like does not al- ways beget like in every feature and detail, but in general terms the saying is a true one, and defects are just as likely to be transmitted as good qualities. Mares or stallions disabled or crippled by accident, and not from constitu- tional tendency or weakness in any particular, may be safely used for breeding purposes; but those that have given way through weakness 96 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. or defects in any part of the animal machinery should always be rejected. Breeders of trotting horses have been especially neglectful of these sound principles, and thousands of mares with some speed, but with legs and feet so unsound as to cause them to break down under very slight training, have been used for breeding purposes. And so with any other form or type of horse that may be mentioned. If draft horses are desired select breeding stock from some of the best-established draft breeds. The distinguish- ing characteristics of weight and strength— which are the chief essentials in a cart or draft horse — are quite firmly fixed in the Clydesdale, the English Cart horse, the Suffolk Punch, the Percheron, and the Boulonnais, imported to this country from Europe, however much they may differ in other particulars ; and they all may be relied upon, with a good degree of cer- tainty, to reproduce their kind when judiciously coupled. But to this must be added docility, soundness and endurance. Given all these qual- ities, and then the more of action and style the animal possesses the better. He may be in possession of all these characteristics except the first, but being deficient in that he is not a good draft horse. On the other hand, he may weigh a ton, but if he be ill-tempered, unsound, or lacking in endurance his value is materially^ . STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 97 lessened. He may possess all the good points above enumerated, and yet be so deficient in energy and so heavy and sluggish in his move- ments as to come very far short of a perfect draft horse. Each of these qualities being desirable, it follows that the horse possessing all of them in the highest degree is the most desirable one. I do not propose to enter into a discussion as to the comparative merits of the various draft breeds. All have crossed kindly with our native mares, and all have marked substantial im- provement, at least in the size of our draft stock, and some of the very best results in the pro- duction of work horses have been attained by a commingling of the blood of two or more of these imported strains. I do not believe it is possible that a horse can be bred which will combine all the desirable qualities; the horse-of-all work is a myth* that cannot be realized. The general farmer needs a horse that combines a good degree of both action and weight, but the horse that suits him is not the heavy draft horse that is required in the trucks and drays of our cities. On the other hand, there has always been, and always will be, an active demand for road horses, with speed, style, docility and endurance as the qual- ities principally sought after, but too light for general farm work. Each of these types it will pay to breed, just as it pays to raise the various 98 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. kinds of grain; but if all the resources of our country were directed toward producing wheat to the neglect of other grains we should very soon find the market overstocked and the busi- ness unprofitable. And so, when everybody catches the draft-horse fever we have, after a while, an oversupply of heavy horses and prices go down. There is room for all, and a steady demand at good prices for good specimens of each type of horses; and breeders of the best of any breed need have no fears of a serious de- cline in prices for such animals. There are several styles of horses that sell well at present; and, in the breeding of any of these, farmers may, under favorable circum- stances, engage, with a fair prospect of finding the business profitable. First, and highest- priced, are the very fast trotters and runners; but these very fast ones are not produced with certainty by even the most experienced breed- ers, with the best of breeding stock to work upon and the best of trainers to develop them; and it must be borne in mind, likewise, that it is only the fastest among the fast ones that bring exceptional prices. But there is a fasci- nation about it which attracts many gentle- men of wealth and leisure to the business, the question of profit and loss being with them a secondary consideration. It affords them en- joyment and recreation, and it is indulged in STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 99 mainly to that end; and into such hands the breeding of horses for speed alone, whether runners or trotters, may largely be left. The next class, in the scale of prices, is the large, stylish, high-stepping carriage or coach horse. Such horses may be bred with a good degree of certainty, with the proper stock to breed from, and there is but little expense at- tending the breaking and training. Such as prove rather deficient in size, style, and action may make very serviceable farm horses, but to command the best price for the carriage or coupe there must be rather more of spirit, and they must be rather more "rangy" and possess higher knee action than is desirable for farm, work. Such horses may be produced by coup- ling large, stout mares with a good-sized, highly- bred, stylish, high-stepping trotting stallion, or a stylish, large thoroughbred. The latter is the course of breeding by which the coach-horse breeds of England, France, and Germany were produced; and as these have already been ex- tensively introduced into the United States they will no doubt be used to a very considera- ble extent here by breeders of coach and car- riage horses. I would recommend, however, that good judgment and discriminating intelli- gence be made use of in selecting sires from among these imported horses, for some of them are but sorry mongrels in point of blood, Only 100 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. those which show unmistakable evidence of high breeding and quality should be patron- ized, for here, as in all other cases, the mere fact of importation alone should not commend a horse to popular favor. Another class of horses for which the demand is almost unlimited is the blocky, compact, low but quick-stepping and active draft horse. For use on our farms and for ordinary work they are wanted of from 1,100 to 1,300 Ibs. weight. For our omnibuses and express wagons the demand is for the same style of horse, but heavier, weighing 1,300 to 1,500 Ibs., while for carts and for heavy freighting they can scarcely be too large, provided they are sound, hardy, and active. The great trouble with horses of this class is a lack of endurance. Too many of them have broad, flat, brittle hoofs, or the op- posite extreme of contracted, narrow heels; both are to be avoided. Many of them have unsound joints, especially at the hocks; and the bone is round, beefy, and of a coarse, porous nature. In selecting breeding stock to produce this class of horses especial regard should be had to these points. The hoof should be full arid of good size — neither flat nor contracted at the heel. The legs should be clean and flat; the joints firmly corded, free from curbs, spavins, and beefiness. The flank should be full and low, for that indicates a good feeder. The chest STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 101 should be wide and the girth large, for that in- dicates lung-power and what is termed "consti- tution." The fore legs should be set under the horse, and not be stuck on the outside, "like a pin in a log." He should be short on the back, slightly arched at the coupling, well ribbed up, full in the quarters, heavy-boned, short-legged, compact, blocky, gentle, good-tempered, active, wide-awake, but not nervous or restless. In motion he should travel free, level, and true, with feet and legs carried well under the body. Such a horse will sell, and sell readily at all times and at a good price, no matter what his color may be; and his price will increase in proportion to his size, from 1,100 up to 1,700 Ibs. The general farmer cannot afford to breed for racing speed; he must leave that to gentle- men of means, who, with the choicest brood mares as well as sires, and with every appliance for successful training, can engage in the lot- tery of breeding for exceptional speed, because they can afford to take the chances, and because they find a considerable portion of their reward in the relaxation from other cares which this business affords. But the general farmer must raise horses that he can sell or use. He must do the work of the farm mainly with mares that, while performing their labor satisfacto- rily, will each year produce colts which at four or five years old will be salable horses. He 102 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. must keep such brood mares as, when coupled with good stallions, will usually produce horses that will meet the demands of commerce. And right here it may be well to say that while the demands of commerce are liable to a consider- able degree of change from year to year, yet the breeder who produces a really first-class horse of any kind, will always find a ready market for it at a remunerative price. Man}7 people imagine that there is some great mystery — some occult science- -involved in the selection and management of horses for breed- ing purposes, but there is nothing of the kind about it. It is only the application of good, common sense and perfect familiarity with the points of a horse, joined to a thorough knowl- edge of the best methods of feeding and man- aging horses in general ; because the rules that apply in the selection of a foal that is designed to be used for breeding purposes, so far as the appearance of the animal is concerned, are pre- cisely the same as if it were to be selected for other uses; and the general rules for the feed- ing, breaking and training for other purposes ap- ply here as well. I will presume that the breeder has definitely decided in his own mind what breed or strain or family he proposes to select from. He ought then to try to find a colt that has the longest possible ancestral line uniformly distinguished STALLIONS. BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 163 for the quality upon which he bases his selec- tion, and then he should look carefully to see that no constitutional infirmities have been in- herited. If there has been blindness — not the result of accidental injury — in the near ances- try, even though the colt himself may be ap- parently free from any defects in his organs of vision, this fact must be regarded as a point against him. And so of any other constitutional defect, weakness, or infirmity, whether of form, structure or disposition. Infirmities of temper are especially liable to be transmitted. It is very desirable that the breeder should know, as fully as possible, the character of the ances- try on both the paternal and maternal sides; and the farther back they can be shown to be free from constitutional defects of any kind the better. The colt himself may be free from any serious defects, but if they are known to have existed in his near ancestry there is al- ways more or less danger that he will transmit them to his progeny. Every observant horse- man of experience can call to mind numerous instances confirming the truth of this position. The writer once owned a grey stallion that was got by a grey stallion out of a grey mare. When place'd in the breeding stud it was found that he occasionally got dun colts, even out of grey mares. Investigation into the ancestry of this horse developed the fact that his second 104 A TREATISE ON HQRSE-BREEDINGk dam was a dun mare. Here we had the in- herited quality of color lying dormant through two generations, and reappearing under the most unexpected circumstances in the third. But while all these points are important it may not be out of place to remind the reader that the man who expects to find all the good qualities and perfect immunity from fault of any kind, in any one animal, will look a long time in vain. This ideal can only be approxi- mated, never reached, in any race or breed. GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF THE STALLION. The most frequent mistake made by inexperi- enced persons, and even by many who ought to know better, is the endeavor to have the stal- lion in fine show condition by the time the sea- son opens. To this end various drugs, nostrums and roots are recommended; the horse is kept carefully housed and closely blanketed; he is loaded with fat; his muscles become soft and flabby for want of exercise, and although he may come out in the show-yard at the opening of the season looking "as sleek as a mole," and apparently in the very pink of condition, he is in reality not nearly so well fitted for service in the stud as he would have been had this fitting- up process been entirely dispensed with. It may be laid down as a general rule, that a healthy horse needs no medicine whatever to STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 105 put him in condition for the stud. The whole secret of successful preparation, lies in a few words. Let him be well and regularly fed on healthy, nutritious food, with plenty of exer- cise every day, to keep his muscles firm and hard, and let him be well groomed, so that his coat may present a fine appearance. The skin should be kept thoroughly clean by occasional washing and frequent brushing and rubbing. The mane and tail should be especially looked after, with reference to cleanliness of the skin. If very dirty, soap may be freely used in the cleansing process; and when this is faithfully attended to there will be but little danger of having a fine tail or mane ruined by rubbing. The food should mainly be good, sound oats — nothing is better; but this should be varied by an occasional ration of corn or barley; for horses, like men, are fond of variety in their food, and an occasional change of diet is condu- cive to health. Wheat bran is an invaluable adjunct to the grain ration, and can never be dispensed with. It is the cheapest, safest and best of all regulators for the bowels, and it is especially rich in some of the most important elements of nutrition. No specific directions as to the quantity of food can be given. Some horses will require nearly twice as much as others; and the quantity that may be safely given will depend somewhat upon the amount 106 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. of exercise in any given case. Some horsemen recommend feeding three and others four times a day; but in either case no more should ever be given than will be promptly eaten up clean. If any food should be left in the box it should be at once removed and the quantity at the next time of feeding should be reduced accord- ingly. As a rule, it will be safe to feed as much as the horse will eat with apparent rel- ish; and then, with plenty of exercise, he will not become overloaded with fat. The hay, as well as the grain feed, should be sound and free from mould and dust, and the stall should be kept clean, well lighted and perfectly venti- lated. The amount of exercise to be given will vary somewhat with the condition and habit of the horse. If he be thin in flesh, and it is thought best to fatten him up, the exercise should be lighter than it otherwise would be; and, on the other hand, if there is a tendency to become too fat this may be corrected by increasing the amount of exercise that is given. Draft horses should rarely be led or driven faster than a walk in taking their exercise, and they will require much less of it than the roadster or the running horse — a moderate "jog" daily will benefit them. I am clearly of the opinion that in no one particular is there more faulty man- agement on the part of lazy grooms and stable STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 107 hands than in the matter of exercising stallions while doing service in the stud. They should not be walked nor jogged so long that they will become jaded or wearied, but they should cer- tainly have enough of it daily to keep the mus- cles hard and firm, the appetite good and to prevent them from laying on an undue amount of fat. No draft horse, under ordinary circum- stances, should have less exercise than five miles a day, and the roadster and running horse may safely have six miles, which in some cases should be increased to eight or even ten. The point to be aimed at in the stable man- agement of the stallion is so to feed, groom and exercise as to keep the horse up to the very highest possible pitch of strength and vigor. The idea which prevails among many stable grooms that feeding this or that nostrum will increase the ability of a horse to get foals is sheer nonsense. Anything that adds to the health, strength and vigor of the horse will in- crease his virility or sexual power, simply be- cause the sexual organs will partake of the general tone of the system; and, on the con- trary, whatever tends to impair the health and vigor of the general system will have a delete- rious effect upon the sexual organs. A healthy horse needs nothing but good food, pure air, plenty of exercise, with due attention to clean- liness and regularity in feeding and watering; 108 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. and when all these things are attended to properly the drugs and nostrums that stable lore prescribes as "good for a horse" would better be thrown to the dogs. For the use of the stallion I like a box stall not less than twelve by -eighteen feet, without any manger or rack whatever for the hay, and with a box snugly fitted in the corner for the grain. Many prefer that the feed boxes should be entirely detached from the stall, to be re- moved as soon as the horse is done eating. The hay is put on the floor in one corner of the stall, and thus there is nothing — no projections, boxes, racks, mangers, sharp angles, etc. — upon which a spirited, restless horse may injure him- self. If, in addition to these precautions, the sides of the stall be lined all around — doors and all — with stout boards, standing out at the bottom about one foot from the wall, and slop- ing upward and toward the wall for a height of three and a half feet, you will have a stall in which it will be well-nigh impossible for a horse to injure his mane or tail by rubbing. In such a box the horse need not be kept haltered, and the owner may feel assured that the liability to injury is reduced to a minimum. One of the most pernicious and dangerous of all practices, especially among breeders of draft horses, is that of overfeeding in order to pro- duce great weight. Draft horses are not ex- STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 109 actly bought and sold by the pound, like hogs and steers; yet frequently the first thing one of these draft-horse breeders will speak of is the weight of his horse. "That stallion weighs 1,900." "This filly weighed 1,400 at two years old," and similar remarks are specimens of the "horse talk" most common among breeders of draft horses; and they feed to produce weight, just as the man does who is feeding hogs or cattle for pork or beef. It is an easy matter to add 200 Ibs. weight to a fair-sized horse when in ordinary flesh; and a draft horse that has less than two inches of adipose tissue on his ribs is not fit to show anywhere — at least so the fashion runs. It is not strange that horses so overfed and loaded down with fat should be unable to work in warm weather, or that their reputation for endurance should suffer. A good roadster weighing 900 Ibs. when in condition for work will make his mile in 2:30 or go for hours at the rate of ten miles per hour; but load the same horse with fat, until his weight is 1,200— which can easily be done — and you can "break his heart" in three minutes on the road. Gold- smith Maid was a marvelous trotter, and her easy, cat-like strides carried her to the front in 2:14 when she was in good condition to trot; but if she had been made as fat as a show-yard Clydesdale she would have waddled like a duck 110 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. and a " four-minute horse" could have beaten her. Both endurance and procreative power are largely matters of condition, and draft-horse breeders seldom have their horses in that con- dition which is favorable to great excellence in either. For the reputation which has, to some extent, attached to them as soft and unable to stand up under hard work, and as being rather uncertain foal-getters, the breeders of these horses have only to thank their own pernicious system of extravagantly high feeding; and un- less they abandon or considerably modify their practice in this regard the reputation of all our draft breeds is likely to suffer still further. Lib- eral, and even generous feeding, with plenty of exercise, is essential to perfect development; but feeding horses as we do hogs or steers, merely with a view to adding so many pounds to their weight, is a pernicious custom and should be condemned. A well-informed writer in the North British Agriculturist some years ago animadverted very severely upon this pernicious system of over- feeding, which prevails in Great Britain to even a greater extent than in this country; and his remarks are so pertinent that I quote from the article as follows: The number of useful horses sacrificed to forcing and feed- ing- for show and sale appears to be on the increase alike in England and Scotland. Old Citadel, and other frequent prize-winners among thoroughbreds, hunters, and cobs stand STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. Ill the wear and tear of show-yard -preparation better than most of the agricultural horses. A considerable number of prom- ising young cart horses and mares at the Royal Meeting at Bristol were overlaid with beef and fat to the detriment of usefulness and soundness Abundant illustration of the evil is seen at every large show. Several of the Bristol contin- gent were sadly gummy and itchy about their legs: several were puffed and full in their hocks, looking as if they had been strained, and had got both bog spavins and thorough- pins; from the same senseless high feeding several had early developed sidebones. Yet, even with these notable defects — doubtless regarded by the judges as temporary, and not he- reditary—several horses at Bristol managed to gain the coveted rosettes. Can judges and stewards at important meetings do nothing to carry into effect the sensible rules generally laid down in their printed programme as to over- feeding, but systematically ignored? Cannot symmetry, style, and usefulness be fairly estimated without dangerously over- loading the animal with beef and fat? Should it be essential to the successful exhibition of a good horse or bull that for months he should drink, as many do, two or three gallons of cow's milk daily? This artificial treatment greatly improves the looks of plain, flat-sided, weak-loined subjects; but it cannot give the essential shape, style, and action; and besides the ailments already mentioned it engenders in horses, as in other animals, liability to anthrax or blood poisoning, of which quarter evil and splenic apoplexy in cattle are the most familiar examples. Many gross, overfed horses suffer from similar conditions; they take what at first appears to be a simple cold; the throat becomes very sore, congestion, rapidly followed by extravasation of blood, occurs through- out the lining membrane of the air passages; treatment in such gross, overfed subjects is singularly unsuccessful, and in fifteen or twenty hours the patient dies, suffocated from pul- monary apoplexy. Among the young horses got up for town sale, as well as those sacrificed to showing, it is wonderful to observe the amount of fat laid on, not only externally, but around the internal organs. The omentum of a four-year- old cart horse is sometimes overlaid with four or five inches 112 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. of firm fat. Heart, kidneys* and other organs are propor- tionally loaded. Amidst the fibres of the heart and other muscles the enfeebling fat is also laid down, interfering with muscular capability. Woe betide the unfortunate animal which, in such a state of obesity, is put to severe exertion. Sudden death may result from the giving way of some organ or vessel weakened by the fatty degeneration, or dangerous disease of the air passages or laminitis is established; whilst eight or ten months of careful feeding and regulated exercise are required before such an overfed horse is fit for really hard work. Surely the reprehensible fashion of forcing and overfeeding animals intended for work or for breeding should be held somewhat in check by the consideration of the dan- gers of such a practice and by its serious interference with successful breeding! It has been noticed that draft stallions im- ported to this country are frequently troubled with what appears to be chronic grease, or scratches, which causes ugly, itching sores on the legs; and, so far as my observation goes, the horses thus attacked have almost univer sally been such as have been kept in very high flesh, with but little exercise. From this fact I several years ago adopted the theory that this diseased condition was usually the result of the course of feeding and management pur- sued, and that no treatment would avail to cure the disease so long as the cause remained. Acting on this theory I undertook the treat- ment of a stallion that was affected as above described. Commencing soon after the close of the season, he was turned out in a small pasture lot, which was so securely fenced that STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 113 there was no possibility of his breaking out. From this time on, so, long as the grass re- mained good, no other, food was given him. His stable door opened into this pasture, and it was at all times left open, so that he could go in and out at his pleasure. When the grass be- gan to fail, on the. approach of winter, he was given each day as much corn-fodder as he would eat, but no grain whatever; always giving him the run of the pasture. This treatment was kept up until the 1st of February, the horse be- ing confined to his stable only during the night, and not then except in extremely cold or stormy weather. He was thus kept about four months without any grain whatever, but with all the corn-fodder he would eat after the grass failed, As a result of this treatment, without the ad- ministraffion of medicines of any kind, he was completely renovated and cured, and no symp- toms of the disease ever appeared afterward. Another case, which affords a striking prac- tical illustration of the effects of overfeeding and lack of exercise in the stallion, is that of an imported Percheron stallion, owned for many years by the late Hon. Z. T. Chandler, of Michigan. In July, 1876, the man in charge of Mr. Chandler's stables wrote me concerning the horse as follows: This horse was imported to Baltimore in 1868. Two years after he was purchased by Mr. Chandler and sent to this 114 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. farm, where he has ever since been. But he was put under very bad management — kept in his stall, with very little ex- ercise, sometimes for months not stepping1 out of his stall, not even to be watered, loaded with fat — and of course he be- came a very uncertain foal-getter. He came into my charge late in the spring of 1873 in this condition. That season he only got seven colts, three of which died from premature birth. After the season was over, not believing in that way of treating a stock horse, I put him into the team, worked him steadily, fed sparingly, got his flesh off from him, brought him to the next season in spare flesh, hard as a plow-horse, required his groom to give him at least twelve miles of good active motion a day, and he produced that season a very fair proportion of colts. I have continued to handle him in the same way, and he is now about to close his season, having booked a hundred mares, very few of which have been re- turned to him. His flesh is as hard as that of a plow-horse; indeed, he is a"ble, if I chose to put him to it, to go into the plow, and, to all appearances, do the best day's work of his life. CONTROLLING THE STALLION WHEN IN USE. Although the temper and disposition of the stallion are largely matters of inheritance, yet much depends upon the breaking and manage- ment. It is easier to spoil a horse than it is to cure him of bad habits after they are once formed If there is any manifestation of a dis- position to be "headstrong" and unruly he should never be led out except by a bridle that will enable the groom to exercise the most per- fect control over him. The one that I have found most effectual is made by taking an ordinary "snaffle" bit, with rings of moderate size, and with the head-piece made in the usual STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 115 way; get a blacksmith to attach a well-polished, round iron bar to the right-hand ring by means of a small link connecting the bar and the ring; to the other end of the bar attach the usual sliding rein used on stallion bridles (see Fig. 1). Put the bridle on the horse in the usual way, and then, with the right hand on the bar and the left on the bridle-ring next to you, press the bar back and the ring forward until the bar will pass through the ring in the left hand. This bar should be made just as long as will admit of its being passed into the other ring in this manner; that is, it should be about equal in length to the bit and rings when stretched out straight, and the bit and rings should be so adapted to the size of the mouth and under jaw that when a little pressure is brought to bear upon the rein attached to the end of the lever formed by this iron bar the rings of the bit will be brought within an inch of touching each other (see Fig. 2). The lever- age given by this appliance, when well fitted, will enable any one to hold the most unruly and headstrong horse in check. It is not neces- sarily severe when the horse behaves himself, and when he is not disposed to do this he can very suddenly be brought back on his haunches by a moderate touch on the rein. When the bar is not needed the rein to which it is attached may be passed over the head and down through 116 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. the ring on the near side, as shown in- Fig. 3, instead of under the jaw, as in Fig. 1. It requires some skill and a good deal of pa- tience to teach a stallion how to behave him- self properly when brought out to serve a mare. He should never be allowed to go onto her with a rush; but he should be led up on the near side of the mare to within about ten to fifteen feet of her, and made to stand with his head toward the mare, about opposite her head; and when he is ready he should be led toward her and made to commence the mount when by her side instead of going for a rod or so with his fore feet sawing the air, as is often the case. By observing these directions there will be but little danger of injury to the stallion by a kick from the mare when he is mounting, especially if a good man is at her head to prevent her from wheeling toward the horse when he ap- proaches. The danger to the horse is always greatest when he is coming off, because many mares will kick then that will stand perfectly still when he is mounting. To obviate this the groom who holds the horse should seize the mare by the bits with his left hand at this moment and bring her head around toward him by a sudden jerk as the horse is coming off. But in most cases, indeed in all cases where there is not an absolute certainty that the mare will stand perfectly quiet, the hobbles STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 117 118 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. should be used, and then there can be no dan- ger. To make these, prepare two straps of very strong but soft harness leather two inches in width and long enough to buckle comfort- ably around the mare's hind pasterns. The buckles must be strong and well made, and in each of these straps there should be sewed a strong, flattened ring. Next prepare a collar- piece of two-inch leather, and about as large as an ordinary horse-collar, so that the mare's head will readily pass through it; to this collar fasten securely two stout straps each an inch and a half wide and just long enough to pass down between the fore legs and reach the straps on the hind legs; attach stout buckles near the ends of the straps, but far enough from the ends to leave room to adjust them to different-sized mares; buckle these straps to the rings in the straps that are fastened to the hind legs, and buckle up short enough to effect- ually prevent the mare from kicking, if she should be disposed to do so. All this can be adjusted in a moment's time and by its use all danger from kicking is avoided. WHEN MARES SHOULD BE TRIED. A point upon which there is great diversity of opinion is when and how often a mare should be tried after she has been served by the stallion. A mare will almost invariably be STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 1 1 9 "in heat" on the ninth day after foaling if she is healthy and has received no injury in giving birth to her foal ; and most horse-breeders think it is best that she should receive the horse at that time if it is desired that she should be kept for breeding purposes. I can remember when it was the almost universal custom to try mares every week after they had been served, but that is not the present practice of experienced horse- men. The rule that now recei ves the most gen- eral sanction is not to try the mare again after service before the lapse of two weeks. I have taken a great deal of pains during the past few years to ascertain the views of prominent, in- telligent and experienced breeders upon this point, and I find them, with very great unanim- ity, agreeing that after the ninth day from foal- ing there is no regular period for the return of heat (although some breeders think the twenty- seventh day is almost as certain a period as the ninth, and better for many reasons, while still others prefer the eighteenth day), neither is the period uniform in duration. Some mares will appear to be in heat nearly all the time, while with others it recurs but rarely and lasts but a very short time; consequently if the mare, after service, goes out of heat within a few clays she should be served when she comes in again, even if that should be within nine days; but should the period not pass off she should 120 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. not be served again under eighteen days. As a rule it is best to try the mare again within from two weeks to eighteen days after service, and then if she refuses the horse she should be tried every week for some four weeks; and if she fails to come in within that time it will be reasonably certain that she is in foal. She ought 'to be closely watched, however, for some weeks afterward, because in some cases mares will pass over a period of one or two months, or even longer, without any appearance of heat, and yet not be pregnant. Again, there are other mares— and they are more numerous than one would suppose — that will appear to be in heat and will freely receive the horse when they are in foal, and even almost up to the time of foaling. For convenience in trying mares it is best to erect the barrier parallel to and about four feet distant from a solid fence or wall, so that the mare will be compelled when behind it to stand with her left side toward the horse: and the barrier should be so substantially built that it cannot be kicked or pushed down. In many cases the only barrier used is a strong pole fixed about three and a half feet from the ground; but it is much safer and better to build up the space to that height close and solid, with strong material of some kind, so as to lessen the danger from kicking and striking. This STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 121 may be conveniently done by setting three posts firmly in the ground, about four feet apart, and nailing strong oak or other hard- wood boards to these posts, on both sides, from the ground up to the required height, and then capping them over with a board of the same material. When trying the mare keep the. horse well in hand, by the use of the bit pre- viously described if necessary, and do not let him get his nose further back than to the mare's flank. If the stallion is a valuable one and is expected to do much service it will be best to have another horse of but little value for a teaser, but when the service required is but light it will work no injury to the horse to let him do his own teasing. Occasionally a horse will be found to have a peculiar aversion to a certain mare to such an extent that he will refuse to serve her. In such a case it is well to bring into the same inclosure another mare that is in heat, and when his amorous desire is aroused by her presence he can .usually be made to serve the one that he had formerly refused. THE NUMBER OF MARES TO BE SERVED. The number of mares that a stallion may safely be permitted to serve during a season has long been a subject of discussion among horse-breeders. It is generally held that the two-year-old stallion will be all the better for 122 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. not serving any mares at all, that a three-year- old should be limited to fifteen or twenty ser- vices, and that a four-year-old should not go beyond twenty or thirty. There can be no question that the use of the procreative powers by the miniatured horse tends to retard his physical development, and as a general rule it may be stated that there is no horse but would be the better for absolute continence until he is fully matured. But while this position is unquestionably based upon sound physiological law, and the true theory of perfect physical development in the male, there are advantages attending the earlier use of the stallion to a moderate extent that perhaps more than compensate for all the damage that may result from it. It is very de- sirable at the earliest possible stage in the life of a stallion to ascertain what his qualities as a foal-getter are likely to be, and with this object mainly in view I consider it wise to let the two-year-old serve a few choice mares, merely enough to show the character of his get. I should, with the same object in view, permit him as a three-year-old to serve a rather larger number, which may thereafter be, increased with each succeeding year until he is fully ma- tured, when if properly taken care of with refer- ence to food and exercise one hundred mares may be safely served during the season. With STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 123 the young stallion that is to serve but a few mares I should prefer that these should all be served within the space of a few weeks — say two or three a week until his limit for the sea- son has been reached — and then let him be withdrawn entirely from the breeding stud. He will soon forget all about it — will cease to fret after mares, and will have nothing to do but to groiv until the next season. But when it comes to doing business with the stallion he should rarely be permitted to serve more than twice a day; and even this should not be kept up for any great length of time. One a day during the season is better; but the groom can- not always do as his judgment (Dictates in this matter. If the horse has had a period of com- parative abstinence he may, if convenience de- mands it, serve three times in one day for a few days in succession; but this should not be kept up long, and a season of comparative rest for recuperation should follow this extraordinary demand. In the great breeding studs of Ger- many, under government direction, it was long held that from fifteen to twenty mares was enough for a stallion during the season; but the number has gradually been increased with- out perceptible detriment, until now the num- ber frequently exceeds one hundred. The number of mares that a horse serves during a season appears to have but little effect 124 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. upon the percentage of foals begotten. We have no official statistics bearing upon this sub- ject in this country, but such as we have from the books of private keepers of stallions abun- dantly prove this position. The condition of the stallion appears to be the controlling con- sideration, and so long as he is strong arid vig- orous his powers of reproduction continue. There may come a time, however, when from overtaxing this power partial or entire loss of virility may ensue. The books of service of Rys- dyk's Hambletonian show the following result: Years. Age. Years. Mares covered. Per cent of foals. Foals dropped. 1851. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 4 17 101 88 89 87 87 72 95 106 98 158 150 217 193 105 72 None. 22 22 30 30 31 32 24 Not re 76 78 70 72 73 72 75 70 68 69 70 61 67 67 71 58 si 72 80 80 65 75 8 ported. 13 78 62 64 64 . 63 54 66 72 68 111 92 148 128 75 42 18 16 26 24 20 24 2 1852 1853 1854... 1855... 1856... 1857... 1858 1859 1860... 1861 . . 1862 1863 1864 1865... 1866... 1867... 1868... 1869 1870 1871 . . 1872 1873 .. 1874... 1875 This table makes the remarkable showing of 1,331 foals begotten by a single horse out of STAI/LIONS, BROOD MAKES AND FOALS. 125 1,930 mares served — an average of 69 per. cent of foals to mares served. His average of mares served from the time he was three years old up to the year of his death (not including 1868, when he did nothing) was about 83 per year. The statistics of horse-breeding in Saxony, from 1856 to 1862, inclusive (seven years), also confirm the position advanced on the preced- ing page, viz., that the procreative power of the stallion depends mainly upon his strength and vigor. The returns for 1856 show that the stallions that served 90 to 100 mares each pro- duced a greater percentage of live foals than those that served any other number, except those that served from 30 to 40. In 1857 those that served over 110 mares each produced 25 per cent more foals than those that served a less number. In 1858 those that served 60 to 70 mares got a larger percentage of foals than any other, except one that served less than 10. In 1859 the highest percentage belonged to those that served 50 to 60 mares. In 1860 the highest belonged to those that served over 90 mares; while those bred to 10 or less stood lowest. In 1861 those that served 80 to 90 mares lead, while those below 20 show the smallest percentage of foals. In 1862 60 to 70 were the most productive, while those below 10 were the lowest in the percentage of foals pro- duced. From this data, as well as those de- 126 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. rived from the statistics of horse-breeding in France and the general results attained in this country, so far as we can approximate them, it is safe to conclude that the number of mares served has no influence on the percentage of foals got, and that a horse properly treated may serve from 80 to 110 mares in a season with as large an average percentage of foals as one limited to less than half that number. EFFECT OF AGE UPON THE FERTILITY OF A STALLION. Another point upon which there has been much discussion is the effect which age has upon the fertility of a stallion; and here again we are left without any official statistics of horse-breeding in our own country, and will resort to those of Saxony. For the years above quoted, 1856 to 1862, inclusive, we find the re- turns disclosing the following state of facts: In 1856 the average get of the stallions aged six, nineteen, twelve, eighteen, and fourteen, respectively, and in the order named, was the highest, while those aged eight, nine, seventeen, sixteen, five, and seven were the lowest. In 1857 those aged four, twenty, fourteen, seven, and eight got the largest percentage, in the order named, while those aged five, nine, eight- een, seventeen, and six were the lowest; and those aged twenty-one and twenty-two got a greater per cent of foals than those aged five, STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 127 six, nine, ten, seventeen, and eighteen. In 1858 the highest average was produced by stallions aged nine, ten, five, six, eight, fourteen, seven- teen, twenty, and twenty-two years, and the lowest by those aged eighteen, nineteen, four, three, thirteen, and seven, in the order named. In 1859 the percentage was nearly uniform for all ages. In 1860 those aged seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen led the colunrns, while those aged four, twelve, and nine were last. In 1861 the percentage was quite uniform regardless of age. In 1860 a stallion aged twenty begot twice as large a percentage as one aged four; one aged ten stood the highest, while sixteen, six, and four stood at the bottom of the list. The table of the get of Rysdyk's Hambletonian, on page 124, also shows that in his case age apparently had nothing to do with his fertility. Hence we conclude that, as in the number of mares served, so in the matter of age, the reproductive powers of the stallion appear to be almost entirely a matter of condition. EFFECT OF AGE UPON THE QUALITY OF THE GET. There has also been much speculation as to the comparative value of the foals got by a given stallion at different periods of life. The statistics of European horse-breeding throw but little light upon this subject, but our own trot- ting statistics furnish us with abundant evi- dence to prove that here also age has no effect. 128 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. To illustrate this point I give the following list of celebrated running and trotting Horses, among the most distinguished, either as sires or performers, that have ever been produced in America, with the age of sire and dam. The age of the sire is given at the time of copula- tion, and that of the dam at birth of foal. The list is taken at random from names that sug- gested themselves to me on account of their reputation as sires or performers, and without reference to what the figures might show: Name of horse. Age ire. Age dam. Name of howe. Age ire. Age dam Sir Archy 27 9 Parole 18 11 American Eclipse. . . . q 12 Harry Bassett 17 8 Lexington.. . . 16 14 Longfellow. IB 1?. Boston 18 19 Preakness. 16 14 Fashion 10 McWbirter 6 q Duroc 98 6 Bramble 21 8 Wagner. 17 7 Pellowcraft. .... 11 9 Grey Eagle 6 11 or 12 Sensation 23 9 Tom Bowling 1P 13 Iroquois 94 11 Ten Broeck 6 10 Huntress 9 12 Aristides 18 5 Voltaire 4 12 Foxhall 5 7 Prospero 3 7 liuius 13 10 Dame Trot 4 8 St. Julien 14 8 Elaine. . . 8 12 Goldsmith Maid 4 8 or 9 Walkill Chief 15 7 Alexand er ' s Abd all ah Volunteer. 2 4 '4 Orange Girl Indianapolis 21 4 13 1?/ Dexter . . 8 10 Woodford Mambrino 18 8 Nutwood . ... f> 5 Wedgewood 5 16 Maud S 9 9 Rysdvk's Hamblet'n 23 Mambrino Gift Scotland 6 15 7 10 Mambrino Chief Darby 18 10 *6 Trinket 4 10 Piedmont 6 11 Lula 14 9 Edwin TborBe .. 7 11 Clingstone 9 6 George Wilkes 6 8 Daniel Lambert. . . . 9 11 Dictator 13 14 Jay-eye-see Olitipa 14 18 13 10 Nancy Hanks. ..... Allerton 22 7 8 5 Spendthrift 17 5 Stamtoul 8 14 Duke of Magenta . . . 24 8 STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 129 Of the foregoing Prospero, Dame Trot, and Elaine have the same sire and dam; Nutwood and Maud S. are half-brother and sister; Mam- brino Gift and Scotland are both out of Water- witch — the former by a six-year-old trotting sire and the latter by a fifteen-year-old thor- oughbred. Woodbine at eight years old pro- duced Woodford Mambrino by a horse of eight- een, and when herself sixteen she produced Wedgewood by a five-year-old stallion. Ham- bletonian got Dexter, his best son, at eight years old ; Nettie, his next fastest by the record, when he was sixteen, and Orange Girl, who comes next, when he was twenty-one. Volun- teer got St. Julien (2:11^) at twelve years, Gloster (2:17) at nine, and Huntress (2:20f) at seven. Electioneers three fastest by the rec- ord—Sunol, 2:OSi; Palo Alto, 2:08|, and Arion, 2:10| — were begotten when he was seventeen, thirteen, and twenty-one years old, respectively. Happy Medium got Nancy Hanks, 2:04, when he was twenty-two, and Maxey Cobb, his next fastest by the record, when he was only eleven. Of Blue Bull's four fastest the first and fourth were begotten when he was sixteen and the second and third when he was twenty-two. PERCENTAGE OF FOALS TO MARES SERVED. Still another question of great interest to horse-breeders is this: What is the actual av- 130 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. erage percentage of live foals that a given stal- lion will get under average circumstances? In other words: What percentage of foals must a stallion get to entitle him to be classed as a reasonably sure foal -getter? And upon this there is often much loose assertion without any real array of facts to back it up. It is to the interest of stallion-keepers to make the largest possible showing in this respect; hence they often talk at random, and not un fre- quently pervert facts. Perhaps in most cases actual falsehoods are not stated; but the par- ties do not care to knoiv the exact truth lest they may be led by self-interest to state an un- truth. Hence they find it convenient never to know the exact truth, and content themselves by saying: "Oh, he got nearly everything with foal." Now, from a very extensive correspond- ence with reliable breeders who keep accurate accounts of results, as well as from my own observation, based upon an experience of thirty years with many different horses, I am decid- edly of opinion that the average indicated in the table of the get of Rysdyk's Hambletonian is considerably above the general average of stallions in this country. But this question is removed beyond the realms of conjecture by the recorded results in the government breeding studs of Germany. I give herewith a table which was compiled by STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 131 myself a few years ago from the statistics of horse-breeding in the government studs of Germany, as given by the late Hon. J. H. Klip- part in his report to the Ohio State Board of Agriculture. These statistics run back to 1859, and include all the intervening years up to 1874 (except 1869), in which are shown the results at eleven different points. The first column under each locality named shows the number of stallions employed for that year; the second gives the average number of mares served by each horse, expressed in whole numbers and decimals; the third gives the percentage of mares served that proved in foal, and the fourth gives the percentage of mares served that pro- duced live foals. The table is full of interest and may be studied by horse-breeders with profit. It will be observed that the percentage of mares that proved in foal, as well as the percentage of live foals dropped, varies con- siderably in the different establishments. The highest percentage of mares in foal was at the great Trakehnen establishment, in 1860, when the average was 80.2; and here we also find the highest average throughout the entire series of years. But we find the average running as low as 40 per cent in 1874, at Wickrath, with only 33.3 per cent of live foals, while several locali- ties report as high as 62.6 of live foals. It would be interesting to know the causes which 132 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. produced the great differences in these aver- ages and why it is that the stallions in the Trakehnen establishment were so much surer, or else a smaller percentage of the mares barren, than at Wickrath and some others. But the average result obtained from this great number of stallions and mares for so long a period may safely be accepted as establishing a general law or rule that can be depended upon under like circumstances. (The tables above referred to will be found on the two following pages.) Taking the statistics of all the establish- ments reported from 1859 down to 1874, with an average of over 1,000 stallions and 42,000 mares per year, as above stated, we find the results as follows: Average percentage of mares in foal , 67 7 AVerage percentage of live foals dropped 53.3 Average percentage of mares aborted or miscarried 4.8 Average percentage of mares dying or not accounted for.. 9.6 If the results as ascertained from the fore- going statistics may be accepted as the general rule it follows that the average stallion will make as much money for his owner by standing at $10 the season as he will at $14.75 to insure a mare with foal, or $18.75 to insure a living foal; and that a horse that can show 53 living foals to 100 mares served is an average foal-get- ter. Whether these figures will apply exactly to horse-breeding as managed in this country or STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 133 Iv. percentage of live foals Av. percentage in foal Av. No. of mares to' each stallion..... No. of stallions.. .. | ^321 Av. percentage of I livefoals.. ..... \ Av. percentage in «cq«oqoq foal ££g££S Av. No. of mares to 35^353553533. each stalhon. . . . No. of stallions.... | SSgSSgggJggg! Av. percentage of «^«fJ"*. each stallion [839 ^ ^ No. of stallions. ... « « « | ^4w. percentage of livefoals « Av. percentage in I «*. /oaf I g££ ^4v. JVo. o/ mares to each stallion. . . . No. of stallions — Av. percentage of «« «-*«»» itue foals j ^iv. percentage in l«cc!e^' /oa/ « -4v. JVo. o/ marea to ^ ,2 eachstallion j 5Sl§{ No. of stallions. ... | §ggj Tear... A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. I 5 « •< w - PH 3 4" •< QQ O » fe O I - 111 2 3 s Av. percentage of\ j josoow live foals v | | | ; | | •' :gj°g:§ Av. percentage in \ : : : /oaJ I : : : Av. No. of mares to each stallion. .... No. of stallions Av. percentage live foals — . of Av. percentage in foal ............... Av. No. of mares to I each stallion No. of stallions — § J 8 1 I! Year. Av. percentage of live foals ........ issssssss Av. percentage in foal .............. Av. No. of mares to each stallion ..... No. of stallions — Av. percentage o/ j <° ^ *• ^ ^ =»<»'-"" live foals 15 Av. percentage in I *> °^ "^ * * foal lKSSggggggS?Rg?gg3 uiw. JVo. o/ mares FOALS. 155 a stall or small paddock the inclosure should be so secure as to prevent any attempts at break- ing out, as these would be liable to result in injury to the mare, and possibly to the foal. The writer recalls one occasion in his own experience where a favorite mare, that was thought to be near the time of foaling, was brought from her accustomed pasture and placed in the stable for the night on account of a probable storm. The mare was left, as was supposed, securely fastened in her box-stall, but to my surprise the next morning she was found in her accustomed pasture with a foal by her side. Although usually qujet — never be- fore known to jump a fence — she had broken open the door of her stall and jumped two good fences to get back to her accustomed haunts before dropping her foal. The average period of gestation in the mare is popularly placed at eleven months, but a careful comparison of statistics gathered from the books of several extensive horse-breeders of my acquaintance, whom I know to be accurate and painstaking in their methods, places the average period at about 340 days. It is a popular belief that male foals are carried longer than females, but the statistics do not bear out this conclusion. The observations of Dr. W. H. Winter, of Princeton, 111., covering seventy-two cases, make the average period for 156 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. males about 341 days, and for females 338 days, the longest being 370 and the shortest 317 days. Mr. M. A. Brown, from thirty foals in one year, found the, average to be slightly greater for males than females, while in the following year, from thirty-two foals, the females were carried longest He also reports a perfectly well-authenticated case where a two-year-old half-blood Percheron filly was bred to an im- ported Percheron stallion and produced a strong, healthy horse foal at just 300 days.* Mr. Brown has no doubt of the accuracy of this statement, the filly having, been served but once. This is the shortest weW-authenticated period of which I have any knowledge, although immature foals at shorter periods have been re- ported. Veterinary writers generally place the extremes at from 300 to 400 days, but the long- est period that has been reported to me was by a correspondent at Chatham, 0., who states that a mare belonging to him was served May 7, and did not drop her foal until May 17 of the follow- ing year, being a period of one year and ten days.f In view of the indefiniteness of the period of gestation the mare should be closely watched, as there are certain signs of the near approach of parturition which rarely fail. The udder frequently becomes greatly distended sometime * The Breeder's Gazette, Vol. V, p. 556. t Vnd. , Vcl. I, p. 735. STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 157 before foaling, but the "teats" seldom fill out full and plump to the end more than a day or two before the foal is dropped. Another sign, which rarely precedes the dropping of the foal more than a week or ten days, is a marked shrinking or falling away of the muscular parts on the top of the buttocks back of the hips. In some cases, however, the foal may be dropped without any of these premonitory signs. I re- member a case on my father's farm, where a roan mare that had been purchased, and was not supposed to be in foal, was worked hard at the plow up to about the middle of May. She was fed and turned out to pasture one evening, as was the custom, after having been worked hard all day, and nothing unusual was noticed in her appearance. The udder was not notice- ably larger than usual, but next morning we found her with a good strong foal by her side. She was a sorry nurse, however, and the foal lived only a few weeks, dying from "scours" brought on, I believe, by careless feeding of the mare. When the mare is a valuable one, and the prospective foal is looked for with a good deal of interest, it is quite well to watch her closely, as many valuable animals have been lost which by a little attention at the right moment might have been saved. Moderate work is not only harmless but 158 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. positively beneficial to mares in foal, provided proper care be taken not to overload them. It is certainly better than keeping them tied up in the stable or permitting them to run at large in the yards or fields with many other horses. In the former case they suffer from want of exercise, and in the latter they are exposed to numberless accidents resulting from racing, playing or fighting with each other. In my own experience in horse-breeding more abor- tions have resulted from mares being kicked or otherwise injured by other horses when in the pastures than from all other causes com- bined. Exercise is essential to good health; and when moderate work is given — care being taken to avoid overloading and proper attention being paid to the shoeing so that there shall be no danger of strains from slipping — the mare will get plenty of exercise without the exposure consequent upon running at large with other horses. If proper care be taken the mare can safely be used in the ordinary work of the farm up to the very hour of foaling; but as this time approaches it is important that the weight be not heavy nor the pace rapid. After the foal is dropped the mare ought to have at least three or four days of rest and quiet, although many farmers who are hurried with their work and cannot very well dispense with the services of the mare in the field find no evil results fol- STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 159 lowing from working the mare moderately from the day after the foal is dropped. This prac- tice, however, is not to be commended. GENERAL SUGGESTIONS AS TO FOOD AND NURSING. Many mares are at best but poor nurses. Under the head of "Feeding the Young Foal" will be found some suggestions as to the best food to be used in case the milk of the dam is not sufficient, but the food of the dam may be made to greatly influence her yield of milk. The foods that have been found useful in in- creasing the flow of milk in the cow will have the same effect upon the milk of the mare. Wheat bran is especially valuable for this pur- pose if mixed with some other and more nutri- tious foods. It may be made into a sort of slop and fed with ground oats or rye, mixed with cut hay or sheaf oats. Plenty of good fresh grass is one of the very best of aids to healthy and abundant nutrition for both mare and foal. Whatever grain ration is used I would recom- mend that it be ground and fed wet, mixed with cut straw or hay. When mares are worked while suckling it is better that the foal should be left in the stable and that the mare be taken to the foal for it to suck at least three times during the day, ample time being given for her to cool out thoroughly before the foal has access to her, otherwise a 160 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. gorge of the overheated milk may produce seri- ous disturbances in the digestive organs of the foal. Many farmers, however, find little incon- venience from permitting the foals, especially when quite young, to accompany the dams to the field and follow them while at their work. This gives them an opportunity to empty the udder of the mare as often as it may be deemed desirable and obviates all danger from over- gorging that arises when the mare and foal are separated. FEEDING THE YOUNG FOAL. It sometimes happens that the milk of the dam is quite insufficient to promote healthy, vigorous growth in the young foal, and occa- sionally it becomes necessary to raise a foal entirely independent of the dam. In such cases the best possible adjunct or substitute for the milk of the dam is cow's milk. It should be sweetened at first, as the milk of the mare is sweeter than that of the cow. A little pa- tient effort will soon result in teaching the colt to drink milk readily, but be careful not to give him too much at a time. A half-pint is quite sufficient for a colt two or three days old; but the ration should be repeated often — not less than six times a day — the idea being to give the colt really all it will drink, but to feed so often that it will not require very much at a time. As the colt grows older the amount STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 161 should be increased, and grass, with oats, should be added as soon as the colt is old enough to eat. No ration is better for a colt than cow's milk with these adjuncts. After the colt is two months old skimmed milk should be sub- stituted for the fi*esh cow's milk. Should there be any trouble from constipation it will be well to add about one pint of oil-meal per day to the ration; in fact I would recommend the use of oil-meal in all cases, as it furnishes a large proportion of muscle and bone-forming food. If the oil-meal is not obtainable flaxseed may be used. A half-pint of flaxseed boiled with two quarts of bran will make two good feeds for a colt, and this ration may profitably be alternated with the other food. Indeed, it will be well in all cases where, from lack of an abundance of milk of the dam, or from scanty nutrition of any kind, the foal is low in flesh, to early supply the deficiency with a good allowance of cow's milk in addition to what it gets from the dam. The effect of such a ration upon the growth and condition is wonderful, and in all cases where the foal is likely other- wise to enter winter low in flesh I can not too highly recommend its use. A quart of milk morning and evening, in addition to the grain ration, will be sufficient; and if it be sweetened a little at first the colt will take to it all the more readily. 162 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. WEANING THE FOAL. When the colt is to be taken from the dam it should be tied in an adjoining stall, with the partition so open that they can easily see each other, and the food of the mare should be re- duced to a very small ration of dry oats and hay. When her udder becomes so full as to cause her uneasiness a part of the milk should be drawn off, but she should not be milked dry. The first milking may be done by the colt it- self, but afterwards it should be done by hand, as the milk in the drying-off process soon be- comes unfit for the colt; and, besides, the dry- ing off will be more speedily accomplished than when the colt is occasionally permitted to suck. After the milk has entirely dried up the mare and her foal may be separated and she may safely be turned out to grass. Skimmed milk may still be given to the colt, especially if it is not in good condition to enter the winter; but clean, sound oats, ground or unground, constitute the best x>f all grain foods for the colt. I prefer to have them ground; and as cold weather approaches about one- fourth in weight of corn-meal may profitably be added, as it helps to lay on fat and keeps up the animal heat. A little oil-meal — say a pint a day — may also profitably be given with the oats for some time after weaning/ Don't be STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 163 afraid of feeding too liberally. More colts are injured the first six months after weaning by a too scanty supply of food than from the oppo- site extreme. As soon as the mare and foal can be separated the foal should have the run of a good pasture, as there is no food better than grass, no medicine so good as exercise, and no exercise so profitable to young animals as that which may be taken just when they feel like it. EFFECT OF EXERCISE ON DEVELOPMENT. I wish to call especial attention to the impor- tance of open-air exercise a,s absolutely essen- tial to a healthy, symmetrical development of bone, muscle, and the vital organs. The idea prevails to a very great, extent among practical farmers that high feeding and good care will cause an otherwise good colt to grow up into an unsound, " weedy" horse; and, on the other hand, that there is nothing like " roughing it" to develop hardiness and endurance. I am of opinion that, the practical results in many cases have been such as to warrant this belief. Not that there is anything bad in generous and liberal feeding, nor good in starvation and ex- posure; but that with the latter the colt always has pure air and abundant exercise, without which therp can be no sound and healthy de- velopment. This I regard as a factor in horse- 164 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. raising second only in importance to that of blood, which is purely an inherited quality, and for lack of which no after-care can ever com- pensate. Abundant opportunity for exercise in the fresh, pure air, uncontaminated by stable odors, is an absolute essential to a healthy develop- ment in all young animals. It is not sufficient that the colt be led out at stated intervals for exercise; he needs the opportunity to romp and play, that he may extend his muscles to their utmost capacity, expand his lungs to their very depths, and send the blood coursing through every vein with fiery vigor. All this is essen- tial to a healthy, robust development of heart and lungs, and bone and muscle; and nowhere can it be obtained in so great a degree of per- fection as in the freedom of the open field. A colt that is kept in the stall and fed highly on heating grains is seldom afforded an opportu- nity for this health-giving exercise. Like the tender hot-house plant, he grows up deficient in stamina and vigor — a victim to his artificial surroundings, which do violence to every want of his nature. To the exhilarating race in the fields and pastures — which colts as well as boys so heartily enjoy — he is a stranger; and he grows up a stiff, clumsy brute, with only a tithe of the development of lungs and other STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 165 vital organs that he might have possessed under more favorable circumstances. This I believe to be all there is of truth in the idea that colts brought up roughly make the hardiest horses; and there is so much in it that it should attract the careful attention of men who have thousands of dollars invested in the business of breeding horses. But while I plead for this wild freedom in behalf of the growing colt I would not lose sight of the fact that generous feeding and protection from inclement weather are also essential. I condemn in toto the starving pro- cess as unnecessary and hurtful. A stunted, half -starved animal will never attain to so per- fect a physical development as one that has been well fed and cared for from birth. There is a definite period in life allotted to growth, and if during that period only a scanty supply of nutriment is afforded a stunted, dwarfed animal is the inevitable result, which no amount of after-care can remedy. The true policy is to promote the growth of the colt by an abundance of nutritious food, and to secure a healthy and perfect development of hearf; and lungs, and bone and muscle, by permitting him to romp, and race, and play at will. By following this practice all there is of good in "roughing it" will be attained, and all that is 166 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. bad or dangerous in generous feeding will be avoided. "BREAKING" THE FOAL. Wherever it is practicable the colt should be broken to halter while yet a suckling, and the earlier in life this process is commenced the more easily will it be accomplished. He may soon be led by the side of the dam without dif- ficulty, and when once accustomed to being guided by the halter it will be an easy matter to lead him anywhere. He may also be tied by the side of the dam as the preliminary step in teaching him to stand quietly when hitched alone. The. first step in "gentling" a colt is to overcome his natural timidity by gradual approaches, and when he finds that he has no reason to fear, the work is half done. All the subsequent lessons given him, through all the various steps of breaking and training, should be based upon this plan of gradual approaches —a species of sapping and mining that will subdue the most vicious and tame the wildest colt if .perse veringly followed. He should be accustomed to the bridle by means of the "bit- ting rig" before any attempt is made to ride him; and the mounting should always be first attempted in the stall or the lot where the colt is perfectly familiar with all the surroundings. When it is desired to break him to harness the same principle of gentleness and care to avoid STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 167 giving fright should be practiced. Place por- tions of the harness on him at a time, and let it remain on him in his stall until he finds that it will not hurt him; then lead him out with the harness on, alone, and again by the side of another horse also in harness. Accustom him perfectly to the use of the lines, and then let him make the acquaintance of the sulky or break-cart. Push it along after him ; and when he has found that it also is harmless get him between the "thills," and finally hitch him to it and drive him. It is the most convenient of all vehicles for use in breaking colts for driv- ing, as the weight is but little and there is no danger to be apprehended from sudden turning around. Many trainers provide themselves with a stout two-wheeled vehicle, constructed like a sulky, but with very heavy "thills," so strong that the colt can not possibly break them, let what may happen. Such an arrange- ment is especially desirable for wild or vicious colts that have not been "gentled" when young, or for such as from improper handling have formed bad habits that must be cured. THE VIEWS OF DR. REYNOLDS, OF LIVERPOOL. In the introduction to Vol. II of the Shire- Horse Stud Book of Great Britain is a paper upon "Horse-Breeding" which contains so much good, sound, practical instruction, that I cannot 168 A TREATISE ON HOBSE-fcBEEDING, do my readers a greater service than by supple- menting what I have given on the preceding pages with so much of Dr. Reynolds' work as relates to the brood mare and the young foal, as follows: Fillies served at two years old, and so coming into profit as reproductors at three, will rarely develop into very high- class animals, and when it is considered advisable to breed from them thus early they should not be subjected to work, beyond that required to break them in, until their first foals are a couple of months old. The best age to put a mare to the horse is at three years old, so that when she is sold in the autumn of her seventh year the owner will probably have obtained two foals, the value of which, added to the earnings of the mare as a team animal, will leave her full sale price to represent the proprietor's profit. Subject to the influences previously considered, the alliance of strong young mares with aged and robust stallions is the most cer- tain method of obtaining a yearly production of good foals. Mares that have been worked up to ten or twelve years old in towns, and acquired at that age for breeding purposes, seldom fulfill the desires of the purchaser; by the mainte- nance of high condition for a prolonged period they are ren- dered prone to sterility, and if fecundated they are apt to experience difficulties in labor. When moderately well nourished, comfortably lodged and unfatigued by excessive and long-continued labor, mares are apt to breed at all sea- sons of the year, thereby affording the owner an opportunity to secure the dropping of his foals at a period when the ex- igences of team labor are not very pressing and when a fresh and abundant supply of green food can be assured for the mutual benefit of mare and offspring. Mares which are regularly worked, or those having to seek their food in the spring from poor pastures, are much more certainly fecun- dated than their idle or stable-fed sisters supplied with rich and abundant provender. The appearances 'of that physiological condition termed "oestrum;" "heat," "in use," etc., are usually manifested in STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 169 the mare by general signs and by particular phenomena pre- sented by the generative organs. The intensity of the objective signs varies very much in different individuals; in some all the symptoms are evinced by inappetence, increased thirst, agitation, impatience, fre- quent neighing, and efforts to urinate; the vulva are swollen — the lining membrance reddened, and a white glairy dis- charge issues therefrom; in others no signs are recognizable by which the condition of "heat"' can be inferred. Its pres- ence is not apparent until the mare is "tried'' by a stallion. The most opportune time for a matron mare to be again served is the ninth day after foaling; for subsequent proof that she has conceived to a former service the twentieth or twenty-first day is usually selected. Many usages are still had recourse to in the endeavor to insure conception by mares that have previously shown an indisposition to be fecundated, but the barbarous customs much practiced in former years by ignorant persons for the attainment of that object are now happily becoming of less frequent occur- rence. Acting upon the knowledge that exercise has the effect of provoking the evacuation of the excreta, and also of render- ing petulant females more tranquil, the Arabs gallop their mares to excess and submit them to the stallion fatigued and inclined for rest. The most novel practice in this respect is the administration of about two-thirds of a pint of vinegar to the mare immediately after service. I have no experi- ence of this mode of treatment and I fail to see any physio- logical reason why it should be successful. Complaints of the infecundity of a stallion are ever frequent, and often so when the cause is entirely due to the unfit state in which the mare is presented. Unless she is served at the moment in the plenitude of heat her owner should attach no blame to the horse if the essay proves unfruitful. The abstraction of blood has in some cases been followed by successful results; but the most rational practice that can be adopted is to reduce the condition of mares refractory to conception by submitting them to a prolonged course of cooling diet, of which corn should form no constituent, and after completion 170 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. of the act to leave them in a state of perfect quietude for several hours. Sterility in the mare may be due to age or prolonged continence, especially where associated with high condi- tion, or it may arise from abnormal conformation, or diseases of the womb, or the existence of painful wounds, or diseases' in the region of the feet; it is, however, usually induced in mares prone to accumulate fat, by a superabundant supply of highly-stimulating food and the absence of sufficient work. Medicinal treatment or surgical operations in some rare cases may cure sterility arising from a suspension of the uterine functions or abnormalities of the organ; and the operation of neurotomy has been adopted with success upon mares rendered sterile by acutely painful foot diseases. The treatment for over-plethoric mares must be that of reduction to low, or even poor' condition. With the exception that the venereal excitement usually diminishes or disappears, and the animal becomes lazy and quiet, the signs that a mare has been impregnated do not become apparent for some time, nor is the periodical reap- pearance of "heat" to be regarded as a conclusive evidence of non-conception. It is not impossible for oestrum to co- exist with impregnation. The inconstancy in appearance of the objective symptoms of pregnancy renders that condition but problematical (especially in mares which ordinarily show little appearance of "oestrum") until the sixth or sev- enth month, when the foetal movements may usually be dis- cerned in the flank, unless manual exploration of the uterus by vaginal examination is adopted for the purpose of ascer- taining whether conception has taken place. Valuable as the operation is for determining the state of the uterus dur- ing the primary months of gestation, it should never be em- ployed except in cases of urgent necessity, on account of the danger and possible death of the foetus, which may be appre- hended to follow its adoption with an irritable mare. The period of gestation in the mare occupies, as a rule, from 330 to 360 days, during nearly the whole of which time it is of great importance that opportunity be afforded for a STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 171 sufficiency of daily exercise, especially needful for mares which are not suckling a foal. When intelligently organized, in regard to the different pe'riods of gestation, ordinary farm work is exceedingly beneficial to both mare and foetus. Throughout the whole period it is better that the labor should be continued and uniform than violent or irregular. Shafting heavy loads, especially when much backing or turning is required, should not be permitted. Toward the end of pregnancy all work necessitating unequal movements, or even excessive effort, should be discontinued, and with the appearance of the signs that parturition may be expected to take place within a week or ten days it is advisable, but not essential, that work should be entirely suspended. Pregnant mares should be stabled with due regard to security against annoyance, compression, or injury by other horses, and especially guarded against the accident of being "cast" in their stalls. Medical or surgical treatment should, so far as possible, be avoided; when absolutely necessary, the utmost possible care in its administration is required. The food and feeding of mares in foal are of great and im- portant interest, the science and practice whereof must be carefully studied by breeders who would bs successful in maintaining their mares healthy throughout the period of gestation, and over the act of foaling, and reap the reward of stout and vigorous foals. The quantity and nutritive quality of provender supplied to a pregnant mare should be in strict accord with her individual requirements; the estab- lishment of a just balance between food and the demands for it can be determined by an accurate perception of condition, as exemplified by the possession of vigor and evidences of efficient nutrition. The two opposite extremes of obesity or plethora and excessive leanness or debility are to be avoided; the former predisposes to abortion and difficult labors, the latter (of the two the least evil) prejudicially influences the nutrition of the foetus and deteriorates the subsequent secretion of milk. Grass, unaided by artificial food, is insufficient for the suste- nance of breeding mares subjected to labor; to insure the 172 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. yearly production of strong foals a daily allowance of corn should be continuously supplied to them; but, except in the depth of winter, or for very young or very aged mares, green food, chop and pulped roots suffice for the require- ments of non-workers. Most farmers usually keep their pregnant mares, when not suckling, on the same ration as that supplied .to the other working horses. With good keepers the practice suffices to maintain adequate condition, but when the ordinary pro- vender is of low quality the mares should receive an auxili- ary allowance. Mashes or bruised oats or barley associated with pulped roots and chopped hay or straw, moistened with linseed-cake water, are the best adapted foods for working mares in foal — so constituted they afford a substantial, at the same time a non-exciting and easily-assimilated diet. Maize is not a suita- ble article of diet for in-foal mares when it constitutes a chief part of their corn allowance— their newly-dropped progeny always exhibit general weakness of muscle and abnormal relaxation of the ligaments of the joints. For mares pastured during the day, a short supply of rack or manger food given in early morning renders their diges- tive organs less susceptible to the possibly deleterious influ- ences of dew-saturated grass. More than any other farm animals brood mares require to be supplied with diet of the best obtainable quality; every description of food likely to undergo rapid fermentation, or to produce indigestion, must be scrupulously avoided. Long fasts are exceedingly preju- dicial, and in cases where they are unavoidable or have been occasioned through neglect small quantities of tepid water and equally diminished rations of easily digestible food should only be allowed at intervals until the hunger and thirst have been reduced to their normal standards. Pregnant mares should not be exposed to the influences of very excessive heat nor very severe cold, nor be pastured or folded with store oxen or young horses. Abortion is produced by any cause operating to disconnect the union of the foetal membranes with the uterus. These causes are very various and may obtain at all periods of preg- STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 173 nancy. Predisposition to abortion is to be found in peculiar conformations of the pelvis, enlargements of the iliac bones, diseases of the womb, constitutional irritability, the influ- ences of too stimulative diet or the reverse, wet seasons, a previous miscarriage, and all circumstances opposed to effi- cient nutrition and respiration. The more direct mechanical causes are falls, blows, com- pressions of the abdomen, violent and spasmodic exertion. Functional disorders, severe illnesses, large draughts of cold water or eating iced grass may be considered as the most fre- quent physiological causes. The symptons of abortion vary with the term of gestation at which it occurs. When it follows shortly after concep- tion the precursory signs, as well as the fact itself, are fre- .quently unnoticed, and the proprietor is led to believe that the mare has not been fecundated; on the other hand, when miscarriage takes place towards the end of the gestative period the premonitory symptoms are almost identical with the signs of normal parturition, but the pains of abortion invariably precede the changes in the appearance of the external organs of generation, which in normal foaling are noticeable some time before the labor pains come on. The usual signs of the foetus being dead, and not expelled imme- diately afterwards, are symptoms of ill-health in the mare accompanied by a puriform and offensive bloody discharge from the vulva. The prevention of abortion is the avoidance of all causes which may have a tendency to produce it. In advanced pregnancy when a symptom of approaching miscarriage has been manifested the greatest care in the subsequent manage- ment of the mare is necessary. She should be placed in a roomy, darkened loose box, left perfectly unmolested, and the services of an experienced veterinary surgeon immedi- ately sought. Whenever a mare has "picked her foal" the cause should, if possible, be determined, and means adopted to prevent other pregnant mares being exposed to similar conditions. They should also be removed to a distance from the place, on account of the mysterious sympathetic influ- ence exercised upon the organism of pregnant animals by the 174 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. mere occurrence of abortion in one of their companions. The attention required by a mare after abortion materially depends upon the indications of her general health. It very frequently happens that the placental membranes are re- tained in the uterus; these should be removed before decom- position of their component parts is possible, and the mare should not be covered again until every appearance due to the mishap has entirely subsided. The characteristic signs that the gestative period has been fully and naturally completed, and that parturition may be shortly expected to take place, are very pronounced and so familiar to all persons who have had any experience in the management of brood mares that they need not be enumerated. The natural instinctive desire for shade and solitude ex- perienced by the mare at this crisis should be indulged by placing her in a warm, roomy and well-littered loose box, so arranged that the progress she makes can be constantly ascertained without causing her annoyance by interruption. Normal parturition in the mare is very rapid'; at her full time and with the foetus naturally placed the act is generally accomplished in a short space of time and without assist- ance. The sense of uneasiness created by the presence of the fully-developed foetus determines contraction of the abdomi- nal muscles and diaphragm, as well as the walls of the womb itself; at the same time the orifice of the latter organ be- comes dilated, succeeding efforts of expulsion push the muz- zle and fore feet of the foetus further through the neck of the uterus, in which situation they may be recognized im- mersed in the fluids of the yet unruptured membranes. More violent pains then force the head and shoulders through the pelvis, and another last contraction expels the posterior parts and completes the act. If the labor is prolonged and the pains are very strong, a quiet and careful examination should be made, for the pur- pose of ascertaining whether there is sufficient room for the foetus to pass through the pelvic arch, and also to determine whether the foal occupies a natural position. In the first STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 175 case more time may be allowed; in the second the foetus will be required to be adjusted. To judge accurately of either of these conditions the attendant must be an experienced man and know the exact time when interference is necessary. Very great harm is occasioned by premature and unneces- sary meddling. He should make re-examinations from time to time, and if increased room is but tardily provided he must take care, by securing the parts presented, that the foetal position does not become changed from a natural to a malpresentation through the continued and violent throes of the mare. Dilatation of the passage may be assisted by gentle and well-applied traction upon those portions of the foetus that are naturally presented. The causes of difficult labor and the means to be adopted to overcome obstructions to delivery, with the treatment of the patient after parturi- tion, are so numerous and belong so intrinsically to the sci- ence of veterinary surgery that they have no place here. Whenever serious obstacles to delivery exist the aid of an experienced veterinary obstetrician should be promptly sought, and no violent tractile efforts employed until his arrival; but if the membranes are ruptured, as they proba- bly will be before it is considered necessary to obtain skilled aid, it is wise to secure with cords the head or legs of the foal when easily practicable. It sometimes happens, especially with old and debilitated mares, that the act of parturition becomes protracted from weakness alone. Such cases not only demand the administration of powerful internal stimu- lants, but require the employment of well-timed, gentle and firm traction upon the foetus made to coincide with the throes of the mare; spasmodic, jerking efforts, which do not cor- respond with the parturient pains, in all cases do much harm and are of little or no assistance to the act. After an easy labor strong mares require nothing but attention to their comfort and ordinary wants and protection from currents of cold air, but if the accouchement has been prolonged and painful a stimulant should be immediately given; debilitated mares under the last-named circumstance require frequent alcoholic stimulants, nourishing gruel and good nursing. 176 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. The foetal envelopes, or after-birth, are usually expelled in a short time after natural labor; when retained for a day or two no danger may be apprehended, so long as the mare does not strain and her health continues unimpaired; but surgical interference for their removal becomes necessary when retained sufficiently long to render putrefaction proba- ble. Aged mares, having very large and pendulous abdomens, derive much comfort from a wide bandage passed several times around the body, adjusted evenly and with a view of affording support without exerting undue pressure. After-pains continued for more than an hour are to be regarded as evidence of possibly some important derange- ment of the womb and requiring skilled aid. The applica- tion of a mustard and linseed poultice over the region of the loins is always consistent treatment in these cases and may be adopted at once to economize valuable time before the arrival of the veterinary surgeon. When a mare foals in a standing position the foetus glides down the thighs and reaches the ground unhurt; the umbili- cal cord is severed and dangerous hemorrhage thereby pre- vented , " When the act is accomplished in a recumbent atti- tude, and the mare remains down, the cord must be divided between two ligatures previously tied around it a couple of inches apart, but if the mare rises immediately the cord will be ruptured in a safe and satisfactory manner. Many foals are lost through want of attention at the mo- ment of birth. When the functions of respiration are not promptly established in the new-born foal, efforts must be made to excite them by blowing violently up the muzzle and into the mouth, and by briskly rubbing the body with a wisp. If breathing is but slowly promoted a few teaspoonfuls of brandy and water, given after the first few respirations, will be of material service to invigorate the low vital powers. As soon as the mare has recovered from the shock the maternal instinct should be encouraged by allowing her to perform the office of nurse to her progeny, which will be physically benefited thereby. If the dam refuses to dry and caress her offspring, a little flour sprinkled over the back of STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 177 the latter will sometimes attract her kindly to it; should this means fail the foal must be dried with soft flannel, con- ducted to the teat, and assisted to obtain its first aliment. It is sometimes necessary to protect the foal from ill- intention by the peevish dam, but after the mare has per- mitted the foal to suck, and has evinced maternal solicitude for its welfare by licking and caressing it, no fear need be entertained that she will subsequently injure it willfully. All the means briefly reviewed as necessary for the pre- servation of the newly- born foal and comfort of the mare are to be continued for a period more or less prolonged, as their conditions and surrounding circumstances indicate. If both mare and foal are healthy, and especially if the mare has been pastured up to the time of foaling, they will be benefited by being turned to grass during fine weather in a week or so after the birth; but they must be sheltered from rain and cold, particularly at night, so long as the weather continues unfavorable. At this early period the mare should never be permitted to graze until she has had a small allowance of sweet hay or some other nutritious dry food, nor should she be subjected to work for at least three weeks after parturition. Some mares, especially primiparous ones, do not furnish sufficient milk for the sustenance of their offspring. In ^ these cases the mammary glands must be frequently stimulated by the foal and subsequently submitted to gentle friction, and a sup- ply of succulent, easily-digestible food allowed. In the ab- sence of a plentiful supply of grass, boiled barley made into a sloppy mash, with the addition of some treacle and a little salt, is a palatable, nourishing diet, tending to increase the lacteal secretion. If these means fail to excite a sufficient flow of milk the foal must be periodically suckled by a foster mare, or be artificially nourished. Should the season not admit of mares being pastured, barley mashes, pulped roots, scalded oats and hay of the best procurable quality, should be liberally supplied. A plentiful allowance of water, or, for bad milking mares, nutritious gruel is necessary. Most mares, however, secrete a plentiful, and many a superabundant supply of milk. Such do not require, soon 178 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. after foaling, a more liberal allowance of food than they previously received. The provision of rich but close herb- age suffices for their general requirements In early life, too, foals are prone to contract dangerous diseases of the di- gestive organs, and on that account it is undesirable that they should be allowed, until several days old, to take the whole milk supply of a free-nourishing or well-fed dam. Under such circumstances the foal should not have access to the mare until part of the contents of the udder have been drawn off. After some days, when the foal has become stronger, the above-named precautions are unnecessary. A more liberal allowance of food may then be supplied, to be regulated by the demands made upon her nutritive functions by the growth of her foal and the wear and tear of labor to which she may be subjected. In districts where the mare is not required to work until the foal is weaned grass suffices for all her requirements. The best old pastures should, however, be reserved for her use. When these cease to afford sufficient green food by reason of drouth or overstocking the deficiency must be made up by an allowance of cut artificial grasses, lucerne or clover, given with discretion. If at any time during the period of lactation the udder be- comes inflamed, hot or tense, the diet must be promptly re- duced, the milk reservoir very frequently emptied, and warm fomentations adopted, to be followed by very gentle friction with soap and water (greasy substances ought not to be rubbed upon the glands, or, if used, the residuum should be carefully removed by subsequent washing). If the foal is dead, or can conveniently be weaned, a dose of physic may be administered to the mare. Under other circumstances it may be necessary to put the mare under medical treatment of less drastic character. The usual time for weaning is when the foal has arrived at the age of five or six months, when, if the mare has re- conceived, or has been or is about to be severely worked, it is for her benefit that the separation should not longer be delayed. If the milk secretion is not excessive no danger need be STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 179 apprehended from the process of weaning, which it is desir- able in all cases to effect gradually. On the contrary, the separation of the foals from free-nourishing mares must be accomplished by degrees. For some days prior to final re- moval of the foal the intervals of allowing it to suck must be increased in length, and the food allowance of the mare re- duced in quantity and quality for a corresponding time. If practicable, also, the mare should be more severely worked. After ultimate severance of the foal the glands must be periodically hand-drawn and a brisk purgative ad- ministered. Restricted diet, particularly in regard to fluid and succulent provender, should be enjoined until the secre- tion of milk is completely suspended. Mares kept only for breeding purposes, if in good condition and not enfeebled by age or other circumstances, may continue to nourish their foals for a much longer period — until, in fact, a natural wean- ing takes place and the milk secretion ceases. The weaning of foals from mares not subjected to labor and furnishing a full lacteal secretion must be accomplished with the exercise of all the hygienic and medicinal precautions previously in- dicated, and rendered especially necessary by abstinence from work. Throughout the period of lactation, and very especially during that portion of it when the foal receives the whole of its sustenance from the dam, it is requisite for the mare to be supplied with good food calculated to furnish material for the elaboration of wholesome milk. The first milk after parturition, called "colostrum," dif- fers materially in composition from the subsequent secretion. It contains principles adapted to remove the mecomium (as the effete matters collected in the foal's intestines during foetal life are technically termed); on that account it is highly necessary that the newly-born foal should be supplied with the milk from its own dam, at least until the mecomium has been expelled and the bowels have assumed their natural function. Until the approach of the time for weaning a foal should be permitted to have access to its dam at intervals of not exceeding four hours. 180 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. It is frequently alleged that "heated milk" is extremely prejudicial to the foal. I admit there is a probability of troublesome skin disease being caused by allowing a foal to partake of the milk of a mare when she is overheated, but I think the danger of "heated milk" producing diarrhoea or "scour" is exaggerated, or rather that the evil consequences in this particular respect are as much attributable to the fact that the young animal, pressed by hunger, partakes too greedily and too plentifully, and, as a consequence, is prima- rily attacked with acute indigestion . It is always better to be on the safe side and allow the mare to become cool and to bathe her distended glands with lukewarm water before the foal is admitted to her. It is not always that a mare which secretes a copious sup- ply of milk is a good nourisher; some, especially old mares, or those subjected to very heavy work and inefficiently fed, elaborate a fluid deficient in nutritive quality, a circumstance rendered evident by the condition of the foal, which will be- come wasted and probably attacked with diarrhoea. In such cases the mare must be especially well nourished, and, in instances of extreme necessity, the foal assisted by artificial lactation; it should also, as soon as possible, be en- couraged to take manger food, of which boiled beans should constitute the basis, in order that the advantage of an early weaning may be secured. Notwithstanding the purgative effects of the colostrum, the young foal frequently suffers from constipation of the bowels, and especially so if the dam is or has bsen during the later periods of pregnancy fed with dry or indigestible food; certainly so if the mare has had an acute attack of dyspepsia near the end of the gestative term. Many persons establish the rule that every foal should have a dose of oil shortly after birth. The practice is generally good — none but bene- ficial effects are likely to result therefrom, and the life of the foal must be regarded as unsafe until free evacuation of the bowels has been effected. When preceding circum- stances have rendered it probable that the foal will be con- stipated, the exhibition of a full dose of castor oil is impera- STALLIONS, BROOD MARES AND FOALS. 181 tively indicated, and, in addition, frequent enemata of warm soap and water are recommended. It can not be expected, nor is it desirable, that the nu- merous diseases incident to breeding animals of the equine species and their progeny can be even very briefly reviewed in an essay of this kind; the consideration of such a subject properly appertains to veterinary science. There is, how- ever, one malady affecting young foals which, on account of its frequency and fatality, may be glanced at. No disease is more prevalent among sucking animals, and few so fatal, as diarrhoea. Although less subject than calves, foals are often carried off by it within a short space of time. The causes have not been accurately determined, but the most eminent veterinarians attribute it to changes of un- known character, and brought about by unascertained causes in the composition of the milk. Two facts relating thereto have, however, been proved, viz. : that the causes are often widely diffused; and, secondly, that their potency is increased by defective hygienic sur- roundings, especially unwholesome stable accommodations and overcrowding of animals. Unless curative treatment is very early adopted an unfavorable issue is almost certain, and the generally fatal nature of the disease gives little hope of cure when the symptoms have become fully developed. At the outset a full dose of castor oil ought to be given, the action of which is to be followed by repeated small doses of carbonate of iron and carbonate of soda, with laudanum and brandy, given in cold rice-meal gruel. As food bean-meal, made into the consistency of milk and given at short inter- vals, is extremely beneficial, and should take the place of a large proportion of the mare's milk. The diet of the mare is to be completely changed, and the foal and dam promptly removed to other quarters As curative treatment is so rarely successful, efforts must be made for preventing the disease. The provision of good, dry, clean lodgings, pure water, and the occasional administration of alkaline carbon- ates to the mare, the diet of which should be wholesome, and be partly composed of leguminous seeds, are the means most likely to be attended with beneficial results. 182 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. Dr. Reynolds' remarks upon brood mares lead me to speak of the effects of pasture upon mares at the time of service. It is the general opinion of those who have given close attention to this subject that mares, when first turned to grass, after having been kept stabled and on dry feed for a considerable period, are not so likely to get in foal as those that have been on grass for some time previous to service by the stallion; ,or as those that are not on grass at all. The theory is that turning mares to grass produces, for a time, a sort of general muscular relaxa- tion, or softening, that is not favorable to con- ception. I have always advised that mares which had been kept stabled previous to being sent to the stallion should be kept on dry food for at least four weeks after the service. On the other hand, I have thought it best, when mares that had been kept on grass for a consid- erable previous period were sent for service, that they should be so kept for some time after- ward. At such times I would avoid any ma- terial change in the food or treatment. If the mare has been kept on grass let her so remain for at least a month; if she has been kept stabled and in idleness let her remain so for a few weeks; if she has been worked continue to work her moderately. Of course these direc- tions apply to such mares only as have not proven hitherto barren. In case a mare has STALLIONS, BROOD MAKES AND FOALS. 183 been served repeatedly and has failed to con- ceive, a radical change in food and manage- ment may bring about the desired result. 184 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. CHAPTER III. THE BREEDS OF HORSES. GENERAL FEATURES. The horse tribe, or genus equus, embraces the horse, the ass, the quagga, and the zebra. The members of these different species may be bred together for one generation only, the pro- duce being a hybrid which does not possess the powers of reproduction — a provision of nature which effectually blocks the way to a blending of these different species into one and preserves to each its specific character. The original habitat of the horse is not known, but it is clear that at the earliest peri- ods known to history they existed in a wild state in various parts of Europe, Asia and Africa, and that they differed greatly in many particulars, before they were subjected to do- mestication and broken up into the more mod- ern breeds. Those inhabiting hot, dry, and unproductive regions, where a sparse supply of food made frequent changes of grazing grounds a necessity essential to existence, wrere distinguished for spirit, activity, speed, and en- THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 185 durance. Of these the horses of Turkey, Persia, and later of Arabia, and also those on the Afri- can side of the Mediterranean presented the most characteristic type. Those found in low, flat regions abounding in nutritious herbage were larger, more sluggish, and less graceful. Europe, from the North Sea to the Euxine, once contained immense numbers of wild horses of this type. In the inhospitable moun- tain regions of Europe, Asia and Africa were always found rough-coated, hardy ponies — the most diminutive specimens of the race. These points of divergence among horses prevailed throughout the three Grand Divis- ions of the Eastern Hemisphere, with many minor points of difference or peculiarities ex- isting in various localities. The horses of Northern Africa — the Barbs especially — were very tall, with long legs, very short bodies, and possessed great speed; while those of Turkey and Persia were rather heavier-bod- ied, on shorter legs, and possessed greater powers of endurance. Arabia most probably obtained her horses originally from Turkey, Persia, and the regions further northward and eastward. Indeed, prior to their general domestication horses appear to have been more abundant in Eastern Central Asia than in any other part of the world. Tartary and Circassia were at a very early day famous for 186 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. the immense numbers of their horses. Those of Tartary were greatly inferior in point of beauty to those of the regions further south- ward, but they were a hardy race. Their heads were large ; ears long, wide and drooping backward ; legs short and stout ; muzzle and jaws fringed with long, stiff hair, or bristles; mane thick and bushy ; hair long and shaggy, and some of them with hair frizzled or curly In color they were usually a brownish dun, some of them approximating a cream color. In the high mountainous regions of North- ern India, near the head waters of the great rivers of that country, were found a race of very diminutive ponies. Corsica had, down to a very late period, a race of small, wild horses, vicious and untamable. Early writers describe a peculiar race of horses found in the mountains near the coast in Northern Africa called Coomsie by the natives. They were said to be 10 or 11 hands high, of a reddish color, with broad foreheads, short heads, wide be- tween the eyes, muzzle small, ears wide, eyes small, hair long, and the tail covered with hair like that of the body to its extremity, but ter- minating in a tuft of long, black hair. A characteristic difference between the Asi- atic horses and those of Africa has been noticed by many writers, in that while in the Asiatic varieties the length of body is about equal to THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 187 the height at the withers, those of Africa are much shorter, the height being considerably more than equal to the length of body. And this difference appears to have been so pro- nounced that Prof. Low questions whether they were not descended from species originally and radically distinct. Spain, of all European coun- tries, appears to have drawn most largely upon Africa for her supply of horses, the Moorish conquest, perhaps, having been the primary cause of this; and here we find the horses, many centuries ago, partaking largely of the character' of the African Barb. In color these horses differed as greatly as do the modern domesticated ones. In Tartary many of them were dun, with dark manes and tails and with a dark streak along the spine and sometimes across the shoulders. Many of the horses of Asia Minor, Persia, and Syria were milk white, and these were much prized for use on grand occasions by chiefs and rulers. Near the western terminus of the Himalaya range of mountains there was a race of white horses spotted with brown. Many of the mountain ponies of other parts of Asia were piebald. A race of spotted horses abounded in Afghanistan. The large horses that originally inhabited the low, flat region that stretches across Europe from the North Sea to the Euxine were black, as were also many of the African Barbs; and 188 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. black was the prevailing color of the tall, fleet Barbs of Nubia and Dongola, but these usually had white legs. Grays, bays, browns, and chest- nuts abounded in Southern Asia. Thus we see from what an infinite variety, caused originally, we may infer, by differences in climatic conditions and consequently of nu- trition and habit, our domesticated horses have been derived. And we can see here why ata- vism should occasionally surprise us with a reversion to the curly, frizzled hair, the black dorsal streak, the rat tail, the parti-colored hair, etc., among our domesticated breeds, and what a formidable task has been the develop- ment of distinct breeds from elements so diver- gent. THOROUGHBREDS. In undertaking to write upon the breeds of horses we very naturally commence with the thoroughbred, because that is the oldest and best established of all the breeds of Europe and America. The term thoroughbred is often used in America, but seldom in England, as a syn- onym for well bred or purely bred; but it was originally and should now be used only as the name by which the English race horse is desig- nated. The same horses are sometimes denom- inated "blood horses," from the well-established purity of their lineage. The thoroughbred horse is peculiarly a Brit- THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 189 190 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. ish production — the result of the characteristic love of the sports of the turf and the chase in- herent in the English people. At a very early period the attention of the rulers of Great Brit- ain was earnestly directed to the work of im- proving the breeds of horses of that kingdom. These horses were notoriously deficient in size, and the earliest efforts were directed toward improvement in that particular by the impor- tation of heavy horses from Normandy, Flan- ders and Germany. It would be interesting to trace, step by step, these efforts, but our space will not admit of such detail. The era of im- provement commenced with the conquest of the islands by the Saxons; but it was many years before there appears to have been any clearly-defined or well-settled purpose, the ob- ject at one time appearing to be an increase of size by large importations of the heavy horses of Flanders, and again, to give speed, graceful- ness of motion and beauty of form, by the in- troduction of what is known as Oriental blood — that of the Arab, the Turk and the Barb. It is evident that from a very early period the blood of the Barb and of the Turk was held in higher esteem than that, of the Arab, the latter having been regarded as undersized, and es- teemed rather for beauty of form and graceful action than on account of any real superiority. For several years preceding the reign of THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 191 Charles II horse-racing appears to have been rapidly growing into favor as .an amusement and recreation among the English people; and from that time until the present contests for supremacy upon the turf have stirred the Brit- ish heart as no other amusement has ever done. To the constant growth and popularity of this sport, which for more than two hundred years has been regarded as the national amusement of that country, are we indebted for persistence in a course of breeding which has given us this race of horses so pre-eminently distinguished throughout the world for speed and endurance upon the race-course; and which, on account of the great care taken in their breeding, and their consequent purity of lineage, were the first race of animals to which the term thoroughbred was applied. The foundation upon which this now well- established breed was built was a promiscuous mingling of the horses of the Island of Great Britain-i-first with the larger races of Europe, especially of Normandy, Flanders, and Ger- many, and subsequently with the lighter, more agile and graceful horses of Spain, which were tliemselves almost identical with the Barbs on the other side of the Mediterranean. Frequent importations were also made direct from Egypt, Morocco, and Tunis, and likewise from Arabia and various parts of Turkey, until this Oriental 192 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. blood to a considerable extent permeated all the horse stock of Great Britain excepting those bred especially for agricultural purposes. So thoroughly had the passion for turf sports, or horse-racing, taken possession of the English people as early as the reign of Charles II that ability to run and win in a race was even then regarded as the principal test of merit in horses, and those most successful on the turf were most highly prized for breeding purposes. From that time down to the present, embracing a period of more than two hundred years, the selection of breeding stock by English breeders of thor- oughbred horses has been constantly made with this as the primary object. With the advent of Charles II. in the last half of the seventeenth century, breeding for speed and endurance upon the race-course be- gan to be conducted upon something like a definite plan; the records of turf performances were carefully kept, especial attention was paid to the pedigrees of horses designed for the tnrf, and an aristocracy of blood came to be recog- nized in the horses of England. This monarch sent his ''master of the horse" to the Levant to procure horses with which to found a breeding stud. This purchase comprised three very fa- mous Turkish stallions and some mares that in the equine literature of the day were called the "royal mares," and these royal mares are by THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 193 many supposed to be the foundation of the strict thoroughbred. This is, however, only ap- proximately correct, for it is well known that several other mares were from time to time in- troduced from the Orient and that the produce of many mares not descended from nor related to these royal mares have been distinguished upon the turf and recognized as thoroughbreds. About the middle of the eighteenth century the publication of the English Racing Calendar was commenced. In this the names of all the horses that participated in the regular races were published, and in a very few years it be- came the custom to give also the name of the sire in each case. This publication has been con- tinued, with very little change in form or mat- ter, down to the present day, and the records of performances and names of performers therein contained furnished the basis for the stud book of thoroughbred horses. A collection embrac- ing all the pedigrees of distinguished horses that could be obtained was published as early as 1786. Subsequent to this several attempts at a compilation of pedigrees from the Racing Calendar and other sources was made, but it was not until 1791 that the English Stud Book took its present form. The standard of admission to the first volume of the Stud Book appears to have been simply creditable performance upon the turf, as shown 194 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. by the Racing Calendar, it being taken for granted that no horse could be a creditable performer that was not well bred — an assump- tion that has never yet been found at fault. The first volume compiled upon this basis fur- nished the foundation for all subsequent ones; and few names have been admitted to registry that do not trace, without admixture, on both sides, to an ancestry that is recorded in the first volume or to subsequent importations of Ori- ental blood. Prof. Low, in his great work upon the "Do- mesticated Animals of Great Britain," in com- menting upon the various importations of for- eign blood that went to make up the foundation of the English blood horse, says: The lighter horses for speed, introduced previous to the reign of James I, were Spaniards, Barbs and Turks. But King James, on his accession to the English crown, resolved to try the Arabian, with which his reading had probably rendered him familiar. He purchased a horse of that race, imported from the east by an English merchant, Mr. Mark- ham, for which he paid the sum, great in those days, of £500. This horse, however, in no way distinguished on the turf or for his stock, attracted little attention. The Duke of New- castle, who afterward wrote a remarkable work on horses, took an especial dislike to this Arabian, abused him as a bony creature, good for nothing, because being trained to the course he could not run. This opinion seems to have exercised a great influence on the breeders for the turf, and it was not until after the lapse of more than a hundred years that the neglected Arabian was again resorted to. During this long period Barbs and Turks from the Levant were the THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 195 horses chiefly imported and mingled in blood with the pre- existing* race. Of the foreign horses early introduced into England, one familiarly known as the White Turk was the property of Mr. Place, the stud groom of the Lord Protector Cromwell. Another was brought by the Duke of Berwick from the siege of Budy in the reign of James II; and a third, the Byerly Turk, became the most distinguished of all the foreign horses of that period. He was the charter of Capt. Byerly in the wars of William in Ireland about the year 1689. Of the lineal descendants of this horse one was King Herod, born in 1758, bred by His Royal Highness William, Duke of Cumberland, brother of George II. This fine horse, on re- tiring from the turf, was employed as a stallion, and got 497 winners at our various race-courses, computed to have gained to their owners £201,505. In the later years of Queen Anne an Arabian had been brought to England which tended to impress a new char- acter on the English turf. This animal, the progenitor of some of the finest horses that have perhaps existed in the world, was purchased at Aleppo by a merchant, the brother of Mr. Darley of Yorkshire. He was supposed to have been of the Desert breed, although his precise lineage was not de- termined. He got The Devonshire, or Flying Childers, and another horse termed Bartlett's Childers, who was never trained, but who was the ancestor of Eclipse, one of the most remarkable horses of which we have any record. The Devonshire, or Flying Childers, born in 1715, was so named from his breeder, Mr. Leonard Childers, of Carr House, near Doncaster, from whom he was purchased when young by the Duke of Devonshire. He was a chestnut horse, with four white legs. He was of noble form, of matchless courage, and the fleetest horse that had ever been upon the English turf. Eclipse was got by Marske, a grandson of Bartlett's Child- ers, out of Spiletta. He was foaled in the year 1764, during- the eclipse of that year, from which circumstance he took his name. He was bred by the Duke of Cumberland, and on the death of that prince was sold to Mr. Wildman, a sales- 196 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. man at Smithfield; and afterward he became the property of Mr. O'Kelly. Eclipse had not the grandeur of form of Flying1 Childers, and might have escaped notice but for the accidental trial of his stupendous powers. He was about 15.1 hands high. His shoulders were very low, oblique, and so thick above that, according to the observation of the time, a firkin of butter might have rested upon them. He stood very high behind, a conformation suited to his great power of progression. He was so thick winded as to be heard blow- ing at a considerable distance. In the language of honest John Lawrence: "He puffed and blowed like an otter, and galloped as wide as a barn-door." No sooner were his powers exhibited on the turf than every eye was set to scrutinize his form, and he was then admitted to possess in perfection the external characters indicative of great speed. A volume was written on his proportions by M. Saintbel, a veterinary surgeon, whose investigations showed that his figure differed greatly from the conventional form which speculative writ- ers had assigned as the standard of perfection. He was of an indomitable temper, and his jockeys found it in vain to attempt to hold him, but contented themselves with remain- ing still on the saddle while he swept along, his nose almost touching the ground. His full speed was not determined, since he never met with an opponent sufficiently fleet to put it to the proof. He not only was never beaten, but he was able to distance some of the best horses of his time; and the fleetest could not keep by his side for fifty yards together. This remarkable horse first appeared on the turf at the age of five, in 1769. In the first heat he set off of his own ac- cord and easily gained the race, his rider pulling him in vain with all his force for the last mile. O'Kelly, observing this and being aware of his horse's powers, offered in the second heat to "place the horses," and he took heavy bets that he did so. When called upon to declare he said: "Eclipse first, the rest no place." He gained his wagers. Eclipse was first, and all the others were distanced, or, in the language of the turf, had no place. From this time Eclipse was continually on the turf and gained every race. No horse daring to con- tend with him he closed his career of seventeen months by THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 197 walking over the Newmarket Course for the King's Plate in October 1770. During this brief period it is said that he gained £25,000 for his owner. He was then employed with prodigious profit as a stallion. He got 334 winners at our numerous race-courses, who are computed to have gained about £160,000 to their owners, besides cups and plates. He died in 1789 at the age of twenty-five. Another horse of foreign lineage, scarcely inferior to the Darley Arabian in the fame and value of his descendant^, and by many supposed to have exercised a yet more impor- tant influence on the horses of the turf, is the Godolphin Barb, who lived a short time later than the Darley Arabian, having been born about the year 1724. This splendid horse was long regarded as an Arabian, although his characters approached to those of the Barb. He was found dragging a water cart in France, and was probably one of those neg- lected presents of horses, frequent at that time, from the Barbary powers to the French court. He was brought to England and finally presented to Lord Godolphin, in whose stud he remained a considerable time before his value was suspected, and then only it was discovered in consequence of the excellence of one of his sons, Lain, out of Roxana, who proved to be the fleetest horse, Childers excepted, that had till then appeared on the English turf. His grandson, Matchem, was in a peculiar degree noted for the excellence of his stock. This latter horse is supposed to have yielded his owner, Mr. Fen wick, upward of £17,000 as a stallion alone. He died in 1781, having had 354 sons and daughters, all winners at our numerous race-courses, and computed to have gained to their owners £151,097. It is the general opinion of the best-informed English turfmen that the Oriental stallions which contributed most largely to the forma- tion of the English thoroughbred were Place's White Turk, the Byerly Turk, Lister's, or the Straddling Turk, the Darley Arabian, Curwen's Barb, Lord Carlisle's Turk, the Godolphin Ara- 198 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. bian (a Barb), the Leeds Arabian, Honeywood's White Arabian, Combe's Grey Arabian, Bell's Grey Arabian, D'Arcy's Turk, Selaby Turk, the Ancaster Turk, Compton's Barb, the Toulouse Barb, Stanyan's Arabian, Lowther Barb, Taf- folet Barb, Button's Grey Barb, Honeywood's Arab, Sedley Barb, and Wellesley's Arabian. Of those above mentioned Lister's Turk got Brisk and Snake, Barley Arabian got Flying Childers, Carlisle's Turk got the Bald Galloway, and Godolphin Arabian got Blank, Regulus and Cade. The "royal mares " were imported Barbs. Of these Oriental sires it is generally admit- ted that the Godolphin Arabian — imported 172 years ago — is the last that has proven of any benefit to the English stock; and while this blending of the blood of the Orient with the old races of England furnished the foundation, there cannot be the slightest doubt that the care and skill of English breeders in selecting and coupling with the stoutest, best and fleet- est for successive generations has been a more potent factor in the formation of the breed, as it now exists, than the Arabian and Barb blood, to which history and tradition has ascribed its superiority. Many importations of the choicest blood of the Orient have been made both to this country and England within the last half cen- tury, and yet scarcely a name among them can be found in the pedigree of a horse that has THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 199 distinguished himself upon the turf. The Ara- bian horses possess undoubted beauty of form and grace of motion, but they are notoriously inferior in point of size to the average thorough- bred, being rarely over 14 hands high; and their produce from the best of mares have been failures both in the stud and on the race-course. In every instance in which the speed and stout- ness of our thoroughbreds have been tested side by side with the Arabian the former have proven superior to their eastern competitors. Hence, recent crosses of Oriental blood, while they do not warrant exclusion from the stud book, are not looked upon with favor by the best breeders of England or America. The thoroughbred of to-day is greatly superior to his Oriental ancestor in size, speed, endurance, and every other useful quality, excepting, pos- sibly, that of docility. So thoroughly have our people been imbued with the idea that Arabia was the fountain- head from which all modern equine excellence has been drawn that to venture an opinion to the contrary has been equivalent, in the mind of the average horse essayist, to writing one's self down as an ignoramus upon equine history. And yet it is doubtful if ever a race of horses has been more thoroughly overrated. The greater portion of Arabia is, in point of fact, illy adapted to the rearing of horses, and prior 200 A T&EA'TiSE ON HORSE-BREEDING. to the days of Mahomet horses were scarcely recognized as a part of the possessions of the Arab, their riches consisting chiefly in camels, oxen, sheep, and goats. But Mahomet was an enthusiastic lover of the horse, and while he succeeded in engrafting upon so large a propor- tion of the inhabitants of the eastern world his own peculiar religious tenets he also im- bued his followers with a great degree of his enthusiastic admiration for the horse. Indeed, kindness to and love for this noble animal was made a part of the religious duty of all true Mussulmans, and from the days of Mahomet clown to the present time the Arabian has held his stud, and especially his mares, in a sort of superstitious reverence. Mahomet selected for himself a magnificent stud, and his followers to this day seek to trace the genealogy of their choicest horses to the mares that were his favorites. But their pedigrees, divested of all the high-sounding flourishes with which they are accompanied, mean but little and are alto- gether unreliable. The following is a copy of one of these docu- ments, which accompanied Hamdan, a grey stallion imported by A. Keene Richards, in 1856, as we find it recorded in Bruce's Ameri- can Stud Book: RAMADON 21, 1272. This is to certify, That at the date of this document Messrs. Keene and Troye bought from Sheik Hammed Es. Sohiman. THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 201 the son of Shalan, the grey horse, even the horse of Hammed, the son of Sohiman, who is the son of Shalan, even the sheik of the Arabs of Anayza. The said horse is a Koheylan, the son of an old Koheylan father and of an old Koheylan mother. We declare this by fortune, to which God and Ma- homed, the apostle of God, are witnesses. There is no better horse, being from the side of both father and mother a blood horse. He is a Koheylan, the son of a Koheylan, and his mother is a Koheylan purer than milk. He was born and brought up in the land of Nesjd. This is the genealogy of the said horse. God is omnipo- tent. The sale was made at the land of Sophira. [SEAL] HAMMED Es. SOHIMAN, the son of Shalan. Witnesses: The writer of this document, who stands in need of God. ARD- ALLAH, the son of Nowphal, the lecturer. MAHAMMAD, the son of Mashial. AKHBIEF, the son of Mashaul. ISH-SHE-RA-TAH, agent of Fysalrlsh-Shalaa. As before remarked, Arabia was one of the latest of the Oriental countries to engage in rearing horses ; and there can be no question but that the enthusiasm of the followers of the Prophet had as much to do in creating the great reputation that the Arabian horses soon there- after attained, and which they hold to this day, as the quality of the animals themselves. The thoroughbred having been for so many generations bred with especial reference to his capacity as a race horse, it is not surprising that he should have acquired peculiarities of form and temper that render him undesirable for the more sober and steady uses of every-day life. 202 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. He has been bred to run, and the form best adapted to speed, and the mental qualities that most certainly insure the pluck, and energy, and determination so essential to success in a hard-fought race, have been the qualities aimed at by breeders and the standard by which selections have been made. Such a course of breeding has made the thoroughbred, as a racer, rather too lithe and light in form and too nerv- ous and excitable in temper for ordinary busi- ness uses; but in speed, endurance and resolu- tion they surpass all other breeds, and there is scarcely a race of horses in existence but may be improved by a cross with them. This fact is almost universally recognized, and nearly all countries upon the civilized globe have for many years regarded the English thoroughbred, or "blood horse," as the basis of all substantial improvement. Our American horses are largely permeated with the blood of the English thoroughbred. Many of the best stallions and mares of Eng- land have been imported to this country, and their influence is seen on every hand. It enters largely into the ground-work of all our trotting strains, and it is doubtful if a single great road horse or trotter has been produced in this country that did not possess a large share of this royal blood as a foundation upon which the trotting superstructure has been built. THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 203 There exists great ignorance, even among many who pass for intelligent, well-informed horsemen, as to what constitutes a thorough- bred horse. Nearly every agricultural society in the land has a class in its premium list for thoroughbred horses; and yet many of the man- agers of these societies have a very indefinite idea as to what is requisite to render a horse eligible in this class. Questions of this nature are referred to me almost every year for a decis- ion as to eligibility; and many of them are of such a nature that a very slight knowledge of the subject ought to enable the officers of these societies to decide for themselves. On this ac- count I beg pardon of the well-informed reader while I briefly recapitulate. In the first place it should be understood that we derive the name, as well as the breed of horses to which it applies, from our British cousins across the water, as has been fully set forth in the preceding pages; and that the term, when applied to horses, is used to designate one particular breed, and that is the running horse. All our American thoroughbreds are, therefore, imported from England, or are descendants of animals so imported. A recent cross with an imported Arab or Barb, while it does not vitiate the blood nor render an animal ineligible as a thoroughbred, is not usually regarded as desir- able, from the fact that the course of selection 204 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. which has been practiced by the breeders of thoroughbred horses in England and America for the last hundred years has given us a race that is generally considered to be far superior to the Oriental horse of to-day in speed, size and stoutness. The compiler of the stud book for thoroughbred horses in this country has re- laxed the English rule somewhat, and admits to registry animals that show an unmixed de- scent for five generations of pure blood; and while under this rule many animals may be admitted that are not in the strict sense of the word thoroughbreds, yet if for five generations nothing but thoroughbred sires are to be found in the pedigree the quantity of alien blood re- maining must necessarily be infinitesimally small; and by usage the animal so bred is in this country ranked as a thoroughbred. The American Stud Book for thoroughbred horses, five volumes of which have been issued, is edited and published by Col. S. D. Bruce, of the Turf, Field and Farm, New York. If our agricultural societies would bear in mind that none of our American trotters, no matter how long the pedigree, and none of our imported or native draft horses, are eligible to compete for premiums offered for thor- oughbreds, they would spare themselves much trouble. No pedigree that has Rysdyk's Ham bletonian, Abdallah, Morgan, Bellfounder, Hia- THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 205 toga, Mambrino Chief, Royal George, Patchen or any other of' our prominent trotting sires in it can belong to a thoroughbred. It may appear strange to some that it is necessary to make this statement; yet I have seen premiums awarded in the thoroughbred class to trotting stallions at both State and county fairs; and I have known some cases where imported draft horses have been entered in this class and were supposed to be eligible. TROTTERS AND ROADSTERS. It can scarcely yet be said that we have a distinctive breed of driving horses or roadsters. The horses used for light driving, fast trotting, etc., are largely a conglomeration of all breeds and types. Some of them approximate the French Canadian pony in form and action, while others possess most of the characteristics of the thoroughbred; but so popular have trot- ting races become in this country, and so uni- versal is the fancy for fast driving horses, that at almost all our horse shows and fairs the roadster class will be found more largely rep- resented than any other, and often more largely than all others combined. Indeed the roadster is more distinctly an American feature than any other in our equine product; and we have almost if not quite reached the time when the American trotting horse may properly be classed 206 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. as a distinct breed. As the thoroughbred was the result of the inherent love of the turf and the chase so characteristic of the people of Great Britain, so the American trotting horse is the result of a fashion that has demanded the fastest and stoutest trotting horses in the world for driving on the road; and to this end we have selected and bred until our horses clearly surpass all others in this particular. Among these horses we have several recognized families of especial prominence, all more or less related, all more or less distinguished for the one quality of speed as trotters, but each pos- sessing features that are to some extent pecul- iarly its own, but none of them entitled to be separately classed as a breed. Of these we may mention the Hambletonians, descended on the paternal side from imported Messenger (a thoroughbred) through his son Mambrino (also a thoroughbred), and Mam- brino's son Abdallah, out of a mare of unknown blood, who in turn got Rysdyk's Hambletonian, out of a mare by Bellfounder (an imported Norfolk trotter), and his second dam probably having two crosses to imported Messenger. Through Rysdyk's Hambletonian, on the pater- nal side, we have the Volunteers, the Edward Everetts, the Alexander's Abdallahs, the Al- monts, the Messenger Durocs, the Sentinels, the Electioneers; the Happy Mediums, the Wilkeses, THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 207 208 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. the Dictators, and all the various so-called Hambletonians of the present day. This cele- brated horse, justly entitled to be classed as the great progenitor of the American trotter, was bred in Orange Co., N. Y., foaled in 1849, and was kept in that county until his death, which occurred March 26, 1876. Then we have the Mambrinos, that take their name from Mambrino Chief, who was got by Mambrino Paymaster, a son of the Mambrino above referred to as the grandsire of Rysdyk's Hambletonian. The dam of Mambrino Chief, like the dam of Abdallah, was a mare of un- known blood. He was bred in Orange Co., N. Y., foaled in 1844, and when ten years old was taken to Kentucky, where he died in 1861. Upon the highly-bred and thoroughbred mares of that region he was very successful as a sire of fast trotters, and the mares got by him have been especially noted as producers of great trotters when coupled with other trotting strains. The Clays constitute another trotting family of note. The original Henry Clay was a fa- mous trotting stallion, foaled 1837, got by An- drew Jackson (also a famous trotter), who was a grandson of Bashaw (an imported Barb), and related to imported Messenger through the sec- ond dam of his sire, who was by that horse. The dam of Henry Clay was a great trotting THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 209 mare, whose blood is unknown. From this horse we have the various families of Clays of the present day, and also the Patchens — the trotting stallion George M. Patchen, the great- est trotting stallion of his day, and the original of the name, being a grandson of the original Henry Clay. The Morgans are perhaps our oldest trotting family; and if they have not produced our very fastest trotters their produce undoubtedly de- serve to take the very highest rank as good- tempered, hardy and pleasant roadsters. They are descended, in the paternal line, from a horse called Justin Morgan, that was bred in Vermont, foaled 1793, and died 1821. His blood has never been positively known, although it is pretty well established that the thorough- bred predominated. From him we have the Morrills, the Fearnaughts, the Ethan Aliens, the Black Hawks (not including the descend- ants of Long Island Black Hawk, who was by Andrew Jackson, grandson of Bashaw, above alluded to, and had none of the Morgan blood in his veins), the Daniel Lamberts, the Knoxes and the Golddusts. The popularity of this fam- ily at one time was unbounded; and no blood, excepting that of the thoroughbred, has been so generally disseminated and so highly esteemed throughout the United States. At present it is not so highly prized by those who place speed 210 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. above all other qualities; but go where you will among livery-stable keepers or horse-railroad managers and ask them what type of horse they have found most profitable to use and wear out on the road, and they will almost invariably answer, "The old-fashioned Morgan." The Bashaivs, another popular family of trot- ters, are very closely related to the Clays and Patchens, having a common ancestry in Young Bashaw, who was the sire of the Andrew Jack- son above referred to. Young Bashaw was by the imported Bashaw (heretofore mentioned in the pedigree of Henry Clay), his dam was by a thoroughbred sire, and his grandam was by im- ported Messenger. The most celebrated of the Bashaw family proper come through Long Island Black Hawk, who was by Andrew Jack- son, out of a mare by Mambrino, son of Mes- senger. Through him we have Green's Bashaw (so well known in the west), the Mohawks, and many others of note. The Pilots: The blood of the old black pacer Pilot, who was of French - Canadian ancestry, has mingled kindly with our best trotting strains, and many of our very best and fastest trotters trace to him, mainly through his son Pilot Jr. (a horse owned for many years by the late K,. A. Alexander, of Kentucky), out of a mare that was nearly thoroughbred. Old Cop- perbottom, also a Canadian pacer; Hiatoga, a THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 211 horse bred in Virginia; Columbus, and Royal George, both from Canada, have all been very popular sires, and no compendium of the origin of the American trotting horse would be com- plete without reference to them. In no department of stock-breeding is the in- fluence of heredity and of patient selection with a view to the transmission and improvement of a desired quality more apparent than in the breeding of the trotting horse. Sixty years ago the American trotting horse, as a breed, was un- thought of; and one that could trot a mile in less than three minutes was a wonderful ani- mal! But the ability to trot fast was a desira- ble quality and breeders sought to perpetuate it. Animals that excelled the average of the species as trotters were selected to breed from, with a view to perpetuating and intensifying this quality; but as its possession was at that time an accident — a spontaneous variation — it was found that but few of the immediate de- scendants of the animals first chosen with a view to breeding fast trotters could trot faster than their remote ancestors. But when such of them as did show improvement in this direc- tion were again selected for breeding purposes and coupled together it was found that, while there were still many failures, the proportion of the descendants that showed improvement in the trotting gait beyond the average of their 212 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING ancestors was materially increased. And so by selecting from generation to generation from such families as have shown a tendency to im- provement in this quality we have made great progress toward founding a breed of trotting horses. So generally is the attention of the breeders of trotting horses directed to the "bright par- ticular stars" that blaze out in the trotting firmament each succeeding year that we lose sight of the immense number of horses that trot in 2:30 to 2:50 — a gait that twenty-five, and even fifteen, years ago was fast enough to enti- tle a horse to rank as a creditable performer on the turf, and in our admiration for these great performers we have failed to note the extent to which the average speed of the American trot- ter has been improved and the certainty with which trotters, possessing what a few years ago would .have been classed as more than ordinary speed, are now being bred. What horseman who has reached the age of fifty years cannot remember how very rare three-minute trotters were when he was a boy! And yet what a large proportion of our Hambletonians, Clays, Bashaws, and Mambrinos now trot faster than three minutes ! The progress made by American trotters dur- ing the past twenty-five years, as demonstrated by the average speed of the animals which com- THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 213 pete at our prominent trotting meetings, is something very often overlooked "by those who do not give the subject particular attention. Year by year there have been vast accessions to the list of horses with records of 2:30 or bet- ter, and of course the influence of this constant influx of fresh speed cannot but be made mani- fest upon the turf. Taking the records of the oldest prominent trotting track — that of Buf- falo, N. Y. — as a guide, we find the average time of all the heats trotted there during the summer meetings from 1866 to 1884, inclusive, to have been as follows: 1866 .2:38>£ 1876 2:23 1867 .2:34% 1877 2:24K 1868... ...2:31% 1878... ...2:21^ 1869... 2:29^ 1879... ...2:23K 1870 1880 .2:20 1871 0 -OjjS/ 1881 2:20% 1872 2:26 1882 . . 2:21% 1873 2:26% 1883 . . 2:21% 1874 2:24"^ 1884 2:21^ 1875 2:25% These figures speak volumes. From 2:38| in 1866 to 2:20 in 1880 and 2:20f the following year is a tremendous stride, and it will be seen that the reduction has been a steady as well as a notable one. Of course it is not every season that such flyers as Maud S. and St. J alien ap- pear at the same meeting, as was the, case at Buffalo in 1880, while the following year half a dozen of our best trotters were out at once, which accounts for the exceptionally low aver- 214 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. age for these two years; but, taking the aver- age of the Buffalo track for the first five years of its existence, we find it to be 2:32^, while for the five years from 1880 to 1884, inclusive, it is reduced to 2:21J. The annual summer meeting of 1885 was omitted at Buffalo, and, beginning with that year at Cleveland, another one of our promi- nent trotting associations, we find the aver- ages have been as follows: 1885 2:22% 1889 ...2:21% 1886 2 :20>£ 1890 .. . 2:20 1887 2:20^ 1891 2:19V£ 1888 2-20 1892 2-19^ The averages for the last four years, as shown in the foregoing, do not fairly represent the average speed of the trained horses that par- ticipated in the trotting contests from the fact that within that period stake races for trotters two and three years old have been a prominent feature of the Cleveland meetings, and the records made by these immature trotters being included in our computation have kept the averages much above what they would other- wise have been. While much of this increase in the average speed of our trotting horses should, in justice, be attributed to improvement in our vehicles and tracks, and to increased skill in the trainer, yet it is undeniable that by far the greater por- THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 215 tion of it has resulted from increased capacity in our horses, bred for three, four or five gen- erations especially with reference to this qual- ity. It is also worthy of especial remark that over ninety-five per cent of all the horses with records of 2:25 or better, whose breeding can be traced even as far as the sire, are more or less closely related to one or more of our recog- nized trotting families. The experience of the last decade has demon- strated beyond a question that by confining our selections for breeding purposes to the descend- ants of the well-known trotting families the probabilities of producing fast trotters are in- finitely greater than by going outside ; for within these families the trotting gait has been cultivated by selection and use until heredity has been made to lend its powerful aid in transmitting what was originally a spontaneous or accidental superiority; and the breeder who introduces a single cross in which the trotting gait has not become an inherent quality only adds to the probabilities of failure and postpones the day when we shall be able to breed fast trotters with certainty. We may possibly yet have something to do before we can claim to have established a breed of trotting horses, but the more closely we confine ourselves to judi- cious selections from the families that trot and produce trotters the more rapid will be our prog- 216 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. ress in the formation of a breed possessing a reasonable degree of uniformity in conforma- tion and in which superiority at the trotting gait shall be an inherent and transmissible quality. It may possibly become necessary to resort to crosses outside of these trotting families for improvement in some other quality; but there is no out-cross that we can make without danger to the transmission and improvement of the trotting gait. Even those of our trotters that belong to none of the recognized trotting families are almost invariably the result of se- lection with a view to this faculty. In almost every case of " breeding unknown" we have found that the dam was "a fast trotter." In short, the more thoroughly we investigate the course of breeding that has produced our trot- ting horses the more completely does it confirm the theory of breeding from animals that pos- sess the quality we wish to perpetuate. Those who tell us that we must infuse more of the blood of the thoroughbred into our trot- ting strains, because that blood is the founda- tion of all modern excellence in the horse, -find their counterpart in those gentlemen of the old school — old fogies I had almost said — who used to be continually arguing for more of the blood of the Orient in the thoroughbred. The argu- ment in each case is identical. The blood of THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 217 the Arab and of the Barb was the foundation for the more modern thoroughbred. The Ori- ental horse represented the very highest type of speed and endurance; and from this source the thoroughbred derived all its original excel- lence. To keep up these good qualities, and to improve the English race horse, these good old gentlemen argued that we must constantly draw from the fountain-head — the source of all improvement. But, by and by, the time came when all horsemen were compelled to admit that a further infusion of this material — which constituted a most excellent foundation — was no longer needed, because the thoroughbred horse of the British Isles had become im- mensely superior to his Oriental ancestor. Eng- lish breeding, training and selecting has done the work, and the man who now introduces a cross of the Arab or Barb in his thoroughbred stud is very justly considered blind to his own interest. And so with breeding trotters. Granted that the endurance and vim and energy that make the great trotter come from the thoroughbred; and granted, even, that the form for speed at the trotting gait comes from the same source; we have selected, and trained, and bred with an especial view to adaptation to this special purpose, until we have a fixed characteristic—- an inheritance of speed at the trotting gait, 218 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. and an inheritance of mental quality, adapting the horse to this special use, in which the mod- ern American trotter is as much superior to the average thoroughbred as is the best race horse that ever struck hoof upon the Epsom Downs to the average Arab of to-day. Manifestly, the principal valuable qualities that our trotters have derived from the thor- oughbred are courage and endurance. No one will claim that, as a breed, the thoroughbreds are fast trotters; and more, no one will claim that a single thoroughbred has ever excelled at that gait, judged by our standard of speed. The trotter is an American product — a creature the result of our own selection, breeding and train- ing. What, then, can we gain by a stronger infusion of the blood of the thoroughbred? Certainly not more speed at the trotting gait, because it is not there, and cannot come from that source! We may, and doubtless can, in some cases get more courage and greater powers of endurance from this quarter, but beyond these two qualities I cannot conceive of a single point in which the American trotter can be improved by a fresh infusion of racing blood. It is against reason and against the experience of breeders the world over; and the man who rings the changes on "high breed- ing/' and the "form for speed," and the "dispo- sition to go fast," and the "foundation of all THE BREEDS OF HOKSES. 219 equine excellence," as arguments in favor of breeding from thoroughbreds to produce trot- ters, voluntarily shuts his eyes to the experi- ence of the world in stock-breeding. The in- telligent gentleman who breeds horses for the running turf selects his breeding-stock from the choicest- developed running strains — the families that can show upon their escutcheon the longest roll of mighty performers — and by pursuing this course he steadily improves his stock; and so the intelligent breeder of trot- ting horses will select from families in which speed at the trotting gait has become an in- herent and transmissible quality. I can see no reason why this great principle, which forms the correct basis of all good stock- breeding, should not apply to the breeding of trotting horses as well as to setter dogs. The get of a bulldog out of a setter bitch would probably possess more courage than a purely- bred setter, and a puppy so bred might possibly act well in the field; but no man accustomed to the business would back a litter so bred, in a field trial, against a litter of pure setters! And so, if it is a trotting horse we are after, it has always been my advice that the breeder should get as deeply into the trotting lines of blood as possible. The exceptional cases quoted by the advocates of the thoroughbred prove nothing. We cannot go very far as yet 220 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. into any of our trotting strains of blood with- out running into a thoroughbred cross, or else running into obscurity. I should certainly very greatly prefer that my trotting brood mare or stallion, after showing a few crosses of Hambletonian, Pilot, Mambrino Chief, or Clay blood, should trace to a thoroughbred an- cestry than to the dunghill, because in the former case we know that we are anchored upon a solid foundation of courage and endur- ance. But we have our trotting structure al- ready reared to handsome proportions upon this foundation; why then should we overturn what has already been done and commence again to build on the same rock? To do so is, in my opinion, a step in the wrong direction. This position is so self-evident— so perfectly in accord with the known laws of heredity — that I am surprised that it should be ques- tioned by any man of ordinary intelligence. That mares with one or two trotting crosses on a thoroughbred pedigree are preferable, even for breeding trotters, to mongrels of no individual merit and no pedigree, no one in his sober senses will deny; and that mares by Hambletonian, or George Wilkes, or Mambrino Patchen, or Pilot Jr., or Mambrino Chief, or any other noted trotting sire, out of thorough- bred dams, should themselves produce great trotters when coupled with a well-bred trot- THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 221 ting sire, as in the case of the dam of Maud S., is no surprise, and no argument whatever against my position, but confirms it. That the next remove from the blood of the race horse, if the remove be with choice trotting blood, will produce a still greater proportion of fast trotters, is what I assert. We want good, tried and approved trotting blood upon this founda- tion; and the more of this material we can put there, and the further we are pushed away from that foundation by such material, the bet- ter for certainty in producing fast and reliable trotting horses. PACERS AND SADDLE HORSES. Pacing horses have long been highly prized in all countries where horseback riding has been much practiced as a means of locomotion in the transaction of business, partly on ac- count of the greater ease of this gait to the rider, partly because a change in the gait of the horse is a relief to one who needs must be in the saddle for a whole day at a time, and for the further reason that it has usually been considered a more speedy gait than the trot. Hence horses that can both trot and pace have long been bred in many portions of the United States. Experience has most thoroughly dem- onstrated the fact that the trot and pace are, to a very considerable degree, interchangeable ; 222 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. and that most horses can be taught to adopt either the one gait or the other at the pleasure of the rider or driver, as an intermediate man- ner of progression between the walk and the gallop. Instances where horses that have shown unusual speed as pacers have been changed into speedy trotters, mainly by in- creasing the weight of the shoes on the fore feet, are of every-day occurrence; and trotters may with equal facility be taught the pacing gait by the use of "hobbles" so adjusted as to compel the animal to move both legs on the same side together, instead of moving the fore leg in unison with the hind leg on the opposite side, which constitutes the difference between the pace and the trot. The success which has attended these and other methods of changing horses from one gait to the other, and the further fact that horses which show great speed as pacers so frequently descend from the well-established trotting families, has led to the generally-es- tablished belief among horse-breeders that the trotting and pacing gaits are essentially the same; or rather that the taking of the one gait or the other is more a matter of accident or training than of inheritance. I cannot sub- scribe to this theory myself, however, further than to admit that the form which is usually found in the fast pacer (a rather steep rump, THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 223 224 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. with high, thin withers and well-bent hock, see page 223,) is one which appears to be well adapted to great speed in trotting when once the gait has been changed by any pro- cess of training. It is undeniable, however, that the form which is usually seen in our fast trotters (see page 207) is not that of the natural pacer, for with the former we fre- quently find — as in the case of Maud S. and many other notable trotters — that the animal is higher at the hips than at the withers; and while I have frequently seen horses possessing this conformation trained to the pacing gait, yet they never take kindly to it, neither do they ever become fast pacers. On account of this obvious difference in form between our best trotters and best pacers I am decidedly of the opinion that when speed at either gait is especially sought for, the breeding of the two types together should not be encouraged; but rather that the breeder of trotting horses should adhere to that form which usually ac- companies the highest speed at the trotting gait, and vice versa. Some of our well-estab- lished trotting families — notoriously some branches of the Hambletonian family — pro- duce a large per cent of horses possessing the pacing conformation, and which pace naturally from birth; and selection from these and others possessing similar characteristics will at a very THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 225 early day create a distinct breed of pacing horses. Horseback riding, which in the early settle- ment of our country was of necessity exten- sively practiced, has of late years become a fashionable recreation, and the business of raising and training saddle horses is now a lucrative one. More attention has been paid to it hitherto in the States of Kentucky, Ten- nessee, Missouri, and the southern portions oft Ohio, Indiana and Illinois than in any other parts of the United States, and here natural pacers are very common. The other so-called saddle gaits, as the running walk, the fox trot, the rack, and the canter, are largely the result of care and skill on the part of the trainer; although some strains of horses undoubtedly train to them more kindly than others; but the conformation which I have previously described as belonging more especially to the natural pacer, appears to train more naturally and readily than that of the trotter to the various saddle gaits, and from horses approximating this form, or a medium between the two, I would recommend the breeder and trainer of saddle horses to make his selections rather than from either of the extreme typical forms. An association has been formed for the purpose of promoting the breeding of saddle horses, and a stud book for them has been instituted with 226 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. headquarters at Louisville, Ky. As foundation stock, stallions that have been especially dis- tinguished as sires of good saddle horses have been taken, and a persistent and systematic effort to establish a breed of saddle horses is now being made. In England the trot is now the favorite saddle gait; the fox trot, the run- ning walk, the pace and the rack, which in this country are in such high favor, are not now seen there at all under the saddle, and our "gaited saddle horses'7 would be a decided in- novation on Rotten Eow in Hyde Park, although horses that ambled or paced were very popular there a hundred years ago. ORLOFF TROTTERS. Although the Orloff trotters of Russia have been but sparingly introduced into this country, yet they are so frequently referred to in discus- sions upon horse-breeding, and especially in those pertaining to the breeding of trotting horses, that a history of the breed and a com- parison of their merits with our own trotters cannot fail to be interesting. The breed takes its name from Count Alexis Orloff Tschismen- sky, an enthusiastic horseman of Russia, who, in 1775, imported from Arabia a grey stallion named Smetanxa, said to have been of unusual size and strength. A Danish mare was bred to this imported Arabian stallion, and the pro- THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 227 duce was a horse known as Polkan 1st. From a union of this half-blood with a Dutch mare sprang a stallion known as Bars 1st, who is generally regarded as the progenitor of the Orloff race of trotters. The fame of this quar-~ ter-blood, Bars 1st, was chiefly perpetuated through his sons Lubeznay 1st, Lebed 1st and Dobroy 1st. It is worthy of special note that we have an almost exact parallel of the course of breeding which laid the foundation for the Orloff trot- ting horse in the case of the imported Barb, Grand Bashaw, a grey stallion imported to the United States from Tripoli by Mr. John C. Mor- gan. This horse got Young Bashaw (also grey), out of Pearl by First Consul, and he in turn got Andrew Jackson, out of a mare of unknown blood. It will be observed that the Russian trotter Bars 1st and Andrew Jackson were each three removes from their Oriental ancestry, and that in this third remove the trotting excellence first began to manifest itself. Bars 1st laid the foundation for the Orloff trotting horse, and was himself a distinguished trotter; Andrew Jackson was the most noted trotting stallion of his day, and from him are descended the Ba- shaw, Patchen and Clay trotters of the present time. We have no positive knowledge as to the breeding of the Danish mare, the dam of Polkan 1st, or of the Dutch mare that produced 228 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. Bars 1st, while Pearl, the dam of Young Ba- shaw, was a well-bred mare, she being by a thoroughbred sire, out of Fancy by imported Messenger. As to the blood of the dam of An- drew Jackson we are left to conjecture. The similarity of the foundation of these two races of trotting horses is therefore quite apparent. Count Orloff and his successor, V. T. Shiskin, devoted themselves assiduously to the improve- •ment of these horses, selecting their stallions exclusively from the foundation above alluded to, but resorting frequently to English and Dutch mares of known excellence; so that the Orloff trotter, like the American, is of a mixed origin, and neither the Arab, the Barb nor the English thoroughbred can claim exclusive pa- ternity in either case. Selection and crossing, with a view to adaptation for a specific use, has accomplished the work of creating in both countries a race of trotting horses. Count Or- loff was an intelligent enthusiast in the busi- ness— as all successful breeders have been— and he persistently refused to part with any of his entire horses, preferring that he alone should dictate the choice of sires to be used to per- petuate and improve the race. After his death the stud was scattered; a considerable portion of it passed into the possession of the crown, but several private studs were founded, and a stud book was instituted to aid in the work of THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 229 keeping the race free from further admixture, although with the Russians, as with us, the question is not very well settled as to what con- stitutes the best trotting pedigree, and purity of blood is a rather vague and indefinite term when applied to the Orloff as well as to the American trotter. The Count had been an en- thusiastic patron of the race course as a means of developing and testing the powers of his horses, and since his time the government has given its powerful aid to promote the same object, not only by establishing breeding studs, but by furnishing more than one-half of the prize-money that is contested for at these trot- ting races, which have been held regularly in that country for the last sixty years. Russian trials of speed are regulated by law, and the driver or owner who violates any of the rules which have been laid down to secure fair con- tests is liable to take an unceremonious trip to Siberia at government expense — a punishment that, as might be supposed, is much more effect- ual in suppressing fraud than is that of an edict of expulsion issued by our National Trotting Associations. I had the pleasure, a few years ago, of meet- ing Mons. Jules Goujon, who has long been a resident of Moscow, and who is intimately con- nected with the turf sports of that country. From him I learned many interesting particu- 230 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. lars concerning the Orloff horse and the methods of breeding, training and driving in that coun- try. He states that— The entries for the races are according to age qualifica- tions, except those for horses past six years old, which are free for all. The heats are never less than three versts, and the deciding heat is at the same distance. In races of four and one-half versts the deciding heat is at three versts. Races of six and twelve versts are decided in one heat. The first prize is not given to the horse that comes in first in the race, but in the deciding heat. The number of horses entered in each race is unlimited, but they are started three at a time, and the two horses out of the entire number of starters that trot the distance in the least time, according to the watch, take part in the deciding heat. If the horse winning in the first trial comes in second in the second trial then a third heat settles the question of supremacy. Only two moneys are given. There are 'three tracks, of oval shape, inclosed one within the other, one for each horse. The outer is one and a half versts (one mile) long; the two others are shorter, one by twelve sagenes (eighty-four feet) and the other by twenty-three sagenes (161 feet). The first horse is started on the exterior track, in front of the stand, and the two others, in order to equalize the distance, are started in the rear, on their respective tracks, which are selected by lot. The horses come up at a jog, each one to his place. A judge is placed beside each horse whose duty it is, by waving a bit of cloth, to notify the starter, who is in the stand, that the horse under his charge has arrived at his position. The horses are started from the stand by the stroke of a bell, which sets in motion at the same time the hands of a great dial which marks minutes and seconds. At the instant the first horse passes the winning score the judge strikes a blow which stops the first hand of the dial, and in the same way for the second horse. This automatic system gives the time of the race, by means of the clock, without error, and enables the judge, who is placed at the distance post to decide which THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 231 of the horses are distanced, to better know the precise in- stant when the race is finished. A distance in Russia is thirty sagenes (210 feet) for a race of three versts, and seventy- five sagenes (525 feet) for a race at a greater distance. Only three false starts are allowed; after that number the judges can fine the driver of the horse that is responsible for the false starts, or can refuse to allow him to go the course. In case a driver does not try to win with a horse the judges may fine him, and on a repetition of the offense he is liable to visit Siberia for a couple of years — a punishment which I imagine, from what I hear, would be salu tary for some of your Ameri- can drivers. A horse is allowed to make but three breaks during a heat of three versts, and the same number in the deciding heat. If he makes more he is out of the race, and so is he if he makes more than thirteen jumps in one gallop. Each horse in the race has a judge especially assigned to watch his movements, whose decision as to whether the horse makes more than three breaks or more than the permitted number of jumps in one break is without appeal; he has only to touch a button of an electric machine designating the offending horse, and a groom on horseback in front of the stand at once rushes off to notify his driver to quit the track. For all the prizes given by the societies any one can trot, as he pleases, to a droschka (the national Russian vehicle, four-wheeled and very clumsy and heavy as compared with the sulky,) or to a sulky with two wheels and four reins. The weight of the vehicle and of the sulky is equally ad libitum for all the prizes given by the societies. The Government, for prizes which it gives, specifies for itself the kind of vehi- cle, its weight, the weight of the driver, and the distance to be trotted. There are two seasons for racing. The summer races occur in May and June, and are trotted twice a week, on Sunday and Wednesday. They are started at 6 o'clock in the evening, the days being so long in Russia that it is light until 11 o'clock at night, and thus the heat of the day is avoided, which is an advantage for both the horses and the spectators. 232 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. In winter the races are always trotted on Sundays, and on the ice. But two horses are started at a time, and on the opposite sides of the same course, which is but one verst in length. The droschka of which Mons. Goujon speaks, although a rather clumsy-looking vehicle to American eyes, is really a very light and easy- running road wagon, weighing only about sev- enty pounds. The verst is 3,500 feet in length, being a fraction less than two-thirds of a mile. I have before me, as I write, a statement of the best time made at all distances, in Russia, each year, from 1861 to 1876, inclusive, from which it wTould appear that no improvement was made in the speed or endurance of the Orloff trotter during the last five years em- braced in this period. The fastest time ever made for one verst was 1:40, by Poitieshnoy, in 1869, which rate of speed, if kept up for one mile, would be a very little below 2:31. This rate of speed has never been reached by any other Russian horse — the nearest approach to it being 1:42 J. The same horse has the best record at three versts, being 5:00, equal to two miles in 5:01|. This appears to have been an exceptional case, however, as the next best per- formances are three versts in 5:06 once, and 5:07 twice. The best time for four and a half versts is 7:52, equal to 7:54| for three miles. For seven and a half versts the best time is 13:49, equal to 13:56| for five miles. For thirty THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 233 versts the best time is 1:08:30, equal to twenty miles in 1:08 :53i, which is by over three min- utes the best performance by a Russian horse at that distance. Comparing these records with those of our American trotters we find the following: Best Russian Time. Best American Time. Difference. One mile. 2:31 One mile 2:04 :27 Two miles *5-01^ Two miles 4-33^ :27% Three miles . 7:52)J Three miles. . . 7 :21*£ :31^ Five miles . 13 :56% Five miles 13:00 :56% Twenty miles. . . .1:08:53)^ Twenty miles... ...58:25 10:28}£ From the foregoing the superiority of Amer- ican trotters, at all distances, is very clearly shown. I do not share in the often-expressed opinion that our system of training, our tracks and our vehicles are materially better than the Russian. Thousands of American trotters have beaten the best one-mile time made in Russia; and although two-mile races are not common in this country, the exceptionally fast time of 5:01| for that distance made by Poitieshnoy has been beaten by nearly all of our great trot- ters; and I have no doubt but that we have hundreds of trotters in training to-day that are capable of beating that time by several seconds. No Orloff trotter has ever succeeded in trotting twenty miles within an hour by nearly nine •Exceptional time -5:07% being the best with this single ex- ception. 234 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. minutes, while five American horses have ac- complished that feat. Another point of con- trast, in which the American trotter shows at a great advantage over his Russian competitor, appears to be in campaigning qualities. The oldest reported Orloff winner is twelve years. Goldsmith Maid was in her prime at twenty. Pietel, the most noted Orloff campaigner, was a winner for four successive years; the Maid was a winner for thrice that length of time, while most of our great trotters have steadily improved until they were fifteen or sixteen years of age. It is also worthy of note that while the Russian trotter appears to have attained his maximum of speed several years ago, the im- provement on the part of our American horses in this respect, within the past ten years, has been truly wonderful. Certainly the showing for speed and endurance of the Orloff trotter does not compare favorably with the American, although the former undoubtedly possesses both of these qualities to a high degree. It is claimed, however, that in beauty of form the Orloff is greatly the superior of our American production; but here, again, I must be permit- ted to put in a demurrer; for, if the animals that I have seen may be taken as fair speci- mens of the breed, the facts are certainly the reverse of this statement. Our breeders will THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 235 undoubtedly object to the prevailing color of the Orion's, as upon an analysis of the winners in that country we find that fifty-five per cent are greys, twenty-four per cent blacks, fourteen per cent bays or browns, and six per cent light bays. FRENCH COACH HORSES. As early as 1780 the French Government be- gan a systematic effort to improve the native horse stock of that country, especially for the cavalry service, by the introduction of Thor- oughbred and Hunting stallions from England, and offering their services to the farmers at a merely nominal fee. From that time down to the present the French Government has con- tinued its paternal supervision of the horse- breeding interests of that country, introducing from year to year Thoroughbred stallions in considerable numbers, and selecting the best of the male produce resulting from the union of the imported stallions and the French mares for use in the stud. Since about 1840, however, the introduction of Thoroughbred stallions has fallen off in that portion of France devoted especially to Coach-horse breeding, while the number of native-bred horses selected for use in the stud has proportionately increased. At times, under the supervision of the Govern- ment, the introduction of Thoroughbred sires has ceased almost entirely; and again, when 236 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. those in authority have been of the opinion that the blood of the Thoroughbred could still be used to advantage, fresh importations have been made. Some of these imported stallions left a marked impress upon the horse stock of the country, notably among these being the horse Young Rattler, imported about 1820, whose produce were especially remarkable for their stylish, high-headed appearance, and high, proud-stepping action. The get of this horse were largely selected by the Government agents for breeding purposes, and to him more than to any other one of these imported sires the pres- ent Inspector-General of the Government haras, the Vicomte de la Motte-Rouge, ascribes the origin of the present so-called Coach horse of France. The foundation had been previously laid by crossing and recrossing with the Thor- oughbred, but Young Rattler and the stallions of his get gave the qualities which the French people especially fancied for coaching uses. Since that period this coach-horse type has re- ceived more largely than any other, perhaps, the fostering care and patronage of the Gov- ernment; and certainly very marked improve- ment has been effected and a considerable degree of uniformity has been secured. Much official encouragement has been given to the development of trotting speed, although this has always been held subservient to that par- THE BREEDS OF HOESES. 237 238 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. ticular style, carriage, and form of action which has been so highly prized by the French people in horses for the carriage or coach. In some families of the breed a very creditable degree of trotting speed has been attained ; and this without sacrificing the especially coach-horse characteristics. The size has been maintained by a turf law which excludes all horses under 15| hands high from competing for trotting prizes ; and endurance has been cultivated by encouraging long-distance races — usually two miles or over — and on the turf instead of a hard, smooth track, as in the United States. These long-distance contests inevitably weed out the "soft ones," while trotting on the turf shortens the stride, increases the knee action, and necessarily quickens the step in order to attain speed, thus retaining and cultivating in their fastest trotters the peculiar knee action and step desired in the coach horse. The pre- vailing color is bay, but there are many chest- nuts among them and blacks are occasionally seen. When the system of breeding above alluded to was inaugurated the produce of the union of the Thoroughbred sires with the French mares were called demi-sang (half-blood); and notwithstanding the " breeding-up " process which has constantly been going on for over one hundred years these horses are still called THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 239 deml-sang in France and are so classed in the prize lists for the horse shows of that country. They are also sometimes spoken of in France as Normans, from the fact that they are chiefly bred in what was formerly known as Nor- mandy. It is only within a recent period that French Coach horses have attracted attention at the hands of American importers and breeders; the draft horses of that country having largely monopolized the attention of American stock- raisers traveling in France. But within the past ten years the growing demand for stylish, high-stepping coach horses in America has led to the importation of French Coachers in con- siderable numbers. The course of breeding that has produced these horses in France is much the same as that which has created the modern Cleveland Bay of England, the blood of the Thoroughbred largely predominating in both, the chief difference being in the mares that have constituted the basis. It must not be understood from what has been said in the foregoing that the breeding of Coach horses is carried on throughout all of France, nor that the use of Thoroughbred stal- lions is no\v discouraged by the Government. It is only in the departments of Orne, Calvados, Manche, Seine-Infeieure, and a part of Eure that the attention of the Government is especi- 240 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. ally directed to the production of Coach horses. In the departments above named there are two haras, or Government stables, one at Pin and the other at St. Lo. In other departments, as in Eure, Orne, Eure et Loir, Loir et Cher and Sarthe, attention is chiefly given to the Perche- ron, while the Boulonnais, the Breton and the Thoroughbred are encouraged elsewhere. It may also be of interest to note in this con- nection that in addition to the stallions owned by the French Government there are twro classes of stallions of various breeds owned by private individuals that may be mentioned as receiving Governmental recognition. First, approved stallions, which after inspection by the authorities are granted a subsidy for re- maining in the country and serving mares at prices fixed by their owners. This subsidy amounts in the case of Thoroughbred stallions to from about $150 to $500 a year; Coach horses (demi-sang), $75 to $150 a year; and draft horses from $50 to $100 a year. The sec- ond class are authorized upon inspection to serve mares, but receive no subsidy. No stal- lions excepting those belonging to the Govern- ment, and those that are approved or author- ized, are allowed to do stud duty. THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 241 CLEVELAND BAYS. Many years ago, before railways came into general use, there existed in England a famous breed of strong carriage or coach horses known as Cleveland Bays. They were bred chiefly in the vale of Cleveland, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and were uniformly of a bay color; hence the name Cleveland Bay. But with the advent of the railway and the improve- ment of the roadways in general, the demand for the strong horses of which the Cleveland Bay was the type fell off until finally it came to be regarded as practically extinct, and all English writers upon the horse with whom I am conversant, who wrote from about 1840 down to ten years ago, such as Youatt and Burn, Youatt and Spooner, Prof. Low and "Frank For- rester/' have treated of the Cleveland Bay as no longer in existence as a distinct breed. "Frank Forrester" (Henry William Herbert), the most recent of these writers, in Vol. II, p. 20, of his great work, speaks as follows of the course of breeding which has rendered the Cleveland Bay extinct: The first gradation, when pace became a desideratum with hounds, was the stinting of the best Cleveland Bay mares to good thoroughbred horses, with a view of the prog- eny turning out hunters, troop-horses, or, in the last resort, stage-coach horses, or, as they were termed, machiners. The most promising of these half-bred colts were kept as stallions; and mares, of the same type, with their dams, 242 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. stinted to them produced the improved English carriage horse of fifty years ago. The next step was the putting of the half- bred fillies, by thoroughbreds out of Cleveland Bay mares, a second time to thoroughbred stallions; their progeny to become the hunt- ers, while themselves and their brothers were lowered into the carriage horses; and the half-bred stallions, which had been the getters of carriage horses, were degraded into the sires of the new, improved cart horse. From this, one step more brings us to the ordinary hunter of the present day of provincial hunting countries, for light weights, and persons not willing, or able, to pay the price of thoroughbreds. These are the produce of the third and fourth crosses of thorough blood on the improved mares, de- scended in the third or fourth degree from the Cleveland Bay stock, and are in every way superior, able and beautiful animals, possessing speed and endurance sufficient to live with the best hounds in any country, except the very fast- est, such as the Melton Mowbray, the Northamptonshire, and, perhaps, the Vale of Belvoir, where the fields are so large, the land all in grass, and the scent so fine that fox- hunting in them is in fact steeple-chasing; so that no fox can live before the hounds on a fine scenting day above half an hour, nor any horse, except a thoroughbred, live even that time with the hounds, having fourteen stone or upward on his back. No sort of breeding in England is so profitable as this. The breeder is comparatively secure against anything like ultimate loss, while he has a fair chance of drawing a capital prize in the shape of a first-rate hunter or a carriage horse of superior quality; and it is to the breeding of such a class of animals that the attention of the farmers in horse-breed- ing counties is wholly directed at this date. For this reason one has no more pure Cleveland Bays, the use of the stallion of that breed being entirely discontinued; large, bony, slow thoroughbreds of good form and great power, which have not succeeded on the turf, having been substituted for them, even for the getting of cart and farm- ing-team horses; and the farmers finding it decidedly to THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 243 244 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. their advantage to work large, roomy, bony, half or two- third-bred mares, out of which, when they grow old, or if by chance they meet with an accident, they may raise hunt- ers, coach horses, or, at the worst, chargers or machiners, rather than to plow with garrons and weeds, the stock of which would be valueless and worthless except for the merest drudgery. Within the last ten years the English agri- cultural press and English writers upon the horse have begun to again speak of the Cleve- land Bay as a breed, but as late as Nov. 18, 1881, I find the London Live-Stock Journal, the only distinctively live-stock serial publication in Great Britain, stating that: The Cleveland that some people write about is not a Cleve- land; it is only the nearest approach to what the Cleveland was like. If there is such a thing as a pure Cleveland the owner should stick to him; the breed, it is possible, may be resuscitated. The Mark Lane Express of about the same date qualified a reference of the same sort by the remark, "if there be such a breed"; and Mr. Frederick Street, who as late as 1883 wrote "The History of the Shire Horse" in England, speaking of the heavier classes of horses, says: "The only distinct breeds now recognized are the Shire horse or English Cart horse, the Clydesdale and the Suffolk ; the Cleveland Bay being well-nigh extinct." In January, 1884, I addressed a letter to Mr. George T. Turner, then editor of the Mark Lane Express, of London, asking for his opinion as to whether the Cleve- THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 245 land Bay still existed as a distinct breed in that country. He replied in substance that of late a demand for the old sort of Cleveland Bays had sprung up, and the breed was in a fair way to be resuscitated. He thought there was ma- terial enough left to operate on, and stated, to quote his exact words, that uthe Cleveland is undoubtedly the produce of the thoroughbred horse (race horse or hunting stallion) on the North country cart mares; this was the origin of the breed, and it was created for coaching purposes. The coaches, toward the last, re- quired faster horses, and these were superseded by the railway. So the Cleveland fell into desuetude. Now they are wanted again for fast, heavy town work. If a stud book were started we should see that material was in existence." He added that he would agitate the question in England. A week or two later there appeared in his paper, the Mark Lane Express, the following: In reply to a. question from a correspondent in the United States as to the present status of the Cleveland breed of horses in this country, we are of opinion that there is ma- terial enough left, especially in Yorkshire, to form the basis of a herd book and a very profitable breeders' industry. The railway locomotive drove the old Cleveland Bay horse off the road, but the more modern type of Cleveland horse, or at all events Yorkshire-bred horses of the Cleveland stamp, with rather more of the thoroughbred stallion's influence apparent, are precisely the cattle that are to be seen in the use of railway companies for their lighter work, especially 246 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING, the newly-appointed omnibuses which have been started by the railway companies in London, and for which the cheaper French horses hitherto used are neither strong1 enough nor fast enough, It is remarkable that the railway companies, which took the old Cleveland horse's occupation away, should be among the first to give it back again in a different form; but it is plain enough to anyone who will give the necessary attention to the subject that the light van work of the new heavy omnibus work of the metropolis is bringing to London a lot of very superior and valuable horses from the northern breeding" districts, which to all appearances have the old Cleveland blood for their basis, and which obtain their speed and style from the judicious use of the blood of the thor- oughbred stallion. This seems to leave no room for doubt that the Cleveland Bay of to-day has been or is being created, as was the breed when it was formerly considered a breed, by a mingling of the blood of the thoroughbred race horse with that of the large bay mares of Yorkshire. There is still much stock remaining in that region possessing the old Cleveland Bay characteristics, and it is evident that the same course of breeding which originally formed the breed may speedily restore it — if the work has not already been done— from the material remaining in that country. Whatever of this material there may yet be in existence in Yorkshire and elsewhere in Eng- land will no doubt be utilized for this purpose, and to this end the new Cleveland Stud Book, which was inaugurated in 1884, will doubtless be of great service. THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 247 HACKNEYS. The word Hackney has long been used in England in a sense synonymous with the term roadster as used in this country; but latterly it has been adopted as the specific name of a breed of horses deservedly popular in Great Britain, and rapidly growing in favor in the United States. To write the history of the development of this breed would be to write a history of horse-breeding in Norfolk and the adjacent counties of England for the last one hundred and fifty years. But Mr. Euren, the compiler of the English Hackney Stud Book, dates the real beginning of the true English Hackney breed with the advent of the Shales or Shields horse, the "Original Shales" of the stud book, foaled about 1760. This horse was got by Blaze, a son of the famous race horse Flying Childers, and his dam is spoken of as "a strong, common mare." The claim of the "Original Shales" to dis- tinction rests chiefly in the fact that he was the sire of the famous horses Scot Shales and Driver, both said to have been remarkably game and fast trotters. Scot Shales is said by the historian John Lawrence to have been " the first trotting stallion of eminence of which we have any account." He was kept for service chiefly in Lincolnshire, and in 1772 was adver- 248 A TREATISE ON SORSE-BREEDINGK tised as "remarkable for getting exceeding fine colts and good goers." As to Driver, it was claimed, in the adver- tisements of some of his descendants, that he trotted seventeen miles in one hour. He was foaled about 1765, and his fame was perpetu- ated chiefly through Jenkinson's Fireaway, foaled 1780, the original of the well-known Fireaway family of Hackneys, and the sire of the famous Wroot's Pretender. Jenkinson's Fireaway must have been a great trotter, as it is said that "he trotted two miles on the Ox- ford Road in five minutes; and, chiefly through his son, Wroot's Pretender, exercised a potent influence upon the horse stock of Norfolk, Lincoln, Yorkshire, and the North of England generally. This horse, Wroot's Pretender, is invested with especial interest to American horsemen from the fact that he was the grand- sire of imported Bellfounder, that got the Charles Kent mare, the dam of that great Amer- ican progenitor of trotters Rysdyk's Hamble- tonian. It is alleged of Wroot's Pretender, that "when five years old he trotted sixteen miles in one hour, carrying sixteen stone;" and that he was exceedingly popular and ex- tensively patronized in the stud is shown in the alleged fact that his serving fees for mares for the years 1803-4-5 amounted to £761 15s. 6d. (about $3,695), "exclusive of the groom's THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 249 fees" — a very handsome sum, indeed, for that period. He was a black, very blood-like in ap- pearance, and lived to a very great age. A writer in the Sporting Magazine for July, 1821, when this horse was thirty-three years of age, speaks of him as follows: He was brought last year out of the East Riding of York- shire by a "break-neck dealer," being- "turned adrift," no one suspecting it possible for him to propagate his species any longer; but I have seen ten or twelve of his produce (yearlings) as well as foals this season, which are very prom- ising. He is a dark brown, 15.2 hands, and it appears was bred by Christopher Rook [Wroot], Long Sutton, Lincoln- shire. His first performance was in that county, when he trotted two miles in 5 min., 54 sec., with a high weight, upon green sward. I well remember his first appearance in a market town in the north. The "Johnny Raws" smiled at his worn-out, emaciated form, but the moment room was given for him to get upon his pins every other stallion that was exhibited retired into the shade in an instant. As he was rattling along, apparently at full speed, a cur dog casu- ally crossed the road; the people imagined it would be tram- pled upon, but the generous animal darted over it in grand style, to the astonishment of every individual W root's Pretender got Stevens' Bellfounder, the sire of imported Bellfounder (Jary's Bell- founder, 55 of the stud book). Velocity, the dam of imported Bellfounder, must have been a mare of great merit, as will be seen by the following extract from the Norwich Mercury of Nov. 8, 1806: On Wednesday se'night the long depending trotting match for one hour took place between that celebrated brown mare Velocity, the property of Mr. Roger Jary of Ashill, and that 250 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. fast-trotting chestnut horse Doubtful, the property of Mr. King of Wymondham, for 50 guineas, which was decided in favor of Mr. Jary's mare. The distance they trotted within the time was fifteen miles and a half, and Mr. Jary's mare had to turn round sixteen times on account of galloping, while the horse did not turn round once. Returning to Scot Shales, it would be mani- festly improper to omit some account of his famous son Hue and Cry. Of this horse John Lawrence in the Sporting Magazine of June, 1821, says: I saw him several times while he was advertised as a cover- ing stallion, upwards of twenty years. He was then fifteen or sixteen years old, perhaps 15 hands one-half high, a bright bay with some white, a good figure, and master of sixteen stone. * * * Of his performances I know nothing very particular, but that he was one of the speediest trotters of his day, whence his name, from the hue and cry he raised whilst dashing along the road with a posse of horses gallop- ing on each side and behind him. He was a horse of rare temper and courage, a true trotter, and got good stock. He trotted the mile considerably under three minutes, carrying a high weight, and trotted the hour several times, but I am uninformed of the number of miles. When I saw him his fore feet were entirely ruined, the result of having had, some years previously, his shoes fitted whilst red hot. It is a curi- ous circumstance that in the annals of racing no notice is to be found of trotters. I could never trace the commencement of trotting as a race, nor the notice of any trotting stallion before Shales. There seems to have been a succession of trotting stallions of the name of Shales since that period in Lincolnshire and Norfolk, the most famous districts in the world for trotters, beyond a doubt. Through Scot Shales the Hackney breed gets another one of its most distinguished repre- THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 251 sentatives, Marshland Shales (No. 435 of the stud book), whose sire was Thistleton Shales (a son of Scot Shales) and his dam by Hue and Cry, above mentioned, making him strongly inbred to the Scot Shales. This horse was a chestnut, foaled 1802, stood 14| hands high, and had a remarkably heavy crest, which in old age fell over considerably — a peculiarity which re- appears in many of his descendants to this day. In his day he was regarded by the people of Norfolk, and the North of England generally, as the greatest trotter that the world had ever produced. In August, 1810, he u trotted a match race of over seventeen miles, carrying over twelve stone," and won in 56 minutes. He trotted many races and it is said was never beaten. I have given the foregoing particulars (con- densed mainly from Mr. Euren's Stud Book) concerning a few of the noted Norfolk trotters — the original of the more modern Hackney— of seventy-five and one hundred years ago, in order to show that as early as the beginning of the present century the horses of Norfolk and the North of England had acquired a high rep- utation as trotters and road horses; and while the authenticity of many of these very re- markable performances has been questioned it is clearly established that the Norfolk trotters of that period were able to trot long distances 252 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. at a high rate of speed, carrying heavy weight; and that they were in high repute as " riding horses for general purposes." In our Morgan horses of fifty years ago we had a near approach to the modern English Hackney in size, form, and gait. The typical Hackney is pre-eminently a practically useful road horse. Very compactly and strongly built, with good strong legs and feet, seldom over 15J hands high, short in the back, large at the girth, closely ribbed up, the trotting action short, quick and "trappy," they constitute a breed of horses peculiarly well adapted to use on the road. They have not been fancied in England for many years past as riding horses, neither has any especial effort been made to develop speed at the trotting gait, but they have been for a long time bred especially with a view to the development of a horse fit to draw any sort of rig at a quick pace on the road; and for this purpose they are considered in that country as without an equal in the whole world. They are of all colors, but bays, browns and chest- nuts are more frequently seen than any other. An active demand has sprung up in the United States for these horses within the past five years and a stud-book organization has been effected, with Dr. Wm. Seward Webb of New York as Secretary. THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 253 254 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. ENGLISH SHIRE OR CART HORSES. No point in equine history is better estab- lished than is the fact that to the regions bor- dering on the Western coast of Europe, once known as Normandy and Flanders, the world is indebted for the basis of its various breeds of draft horses. Flanders especially was famed, away back in the middle ages, for its famous breed of Black horses; and this race appears to have been the prevailing one throughout tne north of ancient Gaul and of Germany, from the mouth of the Rhine eastward, and Prof. Low thinks "inhabited in the wild state the vast region of marsh and forest which stretched all through Europe, eastward, to the Euxine sea." It was from this source that the rulers of Great Britain drew in large numbers for the purpose of increasing the size of the horses of the Island. How or when this breed originated is a subject upon which history throws no light; but as early as the eleventh century they were largely imported into England, and royal edicts and regulations were repeatedly issued for the purpose of encouraging the use of the large stallions of this breed. King John imported at one time 100 choice stallions from Flanders, Edward II followed in the same course, and it would seem that in the time of Henry VIII these Flemish horses were inseparably associated in the British mind with the idea of immense size THE BREEDS OF HOUSES. 255 and massive proportions, for we are told that when King Henry first saw the Princess Anne of Cleves, a large, coarsely-formed woman, who was to be his fourth spouse, he expressed his opinion of her by the ejaculation: "Egad, she is like a great Flanders mare!" It is not my purpose to follow up, step by step, the several importations that were made, from time to time, of these heavy horses from Germany, Holland and Flanders, nor to recount the various stages of development which re- sulted in the formation of what is now known as the Shire horse or English Cart horse. One of the early Earls of Huntingdon is mentioned by Prof. Low as having been especially active in his efforts to improve the British breeds of heavy horses; and Robert Bake well, who first taught the world the great principles of good stock-breeding, brought his great genius and skill to bear upon the same object. He went himself to Holland, where he selected several mares which he brought back with him to Eng- land; and by pursuing the same methods of careful selection, mating and feeding by which he had achieved such distinguished success with other kinds of stock, he showed the English people how to form a breed of draft horses which has since become famous the world over. Other breeders followed his example, and as late as the beginning of the present century 256 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. importations of both stallions and mares from Flanders were by no means uncommon. At this time the black color was still a char- acteristic and distinguishing feature of the heavy horses of England, as it was of the parent stock from across the channel. They were of immense size, with great strength, but were heavy, dull and sluggish in temperament, and slow and awkward in motion. Prof. Low, writ- ing of these horses in his " Domesticated Ani- mals of the British Islands," says: The modern English Black horse retains the general char- acteristics of the pre-existing1 race, but greatly modified. His color is usually a sooty black, with frequently a white lozenge-shaped mark on the forehead; and he has very gen- erally one or more of the fee't and part of the legs, and not unfrequently the muzzle, white. His body is massive, com- pact and round; his limbs are stout, his chest is enormously broad, and his neck and back are short. His mane is thick and somewhat frizzled, and his legs below the knee and hock are hairy down to the heels. His whole aspect conveys the idea of great physical power without corresponding action. The main defects of his conformation and temperament are his too great bulk of body and want of action and mettle. For a pull with a heavy weight he is admirable; but he steps out short, and is slow in all his motions. These powerful horses are in extensive demand, not only in the midland counties, where they are reared, but over all the south of England, for the labors of the field, and for wagon and heavy carriages of all kinds. They are every- where to be seen, moving at a slow pace, in the numerous heavy wagons by which merchandise is conveyed inland, and in great numbers in all the larger cities and seaport towns, where they are used for transport of heavy goods at wharves, for the carriage of coal, timber, building materials, and for THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 257 a thousand purposes. In London, where the largest and finest are in demand for the carts of brewers, the wagons of coal merchants, and other uses, the stranger sees with admiration the vast number of enormous carriages in endless motion through the crowded streets, drawn by teams of the largest horses in the world; and, doubtless, there is something noble in the aspect of these huge creatures, yoked in lines, and obedient to the voice amidst all the tumult of a great city; but examination shows that there is an excessive waste of power, both in the unnecessary bulk of the animals and in the manner in which their services are performed. They are usually attached in lines, which causes them to pull with sudden jerks and with unequal force; and, in turning the corners of narrow streets and lanes it is often seen that the entire weight of the enormous carriage is thrown, for a time, upon the shaft horse. It is contended by many that extreme weight and bulk of body are necessary for these horses to enable them to resist the jolting and sudden obstacles en- countered on the rough pavement which they never leave; but, in truth, it is habit and a species of pride which lead the owners of wagons to prefer the largest and most showy horses to those of moderate size and more useful action; for experience cannot but show that it is muscular force and not the vis inertice of great weight of body which best enables a horse to overcome continued obstacles. The mere gratifica- tion of taste, however, in the employment of these splendid horses would scarcely require a passing censure were it not that this gratification exercises a really hurtful influence in the breeding districts, causing attention to be directed to size and appearance rather than to useful properties, and tending to perpetuate that unnecessary bulk of body which constitutes so great a defect in the breed. Nor is this influ- ence, unimportant in degree; for it is to be observed that the demand for horses of the largest class is not confined to the capital, but extends to all the numerous cities and populous towns where drays and wagons are in use. When animals of the largest size are in demand, and the highest prices are paid for them, it becomes the interest of breeders to employ large stallions and use every means to favor the develop- 258 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. ment of size in individuals. In the counties of Lincoln and Cambridge, whence the great London drays are chiefly sup- plied, a breeder measures his success by the stature of the individuals which he is able to rear. At the age of two and one-half years the colts are often seventeen hands high. They are bought at this age by graziers near the capital and used in the light work of the plow until four years old, when they are fit for the services to which they are destined, and disposed of at high prices. In 1879 a society was organized in England for the purpose of preparing and publishing a stud book of the Shire or Cart horse of England, and in February, 1880, the first volume of the work, which has since grown to fourteen vol- umes, was issued. In an introduction to this first volume by R. S. Reynolds, M. R. C. V. S., it is stated that— The draft horse of the present day undoubtedly, and un- fortunately, is one of mixed and impure breed; there exist few, if any, whose genealogy on both dam's and sire's side can be traced for even four generations. The assumption of an admixture of extrinsic blood is made more evident by comparison of the conformation and color of the existing race with the Shire horse of seventy years ago. Authorities upon horse-breeding forty or fifty years since were ceaseless in their objections to the slow, ponderous movement of the draft horses of their day, and strongly urged the necessity for crossing them with animals of more slender build, in order to attain increased activity and quicker pace. A large section of the horse-working community is now suffering from a too extended application of this crossing, possibly because breeders did not pursue an intelligent and syste- matic course in the selection of suitable animals for the attainment of their intended object, leaving too much to fortuitous circumstances, and probably attaching too much importance to activity, which, if attained at the expense of THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 259 deterioration in strength, becomes a defect for the purposes of town work. For the business of commercial centers like Liverpool, for instance, where the team work is subordinate to the dock, warehouse and railway regulations, rapidity of movement is found to be a very secondary desideratum to the possession of individual strength. Under these conditions a team (two) of dray horses must be fully capable of working a net load of five tons, the task of shafting which it is obvious no lightly- built animal can accomplish satisfactorily. A written description of a high-class Shire stallion of sixty years ago may, for the purpose of comparison, possess (?on- siderable interest to breeders of the present time. Such a sketch can, of course, but very imperfectly convey to the reader's mind an idea of the conformation of one of these old sires, but it may possibly afford a framework whereon his imagination can build those features which a literary repre- sentation fails to make clear. With very few exceptions (and those exceptions chestnut), black, dark brown, and grey are the only colors met with in the descriptions of draft stallions living in the first quarter of the present century. To account for this limitation two reasons may be advanced: first, fashion in color may have been considered a very important element in the selection of a sire; second, the light browns, bays, chestnuts, and roans of the present day are probably due to extensive infusions of light-horse blood. Whichever of the two reasons is accepted as the correct one, inquiry among old horsemen leaves no room for doubt that black, brown, and grey were by far the most common colors of draft horses. It is further ascertained that black predominated over the two other colors, so much so that the eastern counties horse was known and described as the "Black Lincolnshire horse1'; also that the highly-esteemed brood mares of Derbyshire were chiefly of that color. The color of the black horse was not remarkable for intensity, but partook more of a very dark slaty hue, some few speci- mens of which are now occasionally seen in Lincolnshire* In the majority of cases these black horses were marked to a 260 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. very considerable extent with white upon the legs and face. In Derbyshire the white facial markings often gave rise to the names of horses; for instance, the numerous "Blazes" were undoubtedly so called from the possession of a blaze face; other appellations, as "Ball," "Bald horse," "Balled- faced horse," more rarely met with, possibly implied a greater suffusion with white than the title "Blaze." In Staffordshire the prevailing color appears to have been brown; as early as 1806 horses are described as descendants of the "old brown Staffordshire breed." Grey horses appear to have been more common in counties south of Derbyshire and Staffordshire, but it is probable that the coats of many of the so-called black horses had interspersed therein a con- siderable sprinkling of white hairs, and that .they were occa- sionally described as greys; there is one instance, about fortj years ago, of an Oxfordshire horse being sometimes described as a black and at another period a grey. The head was large in all its dimensions, well placed or the neck by strong, broad and deep attachment; the forehead and face wide, expressive and intelligent; a side view of th€ jaws and muzzle represented those parts to be remarkabk for depth; the ears were small and carried slightly outward the eyes somewhat small, not prominent, but generally mile and moderately intelligent in expression; the nostrils anc mouth large, firm and well closed; the neck was long, archec and remarkable for its depth, and for the strength of its in sertion between the shoulder-blades, not as it is now fre quently seen, badly placed, by having the appearance o being fused, as it were, upon the front edge of the blade bones, a conformation affording insufficient room for the col lar, ajid therefore one most defective for the purposes o heavy draft. The shoulders were massive, muscular, up right, low and thick at the withers, thrown well outwarc beyond the insertion of the neck by the front ribs bein^ properly arched. The fore arm was long, strong and muscu lar; the knee broad and flat in all its aspects; the fore an< hind cannons short and thick, frequently measuring upwarc of twelve inches in circumference, covered with coarse skin and having a "beefy" appearance and touch, more marked ii THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 261 advanced age than in youth. The pastern bones of the fore leg were very short, strong- and upright, thos^ of the hind leg being much more obliquely placed. The feet, as a rule, especially the fore ones, were large, flat, weak at the heels, and invested with horn of somewhat soft and spongy tex- ture. Thighs narrow, being insufficiently clothed with mus- cle on their inner aspects to prevent the appearance of what is vulgarly but characteristically termed "split up." Thj hocks were of rather defective formation, but showing littlj predisposition to disease, generally too short, too round, and not sharply defined; for these reasons it may be inferred that the hind action was limited and comparatively wanting in elasticity. The general contour of the hind legs was consid- ably bent, the hocks being thrown backward and the feet forward. The breast wide and full of muscle, indicative of great strength rather than quick movement; the back longer, narrower and "dipping" rather too much behind the withers. The heart-ribs were well arched, but not very deep; the hinder ones were also rounded, but short, the last one placed too far forward, giving to the body an appearance of undue length and "lightness." The croup bent at considerable angle, denoting what would now be considered want of qual- ity. Ths dock strong and thick, with powerful broad attach- ment to the trunk. The tout ensemble of the stallion exhibited grand develop- ment of the fore-hand; which rendered the appearance of the hind parts very mean by comparison— a conformation, however, that a moment's reflection will show to be in per- fect accord with natural ordination; from mankind down- ward in the scale of mammalian creation, the entire male is deficient in that development of the posterior parts so nota- ble in the perfect female of each species, and for apparent reasons. The growth of hair upon these old stallions was remark- ably luxuriant, that of the mane and tail being abundant, strong in texture, glossy, and very often several feet in length. The cannons, fetlocks, and coronets, both fore and hind, were garnished with a profusion of coarse, long hair, distinctive of the Cart horse breed. The silky growth in 262 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. corresponding situations of the present day has probably become thus* modified from the admixture of extrinsic blood, from local influences, from altered methods in the system of rearing and managing young stock, or from a combination of two or all these causes. It is perhaps worthy of observation that there were, and still remain, some specimens of three apparently distinct types of draft horses exemplified by differences in the local distribution of long hair: 1st. Horses having the upper lip garnished with a long, thick mustache, considered at one time a distinguishing characteristic of the Lincolnshire horse. The color of these appendages is always black, white, or a mixture of the two, and invariably corresponds with the hue of the skin from which they spring. 2d. Horses having the lips, muzzle and eyelids destitute of hair. The skin in these situations, being either entirely bald or covered with exceedingly fine down, is almost invariably flesh-colored, sometimes marked with small dark spots and blotches. Specimens of this type may possibly have origi- nated the appellations "bald horse" and "balled-faced horse." 3d. Horses having a long tuft of hair growing from the front of each knee, and rarer examples having also a similar growth (quite distinct from the ordinary hair of the back of the cannons) from the hind part of the hock, just below its point. Animals of this type are now seldom seen. In my experience they are more frequently met with in Wales than in the English shires, though no reason can be assigned why that is so. It is found that these peculiar hirsute growths invariably accompany a luxuriant development of long hair in its ordinary situations, and generally a more than ordi- nary strength of bone below the knees and hocks. Sex does not appear to exert any influence in determining the special characteristics of any of the three types, stallions, mares and geldings being equally prone to inherit these peculiar- ities from progenitors similarly possessed. These horses have long been extensively bred in Leicestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, •THE BREEDS OF HOESB8. 264 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING, Oxfordshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Nottingham, Northampton, Lincolnshire, and Cambridgeshire; the last two counties named perhaps producing the most thoroughly char- acteristic and representative animals of the breed. There has been. a decided tendency among breeders of Shire horses for twenty years past to breed more for quality than size, and conse- quently somewhat of the rugged massiveness which formerly characterized the breed has disappeared, making the typical Shire horse of to-day much more active, alert, and spirited, and with considerable more " finish" and "style" in his appearance than his progenitors of forty years ago. Our illustration is an exact repro- duction by photograph from life of a Shire stallion of considerable note as a recent prize- winner in Great Britain. The importation of this great breed of heavy horses to America was not pushed with as much energy nor carried on to anything like so great an extent as the merits of the breed would have justified until within a comparatively recent period. Occasional importations of one or two animals at widely different periods were made, but within the past twelve years they have been imported in considerable numbers. They have grown rapidly in popularity in the great agri- cultural States of the Mississippi Valley, and a THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 265 stud book for the breed has been established, of which three volumes have been issued. Chas. Burgess of Wenona, 111., is Secretary of the Association having the work in charge. CLYDESDALES. To the casual observer the difference in ap- pearance between the Clydesdale and the Shire horse is not especially noticeable. They cer- tainly possess many features in common, and to give a history of the Clydesdale breed would simply be to recapitulate much of what has been written in the preceding pages concerning the origin of the draft breeds of England, for they have been evolved from the same original stock and by substantially the same course of selection and breeding. We have the same origin for both breeds in the great Black horse breed of Flanders. We hear of them first in Lanarkshire, when William, Earl of Douglas (one of the ancestors of the Duke of Hamilton, who in later years became so famous as a breeder of Clydesdales), obtained a special edict of "safe conduct" from King Edward to take "ten grooms and ten large horses from certain places in Scotland to certain places in Teviot- dale in the King's dominions." This safe con- duct was issued July 1, 1352, and is the earliest positive mention we have of great horses in Scotland. The editor of the Clydesdale Stud Book, commenting on this document, says: 266 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. Unfortunately it does not say where the horses came from; but as Baliol held the Douglas estates it would appear as though they were to be taken from Lanarkshire into Teviot- dale, then in possession of the English. Douglas' quarrel with his kinsman, William of Douglas, the Knight of Liddes- dale, whom he slew, taking possession of his estates; his rupture with King Edward of England, and his turning of Baliol out of the ancestral estates of the Douglas family in Liddesdale, Annandale and Clydesdale, leave little room for doubt that if large horses did not exist in Lanarkshire pre- vious to this date, as the extensive trade done with Flanders by the Scottish merchants lead us to believe they did, some, if not all, of the black stallions found their way to Douglas Castle, in the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire.* Scotch authorities generally concur in nam- ing the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire as the place where the Clydesdale breed was first brought to any considerable degree of perfec- tion, and in the "Retrospective Volume" of the Clydesdale Stud Book we read that: Some time between 1715 and 1720, John Paterson, of Loch- lyoch, on the estate and in the parish of Carmichael, grand- son of one John Paterson, who died at Lochlyoch in 1682, went to England and brought from thence a Flemish stallion, which is said to have so greatly improved the breed in the Upper Ward as to have made them noted all over Scotland. The Lochlyoch mares were famous in the Upper Ward dur- ing the latter half of the last and the first two decades of the present century; and a Mrs. Paterson, of Lochlyoch, mother of the present tenant of Drumalbin, now ninety-seven years of age, still has recollection of a noted black mare from which many of the best stock in the Upper Ward are de- scended. The family tradition is strongly supported by the fact that the Patersons were in the habit of noting down important agricultural items from a very early period; and * Clydesdale Stud Book, Vol. II, p. xvi. THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 267 268 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. the present representative of the family, Mr. Paterson of Drumalbin, has in his possession a family tree of all the de- scendants of that John Paterson who died in 1682. In the year 1836, in reference to a day's plowing given to one of the Patersons on leaving Lochlyoch for Drumalbin, the following remarks appeared in an Edinburgh newspaper, from which it will be seen that their claim to being the founders of the breed was then recognized. After descanting on the merits of the family and kindred topics, the writer proceeds: "And it may be here worthy of remark, that it was a brother of Mr. Paterson's grandfather who brought the notable stallion from England to Lanarkshire — the sire of the famous Clydes- dale breed of horses of which the county has been so long and justly proud." What were the distinguishing features of the native breed previous to the introduction of the Flemish horse, about 1715, cannot now be definitely determined, but there can be little doubt that they were mostly of English origin, and of a mixed character. The old drove road from Scotland to England crosses the Clyde at Hyndford Bridge, and leads across the hills by Carmichael and Crawfordjohn — the very center of the then horse-breeding district; and the inter- course which the farmers would thus have with their neigh- bors from the south, and the amount of traffic done by pack- horses, would doubtless allow of many opportunities for selecting animals calculated to improve the breed. The Lochlyoch mares were generally browns and blacks, with white faces and a little white on their legs; they had grey hairs in their tails, occasional grey hairs over their bodies, and invariably a white spot on their belly, this latter being recognized as a mark of distinct purity of blood. The mares died out at Lochlyoch about thirty years ago. The Lochlyoch stock having been long noted in the Upper Ward and largely drawn upon by breeders, there is no doubt that to them, or, more correctly, to the black horse of 1715, the Clydesdale horse owes its present distinctive character.* There can be no question as to the fact that * Clydesdale Stud Book, Vol. I, p. xvii. THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 269 there was an almost constant mingling of the blood of the Shire or Cart horse of England with that of the Clydesdale of Scotland, and that at the present day the differences between the two breeds are so very slight that many intelligent breeders of both England and Scot- land have urged, and continue to urge, that they should be classed as a single breed, and that but one stud book should be maintained for them. It is a well-known fact that the " English cross " can be clearly traced in the pedigrees of some of the most successful up to the time of the establishment of the Clydes- dale Stud Book (1877) of the comparatively recent prize-winners and sires of Scotland. In 1877 the Clydesdale Society of Great Britain and Ireland was formed, and the compilation of the Clydesdale Stud Book was at once begun. The .work has been vigorously followed up un- til fifteen volumes have been issued. Since the publication of this stud book was begun (1877), and also that of the Shire Horse Stud Book (1880) the lines have been more closely drawn, and crossing between the heavy horses of Eng- land and Scotland has not been regarded with favor. Hence the draft horses of the two coun- tries are gradually assuming a more distinct type, as I have endeavored to show in the typ- ical illustrations given. Further interesting information concerning 270 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. the early history of Clydesdale breeding in Scotland I quote from the introduction to Vol. II of the Clydesdale Stud Book, as follows: From the articles in a large and handsome work on our "National Breeds of Animals," published under the auspices of the Highland and Agricultural Society, with beautiful illustrations by Howe, it would appear that the Upper Ward farmers brought several animals from England which bred well. Thus in an account of Meg, which won first prize at the Highland and Agricultural Society's Show at Glasgow, in 1828, it was said that she was by a grandson of Young Britain,- by James Thompson's (of Broomfield, Glasgow) Britain, a grandson of Blaze, a horse belonging to Mr. Scott, of Brownhill, Carstairs, Lanark, which, as mentioned in the history to the Retrospective Volume, won the first prize at a show held in the Grassmarket, Edinburgh, in 1785. Blaze, which traveled in the Lothians and Berwickshire, is de- scribed as a beautiful jet black, his legs silvery white to the knees and hocks, and a broad white stripe or blaze down the face. In a letter from Mr. French, of Burnhouses, who, at the request of the editor of the volume, waited upon Mr. Scott, then eighty-nine years of age, the sire of Blaze is said to have been an English draft horse. This may possibly have been the case; but from the description given Of the heavy black horses of England of that period it is not likely to have been one of them, but more likely a Cleveland, if not one of the light-legged pack horses used in Yorkshire and other parts of England at the commencement of the present century. The dam of Young Briton is also reported to have been a Derbyshire mare. Meg, which is a brown with white markings — the same color as her dam — is a stylish, upstand- ing, lengthy mare, with an exceedingly neat head and clean legs; in fact, she is what would no wad ays almost be described by west-country dealers as "gyp." A portrait is also given in the work of a noted horse, Young Clydesdale, a stallion of considerable reputation at the time in the Lothians and Berwick. He is represented in plow harness, with collar "breeching," a costume now rarely seen on a stallion. THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 271 Like Meg, he seems to possess a thoroughbred look about the head, in which is set a very full, vigorous eye, has a shoulder well sloped, and an apparently clean fore leg, with a slight fringe. His fault on the portrait, which, it has to be re- marked, is drawn from life, is want of muscular development in the hind quarters and thighs. There is a total absence, as in the case of Meg, of superfluous hair, the pastern-joints and foot being clearly defined. In color Young Clydesdale was a jet black, with white markings. He is said to have descended from Blaze, the colors of the most successful prog- eny of which seem to have been blacks and greys — colors now not in favor, the latter being, as regards entire colts, very unfashionable. This is, no doubt, owing to the action of the Highland and Agricultural Society in restricting their competition to black-bays and brown-bays, and Mr. Frame's practice of castrating all grey colts. Probably the directors thought grey an unsuitable color at the time for horses for agricultural purposes. As the ban is now removed in competition, and as grey horses look partic- ularly stylish in street lorries, little objection can be taken to them. Gray horses, it may be remarked, are of a different original stock to either blacks or bays. Campbell Smith, in his work, being of the opinion that they are part of the original grey or white stock of the Euxine, and that they are always of higher stature than the bays, which are from Africa, the Teutonic word bayard, from which, in his opinion, the word bay is derived, signifying "a horse." It is worthy of notice that the latter word is never used to denote colors of animals other than horses. The greys are always, too, it will be observed, strong, handsome horses, and in days when the color was more fashionable among breeders were pre- ferred as cavalry chargers: hence those magnificent horses of the Scots Greys which evoked the admiration of Napoleon I at Waterloo. That the breed was distinct in descent, till mixed within tlje past 150 years or so, may be noted from the fact that you rarely, if ever, get a grey unless the sire or dam is grey, while the fact that you can get a brown from a grey or with a grey stallion shows that the strain has gradually been overpowered by the denser blood of the blacks and browns. 272 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. It has been remarked that the Clydesdale has been im- proved as regards size and strength during the past thirty or forty years, or since the period when Young Clydesdale's type was fashionable. A good deal of this is due to the ad- mixture of blood from the south, which has, however, been done at the risk of losing ancient important characteristics of activity and quality. Those breeders who have worked in this direction have generally, however, kept the Clydesdale type in view, and no doubt many of the animals brought back were crosses from the Scotch horses or mares which the south-country buyers purchased from time to time at the Scottish fairs, but the pedigrees of which unfortunately could not be traced. The breed, therefore, has not been so much improved as some writers would try to make out, and at Kilburn Show the merest tyro in horses could distinguish in their classes the Clydesdales from the more ponderous but less active draft horses of the English shires. It is well known that the Clydesdale owes its quality and other good characteristics to the pasture; sluggishness and coarse, greasy legs being the characteristics of animals reared on low-lying lands with moist pastures; while on dry hill or mixed sandy lands, the grass of which contains plenty of lime, active animals, with sound, clean legs and healthy, durable hoofs, are bred and grazed to advantage. * * * Indeed, to the rich sand-mixed lands of Kintyre, the healthy herbage which covers the thin soils of the Galloways, and the nourishing blades of grass which cover the lime-contain- ing hills of Lanarkshire, the Clydesdale of the present day greatly owes his activity and quality — characteristics which have always rendered him superior in the eyes of the for- eigner when viewed alongside his more massive market com- petitor in the south, reared on the "wershy" herbage of the fens. Modern Clydesdales are of all colors, bays, browns, and blacks predominating, although there are some greys and chestnuts, while white markings on face, feet, and legs are quite com- THE BREEDS OF HORSES, 273 mon with all the colors. They have been ex- tensively imported into the United States and Canada, and have exercised a very powerful in- fluence upon the horse stock of our country. ,No other breed of draft horses, saving the Per- cheron, has been so extensively introduced, and between these two breeds the contest for popu- lar favor has been waged upon very nearly equal terms for several years past. The ques- tion of color has always been a strong point in favor of the Clydesdales with American breed- ers as against their French rivals, the latter being usually grey, while with the former dark colors are the prevailing ones. The Clydesdale Society of America was or- ganized in 1877. The first volume of the Amer- ican Clydesdale Stud Book was issued in 1882, and six volumes of the work have been printed. Col. Chas. F. Mills of Springfield, 111., has been Secretary of the Society from its organization, and has done a valuable service to the Clydes- dale interest in America by compiling the rec- ords of the early importations and preparing for publication the volumes of the stud book that have been issued. PERCHERONS. The Percheron is an ancient French breed, originally famed for its capacity for rapid lo- comotion with a heavy load, and especially 274 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. adapted to drawing the heavy diligences or post-coaches used in France before the days of the railway and locomotive and has long been the most popular of all draft breeds with the people of France. Tradition had always attrib- uted to the Percheron — confessedly among the most active and powerful of the heavy breeds of the European continent — an Oriental origin; but it was riot until the researches re- cently made in the compilation of pedigrees for the first volume of the Percheron Stud Book of France that the extent to which the blood of the Orient had entered into the formation of the Percheron race was fully realized. What the Darley Arabian was to the English thoroughbred, and the Grey Arabian Smetanxa to the Orloff, the Grey Arabian Gallipoli ap- pears to have been to the Percheron horse of France. Diligent and persistent inquiry in the family records and traditions of the best breed- ers of La Perche has enabled the compiler of the Percheron Stud Book of France to trace definitely a large proportion of the most noted Percheron horses of modern times to this Ara- bian sire, that was imported about 1820. In fact, this Oriental blood, wherever introduced, in all nations and all climates, has been a pow- erful factor in effecting improvement in the equine race. There is every reason to believe that this THE BREEDS OF HOESES. 275 276 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. breed, like the draft breeds of England and Scotland, derived its size originally from the large Black horse breed of Flanders; but from the fact that grey has for many generations been the prevailing color it is evident that some very powerful agency has been at work, modifying the type until it has but little in common with this old parent stock except size. In Vol. I of the American Percheron Stud Book it is stated that: The little of history that can be found touching this breed definitely points to an eastern origin. Some French author- ities date its beginning as far back as 732, when France was invaded by the Saracens, 300,000 strong, under the command of the famous chief Abderame. The utter defeat and over- throw of this barbarian host by the French, under Charles Martel, on the plains between Poitiers and Tours, left the fine Arab and Barb steeds upon which many of the invaders were mounted in the hands of the victors; and these horses, crossed upon the large, strong, native mares of that region, if they did not form the starting point for the breed which, since that time, has become so famous, undoubtedly had much to do with creating the foundation upon which it was ultimately built. Another large infusion of the same Oriental blood took place upon the return of the Crusaders, who brought with them many of the finest of Arabian stallions; and these were also extensively used upon the already excellent stock of La Perche, and served to stamp upon them the form and other distinctive marks of the Arab to a still greater degree than they already possessed. The infusion of fresh Arabian and Andalusian blood was kept up for many years at irregular intervals; the Lord of Montdoubleau, Gsoffroy IV, Rotrou, Count of Mallart, Count of La Perche, Count Roger of Belles- mer, and many others of the nobility, having been distin- guished for the importations made by them and the interest THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 277 which they took in the subject of breeding horses; and as late as about 1820 we find that two famous Arabian stallions, Godolphin and Gallipoli, both grey, were imported and ex- tensively used under the direction of the government. * * * Aside from the history and traditions of the country the Percheron horse himself furnishes unmistakable evidence, in his form, disposition, color, and general characteristics, that he is closely allied to the Arab. These characteristics have been materially modified, it is true, and the size has been greatly increased; but, in the hands of the excellent horsemen of La Perche, and under the careful and fostering supervision of the government, which exercised a direct con- trol over the selection of sires, he seems to have retained many of the excellent qualities of his Oriental ancestry; and this, added to the greatly increased size which had been at- tained, made the horses of La Perche many years ago the wonder of the world for their specialty of rapid draft — their ability to move a heavy load at a rapid gait. It was this acknowledged superiority of the Percheron horse in the diligences, post-coaches, and omnibuses of France that first caused the attention of the outside world to be directed to them. It was not simply as draft or cart horses that they were distinguished; on the contrary, had they possessed no excellence beyond this they would scarcely have attracted any attention; for other countries possessed horses that, for the purposes of heavy draft alone, were cer- tainly their equals, if not their superiors; but it was in that happy combination of size and form which gave them activ- ity, quickness of motion, strength, and endurance that they were found to excel the horses of all other countries. * * * But, with the introduction of railroads, the use of the post- coach and diligence was practically abandoned; and as this was the speciality for which the Percherons we have de- scribed had been bred, so, with the new order of things, came a demand for horses of larger type (greater weight, a heavier bone, and more substance were required), and since that time the improvement of the Percheron in this direc- tion has especially engrossed the attention of the French breeder. * * * 278 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. As the immense draft horses of the North (Flemish) were closely allied to, if not identical with, the large breed that prevailed in Normandy and La Perche prior to the modifica- tions produced by the introduction of the blood of the Ara- bian and the Barb, heretofore alluded to, it was very natural that, when the Percheron breeders found it desirable to in- crease the size of their horses, their eyes should be turned toward this kindred race, from which other countries had already drawn so heavily for the same purpose. Accordingly we find that mares in large numbers were taken from these northern departments, and from Belgium, under the various names of Belgians, Boulonnais, mares of Picardy, etc., and were bred to the stallions of La Perche. Stallions from the same countries were also extensively introduced, under vari- ous names, and of slightly differing types; but, notwith- standing the multiplicity of names arising from the different departments in which they had been bred, and the slight variation in form that existed, they were, after all, nothing more nor less than the Flanders draft horse— the same blood that had already exercised so potent an influence upon the horse stock of Great Britain. The new infusion of this ancient kindred blood has been so general throughout the entire district which was once the home of the Percheron horse, that it is now difficult to find a pure Percheron as they were bred in that region fifty years ago. The old type that once made these horses so famous has been sacrificed to the demands of commerce for greater size, and for many years past it has been the chief aim of the Percheron breeder to produce a horse that should comply with this demand, without sacrificing the activity, hardiness and docility for which the ancient Percheron race was famed. Subject to the change above alluded to, the Percheron is extensively bred in the departments of Eure, Orne, Eure et Loir, Loir et Cher, and Sarthe; and they have also found their way further north and toward the sea coast in the departments of Seine-Inferieure and Calvados, embracing almost the entire ancient province of Normandy; but no- where are they found so purely bred, and so nearly allied to THE BREEDS OF HOESES. 279 the original Percheron type, as in the five departments first above mentioned — their original home. In that part of Normandy lying along the coast, especially north of the Seine River, the Flemish element seems to have made its in- fluence more strongly felt, and there the horses possess more of the Flemish and less of the Percheron characteristics than those bred farther south, in the heart of La Perche, which will account for the diversity in the character of the horses brought to this country by our importers. Those who have purchased near the coast, or north of the river Seine, have usually obtained horses that leaned strongly toward the Flemish type. They are larger, coarser and more slug- gish, with less energy, endurance and action, than those bred in Eure et Loir and the adjacent departments. They are better adapted to heavy draft purposes than their lighter, but more hardy, active and stylish relations of the interior, frequently weighing from 1,700 to 2,000 Ibs. in high flesh, and producing larger horses when crossed upon our common stock. In the report which I made to the Depart- ment of Agriculture, in 1883, of my observations on the live stock of Europe, I spoke of the Percheron as follows: I went first to the sales stables of Paris, fortified with what knowledge I had been able previously to obtain upon the subject, beginning with that of M. Vidal, a noted horse- dealer of Paris, who has undoubtedly sold more stallions to American importers than all the other horse-dealers of Paris combined. In reply to my question he said: "Fully ninety per cent of the horses that I buy to sell to Americans, for stallions, come from beyond Chartres, in the Perche; the others are picked up here and there, wherever wo can find one good enough for the market; but we sell them all as Percherons." The other dealers all told substantially the same story. After spending a few days in Paris, talking with horsemen and gathering what information I could, I determined to see the Percheron breeding district for my- 280 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. self. All authorities agreed in pointing- out Nogent-le- Rotrou, situated about one hundred miles southwest from Paris, in the ancient Province of La Perche, as the heart of the Percheron breeding- country. * * * On the day of my arrival at Nogent-le-Rotrou a large number of Percheron breeders had met to consult upon the propriety of establish- ing a Percheron Stud Book, in order to preserve the purity of the race and to protect themselves from unscrupulous dealers in Paris and elsewhere. I was much interested in the discussion which took place. The gentlemen present represented the principal breeders for some twenty or thirty miles around, and I was told that they owned at least one hundred stallions that had been kept for service this season. I questioned many of them. Among others, the statement of Mr. Ernest Perriot, one of the most noted of the breeders present, is a fair sample of what all had to say. He is a very intelligent gentleman, and has sold many horses to Amer- ican buyers. I should judge him to be about fifty years of age. His statement was in substance as follows: "I have been breeding horses right here all my life, and my father and grandfather were in the same business before me. We never breed or sell any other than pure Percherons. We have usually kept six or seven stallions each year for service. They travel around the country, serving mares owned by the farmers at about twenty-five francs each. We keep an eye on these mares, know where the best ones are, and when the foals are weaned we buy many of the best ones each year and keep them until we can sell them at a fair profit. I am sure there has been nothing but recognized pure Peicheron stallions used in our stud since the time of my grandfather, and nothing else has been used in this whole Percheron region within my knowledge. There is a tradition that about the time my grandfather engaged in the business some Boulonnais blood was introduced into this country for the purpose of increasing the size of the Percheron s, but cer- tainly there has been none since about fifty years ago. The true Percherons will now average as large or larger than the Boulonnais. Neither Mr. Dunham, Mr. Dillon, nor any other American importer, has ever bought any Norman THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 281 horses here. We don't have any such horses. You can see plenty of Normans in Paris; they are small horses, mostly bays, and are used in the cabs and carriages. They are generally half-bloods, got by English thoroughbred sires, and some of them are out of Percheron dams, and they are usually called Anglo-Normans." The same statements, substantially, in regard to purity of race and the name, were obtained from all the breeders in- terviewed, notably Auguste Tacheau (Province of Sarthe), Pierre Sagot (Province of Eure et Loir) and Celestin Caget (Province of Orne). In fact, so far as I could learn, it was almost an insult to ask one of the breeders present if he bred or sold any other than Percheron horses, and they spurned the term "Norman" with contempt. * * * It was an agreeable surprise to me to learn that so much pains has been taken by these Percheron breeders to preserve the purity of the race. I had often heard it asserted, even by some importers, that nobody knew anything about it; that the Percherons were mongrels, and that no man in France could give the pedigree of his horse. I found, on the con- trary, that, while they have not paid much attention to pre- serving the maternal genealogy, many of the sires can easily be traced six or eight generations. Many draft horses have been imported from France to the United States, and most of them have been of the Percheron breed; but owing to the fact that nearly all of our early import- ers were ignorant of the French language very few of them were able to obtain much infor- mation concerning the French breeds or the methods of breeding prevailing in that country; and they were largely at the mercy of the horse dealers of Paris, Havre, Rouen, Dieppe and other cities. Consequently very indefinite, and, in many cases, positively erroneous ideas were 282 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. entertained by them, and great confusion re- sulted. Some importers brought what they called Percherons, others brought Normans, some brought Percheron-Normans, and still others brought Norman-Percherons, but there were very few who claim to have imported Boulonnais, although many of the latter were brought over by the earlier importers. This confusion and lack of information resulted finally in much angry controversy, incited chiefly by rivalries among interested parties. The first importations of draft horses from France that attracted anything like general at- tention in this country were those brought to Union and Pickaway counties, Ohio, in 1851, and these were, by their importers, simply called French horses. Another importation to the same region followed in 1856, and yet an- other in 1857; and they were also known only as French horses. In 1865 J. H. Klippart, sec- retary of the Ohio Board of Agriculture, went to Europe, and these horses having become very popular in his State, he made their origin and history an especial object of study while in France. On his return he submitted a report to the Ohio State Board, in which he gave an exhaustive account of the horses of France, and stated that our so-called French horses were Percherons. In 1853 Col. Charles Carroll, of Baltimore, Md., imported from France a stal- THE BREEDS OF HOR3E§T^ 283 lion which he called a Percheron. In 1866 Mr. S. W. Ficklin, of Charlottesville, Ya., made an importation of these horses, and he also brought with him the use of the name Percheron. The Hon. William T. Walters, of Baltimore, Md., spent several years during and just after the close of our late war, in France, and while there he became so enamored of the Perche- rons that, returning in 1868, he brought with him quite a number of horses, which he called Percherons in this country. He also caused to be translated and published an interesting work entitled the "Percheron Horse," written by Du Huys, Master of the Horse to Louis Na- poleon. This book, together with the writings of Mr. Kiippart and Mr. Walters, and the usage of the importers before named, served to fix the appellation of Percheron quite firmly upon these horses throughout the middle and east- ern States, so far as they were known. Twelve years prior to the first Ohio importation men- tioned above Mr. Edward Harris had imported four horses from France which he called Nor- mans. These horses were considerably smaller than the Percheron importations of a later date, and, although they were extensively no- ticed in the newspapers of that day, they failed to attract public attention to any considerable degree. In the autumn of 1854 Louis Napoleon, one £84 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. of the two French horses imported to Ohio in 1851, was taken to Illinois, and in 1858 was sold to E. Dillon & Co. of Normal. This horse soon attained great notoriety, the Messrs. Dillon showing him and his get at many State and County fairs as Norman horses; and this name soon became quite generally applied to them in Illinois and the adjoining States. From 1868 down to the present time the importations of these horses have been very numerous, and im- porters and breeders have used various names by which to designate them; some calling them Percherons, some Normans, and others combin- ing the two names, some placing the Percheron first and others beginning with the Norman. But a better understanding of the subject has resulted in ending these controversies; it hav- ing become generally understood in this coun- try that France, like Great Britain, has several more or less distinct breeds of draft horses, to each of which a separate and distinctive name is attached, and each having a separate local- ity in France wherein it was mainly bred, as is the case with the various breeds of England and Scotland. The organization of the Societe Hippique Percheronne of France in July, 1883, and the consequent publication of a stud book in that country for the Percheron breed, has done much to enlighten the people of this country upon the subject, and still further THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 285 light was shed arid the situation rendered more intelligible to those who really cared to know the facts, by the publication, at about the same period, of a stud book for the Boulonnais breed. The organization of the Percheron Society of France and the publication of a stud book for the breed in that country has already done much toward preserving its purity; and if it shall continue to be honestly and carefully managed, as I have every reason to think it has been up to this time, it will afford a guarantee as to purity of lineage which was sadly lacking in the early days of the introduction of the breed into this country. Most of the horses bought by the early American importers from dealers in the large cities of France have doubt- less possessed a good share of Percheron blood, but there was then no means of ascertaining the facts. Our importers had to rely solely upon their own eyes and the integrity of French horse-dealers; and the dealers of Paris, Rouen, Dieppe, and Havre were no more reliable and scrupulous than the average horse-dealer in other parts of the world. Those who went direct to the district which was once known as La Perche, now comprised in the Departments of Eure et Loir, Loir et Cher, and Sarthe, where Percheron horses have for generations been bred in their purity, and where the fame of the Percheron race is still guarded as a priceless 286 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. treasure, have doubtless usually obtained Per- cheron horses. But the Societe Hippique Per- cheronne and the other stud-book organizations of France now furnish a directory of blood which few honest importers will care to ignore, and the result cannot fail to add to the popularity of the Percheron breed in both France and America. It will not be out of place in this connection to mention the fact that the American Perche- ron Stud Book, of which four volumes have now been issued, was the first stud book for any breed of draft horses ever published in the world, the society under the auspices of which it is published having been organized in Febru- ary, 1876, and the first volume of its stud book appearing in September of the same year. The present Secretary of the American Percheron Association and editor of its stud book is S. D. Thompson of 722 W. Monroe street, Chicago. BOULONNAIS. This is another French draft breed, and next to the Percheron, which it closely resembles in many features, is the most highly esteemed and most generally disseminated of the draft breeds in that country. Its home is in the region of Boulogne-sur-Mer in the department of Pas de Calais, in the localities known as High Boulon- nais, Low Boulonnais, and Calaisis, but it is THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 287 also found in the districts of Bethune and St. Omer, and somewhat through the departments of Oise, Aisne, Eure et Loir and Seine Inferie- ure. For more than a century its existence as a distinct breed has been recognized, and its char- acteristic features well defined. It differs from the, to us better known, Percheron, in that it is more thoroughly and exclusively a horse for heavy draft — especially fitted for a heavy load at a slow pace. They have heavier quarters, shorter heads, thicker necks, with shorter, bushier mane than the Percheron, but with correspondingly lighter bodies. The prevailing colors are grey, bay and roan, the grey perhaps preponderating. A very considerable number of horses of this breed have been imported into the United States under some of the many aliases mentioned in connection with the Per- cheron breed on the preceding pages, but more latterly perhaps simply as French draft horses. But as they now have a distinct sfcud book of their own in France there is no necessity for further confusion, and certainly the breed has enough of merit in and of itself to render any attempt at concealment of its identity posi- tively foolish. OTHER FRENCH DRAFT BREEDS. The other well-defined and generally recog- nized French draft breeds are the Breton breed, 288 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. smaller than the Percheron, and bred chiefly in the department of Cotes du Nord and around Le Conquet. The most thoroughly character- istic representatives of the breed, it is said, are to be found in the canton of Leon. They are usually grey, but bays and roans are sometimes found. The Ardennais breed is also a small draft breed found in the districts of Rethel and Vauquiers, in the department of Ardennais. The Poitevin breed bears a close resemblance to the Boulonnais, except that they are usually bay in color. They are very heavy boned and the mares of this breed are highly prized for raising mules. There is a stud book published in the United States called the French Draft Stud Book- formerly called the Norman Stud Book — of which six volumes, under the two names, have been issued. C. E. Stubbs of Fairfield, la., ie Secretary of the Society having this publica- tion in charge. In this stud book horses of any of the" French draft breeds, or crosses between them, may be registered. THE SUFFOLK PUNCH. The Suffolk Punch of England is especially classed as an agricultural horse in that country, and is bred chiefly in the county from which it takes its name. They are uniformly of a chestnut or sorrel color, not so large as the Shire THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 289 290 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. horses or Clydesdales, but compactly built, round-bodied, long-backed, short-legged horses, rather light-boned for their weight, and with the general reputation of being rather defective in the feet, but in this respect greatly improved of late years. This is perhaps the best-established of all the heavy breeds of Great Britain, but they are not so universally popular even there as the Clydesdale and Shire horses. It is possi- ble that the fact that other countries, especially our own, have not appeared to demand horses of this type has had something to do with their lack of popularity in their own country. Very few of them have been brought to the United States, and such as have been imported appear to have attracted but little attention. A stud book has been instituted for this breed, and several volumes have been published within the past ten years. OTHER BREEDS. There are several other breeds of horses that should be noticed in detail if it had been my purpose to include in this chapter a complete description of all the known breeds in the world. Among them I may mention chiefly: The Belgian Draft breed, very heavy bodied, thick-set, short-quartered, short-legged, com- pact draft horses of various colors, with a good deal of spirit but rather sluggish in action. THE BREEDS OF HORSES. 291 Although several of them have been brought into the United States — chiefly into Illinois and Indiana — they do not appear to have grown much in popular favor in competition with the British and French draft breeds. German or Oldenburg Coach horses have also been introduced to some extent within the past four or five years. They possess many features in common with the French and English Coach breeds, and like them are largely made up of crosses from the Thoroughbred, which they re- semble to a greater or less degree in proportion as the blood of the Thoroughbred has entered into their ancestry. Shetland Ponies, too well known to need any description in a work of this nature, take their name from the Shetland Islands, where they originated, doubtless through the effect of the bleak climate and scanty subsistence to which the original specimens of the race have been for ages subjected upon these islands. They are also bred in considerable numbers in the North of Scotland. There are other comparatively di- minutive races, as the Welsh or Exmoor ponies, the Norwegian ponies, and others of Europe and Asia, as mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, but a more specific description of each and all of them would be more interesting to the student of natural history than to the practical American breeder. 292 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. The Mustangs, or wild horses, that were found upon the plains of Texas and New Mexico, and elsewhere on our own continent, are a tough, hardy, and usually ill-tempered race of small horses, remarkably agile and sure-footed, and have descended from the original Spanish stock brought to Mexico by the Spaniards in their early efforts at the conquest of that country. The Indian ponies, formerly so common in our Western Territories, have undoubtedly the same origin, and many of them, especially those that have been bred in the higher lati- tudes, approximate very closely the form and size of the Shetland pony. The hardiness and powers of endurance of many of these horses are simply marvelous; but these valuable qual- ities are largely neutralized by ill-temper and lack of size. Thoroughbred sires, as well as stal- lions of the various draft breeds, have been used upon these Mustang mares with excellent re- sults in most cases. When tamed and broken they are especially adapted for use in herding cattle upon the great ranches of our Western plains, and for this purpose the genuine Mus- tang is the chief reliance of the herdsman. DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 293 CHAPTER IV. DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. PART I. The following extracts from articles prepared at my request, by Prof. James Law, of Cornell University, for publication, at various times, under my direction, treat especially of matters to which this chapter is devoted and will, I am sure, be found highly interesting and valuable to my readers: HYGIENE OF THE EYE.* "As ye sow so shall ye reap," is as true of the propagation of animals as of the propagation of grain or weeds. In the case of sightless or partially blind horses it is especially true. In whatever country or district we find blind mares and stallions used for breeding, there we find a large pro- portion of even the young horses with faulty eyes. In what- ever country, on the other hand, we find all horses with impaired eyesight rejected for breeding purposes, there we find the number of blind horses steadily decreasing. This depends not alone on the fact that "like produces like," but upon this additional one, that the greater part of the blind- ness in horses depends on a specific disease which is as surely hereditary as gout or rheumatism. This is the too familiar "moon blindness," or recurring inflammation of the eyes. Formerly this was very prevalent in England, but the sys- * The Breeder's Gazette, Vol. I, p. 508. 294 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. tematic rejection of the disaased animals as breeders has greatly reduced the number of blind horses in later years. In America there is still a very wide margin for improve- ment. The blind stallion and the blind mare should be alike discarded, and it is well to avoid the progeny of horses that have suffered from this recurring1 ophthalmia, even though their own eyes may still be apparently sound. Among the indications that an animal has suffered from the disease are the following; A slight bluish opacity around the margin of the transparent cornea; a sunken appearance of the eye, which seems smaller than natural; the existence of an angular interruption in the regular curve of the upper eyelid about one-third from its inner end; and a tendency to shy from imperfect sight. If in ad- dition to this there is a loss of the clear luster of the iris (around the pupil), and an undue feeling of tension and re- sistance when the eyeball is pressed through the lid, or if there is a cataract, the evidence becomes the more conclu- sive. A cataract is recognized by a whitish opaque spot be- hind the pupil. It is best seen when the horse is led toward the stable door, so that the light may fall on the eyes from above an.d in front, while the interior of the stable forms a dark background. In bad cases the entire pupil is filled up by the opaque spot and the horse becomes blind on that side. An animal showing such features, or one which suffers at in- tervals from swelling or watering of the eyes, should never "tie used for breeding. Nearsightedness is another quality which is derived from parents, and which is especially dangerous, by causing the horse to shy. It is further manifested in most cases by a peculiar bulging appearance of the eye, by reason of an extra convexity of the cornea. The foals of horses that have suffered from moon-blind- ness are not all equally subject to its attacks. Much of the difference depends on the varying activity of the disease in the parent at the time of conception or during the period of pregnancy. A case strongly illustrative of this may be noted: A mare not predisposed to recurring ophthalmia, had a burdock entangled in the forelock so as to be directly DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 295 upon the eye, which was thus kept inflamed and running for a length of time during the course of pregnancy. The pro- geny— a filly — had the eye on the same side defective and represented by a small, opaque black mass. The dam recov- ered and afterward bore colts with sound eyes, as did also the one-eyed filly in due course of time. This but expresses a general law — that the disorder which is active and causes suffering at the time of reproduction is most likely to tell injuriously on the progeny. When, therefore, all the pro- geny inherit a constitutional predisposition to moon-blind- ness those which are begotten or born during a period of active disease and suffering on the part of one or both parents are most likely to become psrmanently blind. Another dom- inating cause of moon-blindness is the occurring in the pre- disposed animal of debility or weakness from any influence. It may be safely assumed that whatever undermines the gen- eral health or lowers the hardy vigor of such predisposed animals tends to bring on the disease. Thus coarse, fibrous, or innutritious fodder often acts in this way. An exciting, over-stimulating diet acts in the same way. An animal that keeps sound on a diet of oats or barley may fall a victim if fed on Indian corn. Overwork or the combination of hard work and a diet insufficient to repair the excessive waste is equally injurious. Debilitating diseases of all kinds are equally liable to superinduce the malady. An attack of influenza, a chronic indigestion, or the presence of worms in the stomach or bowels, may be the immediate cause of moon- blindness, one without which the hereditary tendency might have remained latent. Some causes, however, deserve more special attention because of their general operation or more wide-reaching effects. It is notorious that certain countries and districts suffer more from recurring ophthalmia than others. In a general way it is the more moist and relaxing that furnish the most victims. The West of England and the whole of Ireland furnish more subjects of ophthalmia than does the dry east- ern coast of Great Britain. The damp, marshy and cloudy region to the north of the Pyrenees suffers badly, while in the dry, clear atmosphere of Catalonia, to the south of these 296 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. mountains, the disease is almost unknown. So notorious is this that dealers are in the habit of buying in Southern France, at a low price, horses that have had but one attack of ophthalmia and of transporting them to Catalonia where, as a rule, they escape any further seizure. The effect of a damp, sunless, relaxing climate, however, is productive of a heavy, lymphatic stamp of horse, which is always more predisposed to affections of this kind than the horses of fine fiber and nervous temperament. In this re- spect the North American continent should be more favor- able to the horse than the moister climate of England, being an approximation toward the climate of Syria and North Africa, the cradle of all that is excellent in horse flesh; yet even in the United States a low, marshy, damp, and cloudy region is to be avoided when it is wanted to develop the highest speed or the greatest- vigor and endurance. Places and climates that prove most favorable for the raising of meat-producing animals are most likely to deteriorate the horse by developing a loose, open texture of bone, a bulky but soft, flabby muscle, and an undue tendency to sluggish- ness and fattening. The lymphatic temperament thus indi- cated is that which especially predisposes to ophthalmia, and if such young animals are retained in such a climate they are particularly liable to suffer. Close stables are hurtful in various ways. The relaxing effect of the stable upon the young horse is always marked; but this is especially so when, as in dealers' stables, the air is kept extra hot to produce a fine coat. The damp rising from the lungs and skin of the animals and from the dung and urine is especially injurious because of its relaxing effects, but still more so because of the active decomposition which it maintains in the organic matter floating in the air or lodged on the walls, floors and woodwork. The effect of this is seen in the great predominance of diseases of the air passages in young horses that have been recently stabled; and upon animals predisposed to ophthalmia the same dis- turbing influence tends similarly to the development of that affection. Apart from the debility and fever which this change brings about it will be observed that the air of the DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 297 stable repeats on a small scale the damp, hot, cloudy, relax- ing climate which we have seen to be the most favorable to the development of the disease we are dealing with. For breeding and growing horses, therefore, it is all-im- portant to secure dry, airy, roomy stables and to keep these clean and sweet. A naturally porous or well-drained soil, a sunny exposure and a sufficiency of ventilating orifices above and below, so disposed as not to create cold draughts, are points of especial value. Stables should be so constructed as to avoid darkness on the one hand and a full glare of sunshine striking the eyes on the other. Darkness is usually associated with unclean- liness, damp and close air; but apart from these it is inju- rious in hindering the proper development of red blood glob- ules which are so essential to sound and vigorous health. It further tends to weaken the eyes and to expose them to suffering and inflammation when suddenly taken out into the full glare of sunshine. When the sunlight is reflected from snow, from white walls, or from the white dust of a limestone soil it becomes increasingly injurious. It is well to have a stable well lighted but the sunlight should be made to enter behind or to one side, and not to fall directly on the eyes of the animal. How common an occurrence is the presence of hay seed or chaff in the eyes of animals. Nothing can conduce more to the development of a latent predisposition to ophthalmia. The sensibility of the eye is adapted to its situation which is protected by the margins of the orbit against solid objects of large size while it is especially liable to be invaded by fine particles of sand, dust, etc. A smooth marble or finger may be made to touch the eyeball without great suffering, while a grain of sand or ashes produces exquisite torture. To avoid these smaller and more hurtful bodies hay racks should be made no higher than the ordinary manger and if filled from above it should be through a closely-boarded chute so that neither seed nor dust may readily drop into the eyes. The above remarks are equally applicable to the dust of the highway in summer. With breeding animals especially it is dangerous to drive in the cloud of dust raised by a lead- 298 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDtNG. ing wag-on, but how much more so if the horse is hereditarily predisposed to ophthalmia. In the same way we should guard the horse against the cinders flying into open railway cars, from the dust of a threshing machine blowing upon the horses engaged in driving it, the dust of a harrow driven in the same direction as the wind, the smoke of burning rub- bish, etc. In addition to the bad. effects of insufficient, faulty, or too stimulating food, already referred to, it is well to note that the consumption of too much sugar is liable to induce disease of the eye. This is especially likely to result from a too ex- clusive diet of sorghum, or from the large admixture of mo- lasses with the food. It may, indeed, be questioned whether the notoriously evil effects of a diet of Indian corn on the eyes is not partly due to the abundance of starch in its com- position and to the conversion of that starch into sugar in the system. THE EYE AS AFFECTED BY THE TEETH.* The process of teething is calculated to rouse into activity a latent predisposition to disease of the eye in horses. The rapid progress of teething in the horse and the completion of the process at an early age determines much vascular and nervous excitement about the head, and the weakest point in many cases being the eyes these are too often the parts to suffer. To illustrate the influence of teething it need only be said that at three years old the horse acquires eight new grinding teeth and four front ones. A year later he acquires eight additional grinders, four front teeth and four tushes. It is small wonder that at these ages the gums and soft pad of the upper jaw swell; that the horse refuses his food, or eats with little appetite; that he drops morsels half chewed, and that he appears at times sluggish, dull and feverish. Nor is it surprising that at this age the progeny of horses that have suffered from recurring ophthalmia themselves show symptoms of the same disease. It is this tendency to diseases of the eyes during the eruption of the permanent * The Breeder's Gazette, Vol. I, p. 536. DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 299 teeth which has drawn horsemen's attention to the wolf teeth as the supposed cause of the evil. The wolf teeth, however, come up with the first set of molars, and are therefore in the mouth during the whole of early life and until the adjacent teeth — the front upper grinders -are shed. Whenever, therefore, a young horse suffers from diseased eyes the owner or attendant opens the mouth and finding wolf teeth con- cludes that these are the cause of the trouble. The wolf tooth is imbedded not more than half an inch in its socket, while the adjacent grinders, and even the front nippers, ex- tend into the bone for about two inches. These other teeth are, therefore, far more likely to produce irritation than are the wolf teeth, and, as a matter of fact, the congestion of the palate, familiarly known as lampas, occurs close behind the front teeth and not near the wolf teeth. In the shedding of the back grinders, too, it is not at all uncommon to have so much irritation caused that it extends to the throat and causes sore throat and cough. But around the insignificant wolf teeth it is rare to find any irritation at all, and that only when they deviate from their true direction. The temporary recovery from sore eyes after the extraction of the wolf teeth is just what would have happened had the teeth been left in place, and proves only that the disease ap- pears and disappears alternately. The excitement attendant on teething is natural, yet it is well to check this when it threatens to become severe or to rouse sympathetic inflammation of the eyes. If costiveness appears during the process the substitution for a portion of the diet of soft mashes of wheat-bran, of fresh, succulent grass, of roots, apples, or silage will prove beneficial. If these are not available or are ineffective one or two ounces of Glauber's salts may be given daily in the feed. If the old teeth do not fall early and spontaneously, but remain en- tangled on the crowns of the new ones after the latter have cut the gums, they should be removed; if the gums become red, swollen and tender, a slight scarifying of the surface so as to let a little blood will usually relieve; and if new te^th, and especially the tushes, produce tension and pain by their pressure before cutting the gums, their eruption should be 300 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. assisted by a deep incision with the lancet down to the hard tooth substance. UMBILICAL HERNIA IN YOUNG FOALS.* This condition is usually . very easy to recognize. A pouched or pyriform swelling appears in the median line of the abdomen, immediately below the navel, which on manipu- lation is felt to contain movable contents which glide readily on each other and. can be easily returned into the abdominal cavity by pressure. Then in the center of the navel can be felt an opening of variable size, which may admit one, two, or four fingers. On relaxing the pressure the sack fills up again more or less promptly and fully. When manipulating their contents, and during their return, there will usually be felt, and even heard, some gurgling from the admixture of liquids and gases in the contained intestine. It is needless to mention here more than one mode of treatment that should serve every purpose in the very young, in which the tissues of the navel are still embryonic cells, and the opening, therefore, easily closed. Procure a piece of sole leather from four to six inches square to apply upon the navel after the mass of the intestines has been passed back into the belly. To each corner of the leather pad attach an elastic band and bring the same upward around the body, tying them over the spine. Pass a band around the lower part of the neck to act as a collar. From the lower part of this collar carry an elastic band bstween the four legs and attach it to the anterior border of the leather pad. From the same collar, on each side of the shoulder, carry an elastic band back on the side of the chest and tie it successively to the two elastic bands which encircle the body. The essential point is that all of the bands should be elastic, so that they yield and accommodate themselves to the movements of the abdomen in breathing and of the body in all its varied mo- tion. If a similar bandage is applied with inelastic bands drawn tight enough to keep the pad in contact with the um- bilicus in all the breathing movements it is liable to cause *The Breeder's Gazette, Vol. 1, p. 231. DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK, 301 severe and even fatal straining. As an accessory to the pad and elastic bands may be applied on the umbilicus a liberal amount of melted pitch, or pitch and wax, which will bind the band and skin and still further secure against any descent of the hernia. If by these means the bowels can be pre- vented from descending through the opening the walls of that opening will speedily contract and become fibrous and the possibility of future protrusion will be obviated. In cases of longer standing — in colts, for example, of sev- eral months old — the embryonic cellular tissue around the navel has already been developed into fibrous material, so that the contraction and closure is not so speedy, and in such cases it may be desirable, when the hernia is small, to leave it to nature — at least until the colt is one or two years old. In such cases a spontaneous cure often ensues; but the open- ing is rarely so completely effaced, nor so strongly closed, os when effected by bandage immediately after birth. The explanation of the spontaneous recovery is this: The lower part of the abdomen in the adult horse is occupied by the large intestines to the utter exclusion of the small. In the young foal these are scarcely larger than the small in- testines and easily protrude through any natural or artificial orifice. As the foal grows, however, and subsists more and more on coarse and solid food, the large intestines gain in size, and in mature life they vary from four to twelve inches in diameter at different points. The blind gut, which is one of the largest, lies obliquely across above the navel, and by its great bulk forms an internal pad, which most effectually shuts off the small intestines from this region. "SCOURS" OB DIARRHCEA IN COLTS. In all young animals there is a certain amount of secre- tions from the liver, pancreas, stomach and bowels prior to birth, and when the new being comes into the world these products are accumulated in the form of firm, tenacious masses, in the last gut. At first the bowels are torpid, and the stiff, tenacious contents, or meconium, obstructs all prog- ress. The natural laxative, which nature has furnished to clear away this product, is the milk first secreted, and when 302 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. abundant this usually serves every purpose. But from various causes this milk may be deficient in amount or al- tered in quality and may fail to produce free evacuation of the bowels. Then follow costiveness, impaction of the bowels with the waste products of the digestion of milk, decomposi- tion of these products, impairment or alteration of the secre- tions of the whole digestive apparatus, and, finally, irrita- tion, excessive watery secretion, unnaturally active move- ments of the bowels, perhaps even inflammation, and, of course, scouring. For this condition, which is a very com- mon one, the preventive is to watch the foal closely for the first twenty-four hours, and if the bowels are not freely moved to give a dose of three ounces of castor or olive oil with a teaspoonful of laudanum. In the young the liver is relatively far larger and more active than in the adult. As might be expected, it is at the same time more liable to disorder. In many cases of indi- gestion in young foals the extreme fcetor of the discharges, the coated appearance of the tongue, and the yellowness of the membranes of the eyes and nose, testify to the existence of this derangement. In such cases after the operation of the oil much good may often be derived from one grain of calomel and twelve grains of chalk intimately mixed and re- peated two or three times a day. Anything that affects the general health of the mare is liable to modify the milk. When mares are used in harness during lactation it occasionally happens that a fretful ani- mal becomes so fevered that the quality of the milk is ma- terially altered, and the foal, coming to her hungry, gorges itself with what acts like a veritable poison, inducing indi- gestion, with skin eruptions or diarrhoea. So it is with other unhealthy conditions of the mother. In all febrile, wasting, or disordered states, the milk is more or less al- tered, and every such alteration is a threat to the sound di- gestion of the foal and may prove a proximate cause of scour- ing. With some it is a common practice after the mare has been excited by work to keep the foal apart until all the milk found in the bag has been drawn off, since they justly conclude that what is secreted later, when the period of ex- DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 303 citement is past, will prove more wholesome. In the same manner we ought to correct, as far as possible, any alteration of health on the part of the dam. We know that the relative amount of water and solids in the milk is greatly affected by the nature of the food. A suckling animal in good health has a richer and more con- centrated milk when fed on dry hay, and especially with a liberal supply of grain. Now the very richness of this milk may unduly stimulate the digestive organs of the young ani- mal, and any such undue stimulation borders on disease. A slight congestion of the stomach or a temporary suspension of its secretions may lead to the formation of larger masses of curd, which are difficult to dissolve and lie but as permanent irritants in the abused organ. Although the best course is to prevent the formation of these, it is often needful to treat them, and perhaps nothing will serve our purpose better than a dose of castor oil, as above advised, to be repeated in three days; and in the interval two table-spoonfuls of a solution of rennet in wine, repeated morning, noon and night of each day. To prevent recurrence of the indigestion the rennet may be continued for some time, and the mare should be al- lowed an abundance of water, not too cold, and one or two soft mashes daily. The rennet solution may be prepared by taking one-eighth of the fourth stomach of a calf and steeping in a pint of wine. Water may be substituted for wine if a sufficient amount of- salt or a few drops of carbolic acid are added to prevent putrefactive change. For the suckling mare grass is unquestionably the natural food. Left to nature she brings forth her young at the period when pastures are luxuriant, and on this diet her milk is abundant and good, but not too rich nor concentrated; and yet even green food is not always most conducive to the health of mare and foal. Occasionally in early spring the fresh grass is so rank and its growth so rapid that it contains an excess of water; and even its constituent organic elements appear to differ from those of a less rapid growth, and the result is acute indigestion and violent diarrhoea. This, which shows itself primarily in the mare, may be propagated in the foal as well by the morbid products secreted in the 304: A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. milk. Nothing is more certain than that very many chemi- cal agents introduced into the system of the mother pass out largely by the milk. It is an old practice to give a dose of salts or other purgative to the mother, with the view of act- ing on the bowels of the offspring. Poisons, too, taken into the system of the mother, will often pass out in the milk and affect the more susceptible off spring, rather than the less im- pressible nurse. Hence it is that green food that has boen grown under unusual conditions, fodder that has been spoiled in harvesting, impure waters with an excess of decomposing organic matter, and mineral waters containing laxative salts, may appear to act even more severely on the sucking animal than on its dam through which these were derived. The notice of these things is, perhaps, sufficiently suggestive to lead to their correction when they are found to exist. It need only be stated that green food which is actively irri- tant when used alone will often prove harmless when em- ployed in connection with grain or other dry food; but occa- sionally this will fail, and each case must be judged by its own results. Confinement in close buildings is inimical to mare and foal alike. In both it induces a relaxed, weakened condition, which lays the system open to health-disturbing causes. The effect on the mare impairs the quality of the milk, and this in its turn reacts on the foal, which, thus placed between two fires, is doubly liable to suffer. But close confinement is too often associated with impure air and filthy surround- ings, and nothing can well be more hurtful to health than this unhygienic combination. After foaling, as before, mares should have the means of taking free exercise, and if in early spring they can not do this in the pasture each ought to have the run of a yard connected with a dry, comfortable shed, where she and her foal mp,y use and develop their locomotive organs and strengthen their constitutions. Perhaps nothing is more hurtful to the young than a cold, damp bed. Suddenly transferred from a warm medium to the cold of early spring, it is of no small importance that the young animal should be protected against the excess of cold which comes of damp and evaporation, or even freezing. DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 305 The sympathy between the skin and the bowels is of the most intimate kind, and in earliest youth, when the suscep- tibility of the bowels is so great, the chilling of the surface often leads to disastrous congestions of the bowels and fatal scouring. Similar to the above is exposure to cold rain storms. A passing shower may do no harm, even if cold; but a pro- longed exposure to rain, with a low temperature, is terribly trying to the system of the new-born foal, and often lead? to disorders of the digestive organs, with persistent and fatal diarrhoea. Only two more conditions may be referred to, and both are connected with -a more advanced period of colthood than are those already mentioned. When the foal begins to feed he may suffer from all those conditions of the food that prove noxious through the milk of the mother. A feed, for exam- ple, of a too stimulating grain, or of a too rank and aqueous grass, of fodder that has been badly harvested and rendered musty or bleached and fibrous, of grain or hay that has been altered by ergot or smut, and of roots and tubers that have been frosted or diseased — these and others may at times give rise to irritation in the as yet comparatively inhabituated stomach, and scouring is a not distant consequence. The second evil result of faulty food and water is the presence of worms in the intestines. All the round worms of the intestines of the horse can live in water and moist earth, or in fresh vegetation, in their early and immature condition. Thus they are liable to be taken in continually with the food and water, and developing in the intestines they lay eggs almost without limit as to numbers, to be hatched and sped on the same noxious course. Hence it is that in pastures that have been grazed by horses year after year, and with drinking ponds and shallow wells into which the washings of the surface can find their way, the colts are particularly liable to worms; and diarrhoea from this cause is by no means infrequent. In such a case there is the gen- eral unthrifty appearance of the wormy animal, and the rubbed, frizzled appearance of the hair at the root of the tail which bespeaks the itching of the anus. The most marked 306 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. symptom, however, is the presence of the worms in the durg, and these can usually be found if carefully sought for. In such a case it is well to give a dose of physic to clear away the mucus in which the vermin live; and if this is associated with a vermifuge the majority of the parasites may be ex- pelled at once. Six table-spoonfuls of castor oil, with two or three tea-spoonfuls of oil of turpentine, according to the size of the foal, should be well shaken together and given as one dose. After this has operated twenty grains of powdered sulphate of iron and ten grains of santonin may be given daily for a week, when the dose of oil and turpentine may be repeated, which will usually clear away all the parasites that remain in the bowels. In conclusion, a caution is needed against a too common method of treating diarrhoea from the outset with opium and astringents with the view of cutting short the discharge. As a rule scouring is but an indication of the presence in the stomach or bowels of some cause of irritation, and all attempts to quiet the irritation by opium or astringents serve but to imprison the cause of trouble and thus prolong its irritant action. The soundest policy in all such cases is to expel the disturber with a bland laxative like castor oil, guarding its action, if need be, by a little laudanum or other soothing agent; and only later, when the irritant has been expelled, to check the discharge and shelter and protect the irritated bowels by weak solutions of gum arabic, of slippery-elm, or by well-boiled linseed tea or starch. But even then these must be used in moderation lest they should produce a sec- ondary constipation, which will prove even more hurtful than the diarrhoea. A good prescription for this stage, and which may be repeated once, twice, or thrice a day, as may be necessary, is eight grains of kino, one ounce tincture of cinnamon, one-half drachm of gum arabic, and two drachms of chalk. To sucking animals this may be given along with the preparation of rennet, and should only be continued so long as the bowels are loose and irritable. STRANGLES OR DISTEMPER. However strangles may be produced, or whatever acces- sory causes may favor its development, there can be no doubt DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 307 that once in existence it can be propagated by contagion. We frequently see all the young horses on a number of ad- jacent farms suffering at once from this malady, while a farm entirely surrounded by these, but which has had no direct equine communication with them, maintains a clean bill of health. But let one of the sick colts be introduced into the latter, and speedily all the horses unprotected by any ante- cedent attack present the unequivocal symptoms of strangles. Lastly, in many different cases the malady has been conveyed from horse to horse by inoculation, thus attesting in the most undoubted manner the presence of contagion. We are the more particular in enforcing this fact of contagion that most English authors deny its existence, and thus blind their readers to a most important measure of precaution. In many seasons the affection assumes a uniformly mild and regular form, and passing promptly through all its stages, is invari- ably followed by a satisfactory recovery. In other seasons it shows the greatest tendency to an irregular course — to a tardy and imperfect maturation of the swellings, to inflam- mation and abscess in unwonted situations, and to secondary formations of matter in distant and vital organs, with most injurious or fatal results. If we conclude that the disease is in the air, or in the system only, as English authors assert, we may well decide that we can do little to hinder its ap- pearance in the more fatal seasons, or to favor it in the safer and milder ones. If, however, we recognize the truth that the disease may be to a great extent prevented by seclusion and disinfection, while its development can be secured by exposure to contagion, we can protect our studs in the less favorable outbreaks, and even pass them through the malady in the milder ones, thus saving many lives and many more cases of roaring, thick wind, chronic coughs, and other affec- tions of the air passages. Strangles is usually preceded by a period of incubation, manifested by a staring coat, loss of condition, dullness and languor, with perspiration and fatigue under slight exertion. These are followed by rise of the body temperature, heat and clamminess of the mouth, redness of the eyes and interior of the nose, and a watery distillation from both, driveling of 308 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. saliva from the mouth, accelerated breathing and pulse, cos- tiveness, scanty, high-colored urine, and increased thirst. Now the characteristic swellings appear in front of the throat and between the two branches of the lower jaw. This is a uniformly rounded swelling, hot and tender, firm and re- sistant in the center, but softer, more doughy and pitting on pressure on the surface and around the margins. After two or three days, in the regular cases, the center of the swell- ing softens and fluctuates from contained pus, and a few days later still it bursts, discharging an abundant white, creamy matter, and speedily heals up, this being accompanied by a restoration to vigorous health. Sometimes the swelling is situated in the throat and may press inward on the pharynx, preventing swallowing and causing a rejection of water and food by.the nose. In other cases it presses on the larynx, shutting off the air from the lungs and causing the most difficult, stertorous breathing, or even proving fatal by suffocation. At other times the swelling beneath the lower jaw is replaced, or supplemented, by similar swellings in distant parts of the body, but mainly in the groups of the lymphatic glands, in the neck, shoulder, groin, chest, abdomen, or elsewhere. In these cases the danger is always greatly enhanced, but it will be proportion- ate to the vitality of the organs in which the inflammation and suppuration supervenes. In some instances the swelling first appears in its natural situation under the jaw, but fails to come to a head, remaining hard and indolent for an indefinite length of time. In all such cases the strength is much run down and there is a great tendency to the forma- tion of matter in important internal organs, and especially in the brain, with fatal results. In such cases, too, there is a great tendency to enormous dropsical and bloody effusions in the head and limbs as the result of debility and a very depraved condition of the blood. Suggestion has already been made of the great importance of guarding against exposure to contagion, to change of locality, or to any of the exciting causes of the disease, when that shows any tendency to assume an irregular or fatal form in a district. Disinfectants even may be used in the DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 309 stables, such as fumes of burning sulphur diluted so as to be breathed without irritation, or the exhalations from shallow basins of carbolic acid and alcohol. We may add the further precaution not to expose to cold, wet, nor ex- haustion during convalescence from this affection, as many cases of irregular course and untoward results have occurred from the lack of just such care. In the treatment of the affection much more reliance is to be placed on sound hygienic measures than on medication. The patients should be fed liberally on scalded or boiled grain, or wheat-bran, and if this can be given from a nose- bag it will soothe and relieve the air passages and greatly hasten the formation of matter and recovery. This should be done at least twice a day. No less important is the con- tinuous application of warmth and moisture to the swelling between the jaws. This may be accomplished by persistent fomentation with warm water, by the application of a poul- tice in a bag of thin cotton, or, better and more conveniently, by enveloping the head in a sheet, with holes cut for the ears and eyes, and laced down the middle of the face, and in- serting a large wet sponge so that it may lie in contact with the swelling. This can be kept saturated with warm water by pouring a little into it occasionally. When the matter approaches the surface, and appears to be separated from the finger by a thin layer of skin only, it should be freely opened with a sharp knife. The fomentations may be kept up until the surrounding hardness has entirely disappeared. The swellings in unwonted situations should be similarly treated, so as to seek a discharge of the matter externally. The formations in internal organs are too often fatal because of the vital importance of the structures involved. This is a malady through which most horses pass once in their lives. In this respect it resembles measles, scarlatina and other eruptive fevers of children. Precisely what are the conditions which lead to its development it may be diffi- cult to state in so many words, but there can be no doubt that among the many predisposing causes change of locality holds a very high place. Horses moved from one county or State to another, from a hilly to a flat region, or the reverse, 310 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. from inland to the seaside, or from the country to the town, are those in which the disease is most apt to be developed. So strong indeed is this influence of altered climate that a second and even a third attack may be determined in the same animal by extensive change of residence. In horses, on the other hand, kept continuously in the same locality, a second attack is very rare. DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. PART II. Prepared expressly for this work by Dr. N. H. Paaren, for many years State Veterinarian of Illinois. THE STALLION — EXTERNAL INJURIES. The accidents and ailments to which the stallion may be said to be especially liable are comparatively few. Among the external injuries to which he is exposed are those he may receive while he is about to serve the mare; such as bruises, lacerations, sprains, injuries of the sexual organs, etc., and which may be caused by the mare's resistance, from want of proper assistance of the keeper, or by the too great eagerness and impatience of the stallion himself. Among the requirements to his early restoration to service, as well as to successful treatment when injured in this manner, is total abstinence from sexual intercourse. Minor wounds or slight hemorrhage may be treated with frequent applica- tions of cold water or mild astringent lotions. Considerable bleeding, consequent upon more extensive lacerations, may require the use of hot iron or ligatures, and that the wounds be closed by stitching or by strings of sticking-plaster. Where inflammatory action exists, besides internal sedative remedies (aconite, fifteen to twenty drops, repeated hourly until six or eight doses have been given) use locally either DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 311 cold or warm applications; and when oedemic or dropsical swelling exists apply warm aromatic decoctions, frequently renewing the same, and exercise the animal several times daity. Extensive or persistent dropsical swelling of either the sheath or the penis may be relieved by longitudinal free lancing and continued warm bathing. In cases of profuse suppuration apply astringent lotions (alum, sulphate of zinc, or acetate of lead; strength, one to twelve of water). Fistu- las should be slit open to give free escape to matter and facilitate applications of remedies (nitrate of silver) to destroy false membrane; thereafter, zinc ointment, carbolized cos- moline, etc. INFLAMMATION OF THE PENIS. It is evidenced by pain, heat, swelling, more or less ina- bility to extend or retract the organ, painful urinating, a straddling gait, more or less depression of spirit and loss of appetite. Most frequently caused by kicks from the mare, injury by hairs of the mare's tail obstructing free entrance to the vagina, etc. After cleansing the penis and the sheath with warm water and soap apply zinc or lead ointment, or if much swelling prevails use frequent bathing with hayseed tea or decoction of other aromatics with vinegar. In case of abscess formation, besides frequent attention to cleanliness use injections of solutions of sulphate of zinc or sulphate of copper (from one to two drachms to a half-pint of water). If the stallion is unable to retract or retain the penis within the sheath it will be necessary to support the member in a horizontal position by means of a broad linen bandage or sling fastened over the loins. The diet should be loosening and spare. INFLAMMATION OF THE TESTICLES. This is evidenced by a stiff, straddling gait, or more or less lameness; swelling and pain of one or both testicles, in- cluding the testicular cord; total loss of spirit and ability to service, and which latter condition, in severe cases, may be- come permanent on account of structural disorganization of the testicles. Treatment should be conducted as indicated 312 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. in the previous case. The testicles should be supported by the use of a suspensorium. Scarification must never be em- ployed in enlargement of the testicles, except in the case of abscess formation. Chronic enlargement or induration should be counteracted by the use of weak mercurial oint- ment, to which may later be added a small proportion (one to twenty-four) of iodine; but this latter should never be used while local pain or inflammation remains. CANCER OF THE PENIS AND THE SHEATH. This condition is generally njistaken for warts, on ac- count of some similarity of appearance. It is generally located at the edges or inside of the sheath and at extremity or spongy body of the penis. In appearance it is a tumor of varying size, with a granulated or sprouting surface, of a dirty red color, the edges of which bleed on slight provoca- tion, and from which a fetid ichor is discharged The skin and underlying tissue surrounding these tumors are gen- erally more or less thickened and knotty. When located near the course of the urethra there may be more or less diffi- culty in urinating. There is a possibility of this disease being transmitted by the genital parts of the stallion to the mare, and vice versa. The best course of treatment consists in the entire disintegration of the tumor by aid of the red- hot iron and the subsequent application of ordinary healing remedies. There is a kind of tumor affecting the genital organs, which is of a non-contagious nature, called sarcoma, and which may be removed by the same means. . PROLAPSE, OR PARALYSIS OF THE PENIS. Prolapse may exist without a paralytic condition of the organ, or it may be due to paralysis, affecting posterior parts of the body. Prolapse, with or without co-existing paralysis, may be caused by various local injuries of a mechanical na- ture, and it may co-exist with or be due to inflammation of the penis, to rheumatism, etc. Depending upon possible complications of a more general or extensive nature, the condition may be either of temporary duration, amenable to treatment, or it may result in permanently disqualifying the DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 313 animal for stud service. One of the first requirements to successful treatment consists in the use of a suspensorium or loin bandage. To the dorsum and sides of the penis apply tincture of iodine or turpentine, once daily, by light pen- ciling of the parts, and internally administer spinal stimu- lants, such as nux vomica (fifteen grains to a scruple, twice daily) with valeriana (one ounce of the powdered root). SCROTAL HERNIA. The descent of a portion of the intestines, through the inguinal canal, into the scrptum or bag which contains the testicles, is sometimes met with in entire males of all ages. It may be congenital, or acquired soon after birth, or at any time in after-life, from a variety of causes, such as violent efforts, jumping, kicking, violent throwing or rolling during attacks of colic or bloating, too frequent and excited copula- tion, violent exertions in pulling heavy loads, especially up- hill, etc. Sometimes the descent of intestine into the scrotum is not due to any of the causes named, but may occur from a relaxed condition of the abdominal muscles or a too spacious inguinal canal (abdominal ring). In young colts scrotal hernia does not always manifest itself by sudden or violent symptoms; in fact the animal may, to all appearance, suffer no inconvenience; but as there will always be danger of strangulation, with its sequels of inflammation of the bowels, gangrene of the incarcerated portion and death of the animal, such cases should be attended to as soon as they are discovered, both in young and old. Whenever colic occurs in stallions a careful examination of the conte*nts of the scrotum should never be omitted. It will be evident to any thinking man that, in a case where violent symptoms of colic are induced by strangulation of a portion of intestine in the scrotum, the administration of medicines, instead of remedying the case, may only tend to hasten a fatal termina- tion. The cause of the symptoms, being of a mechanical origin and nature, can be remedied only by mechanical means, aided by proper medicinal adjuncts. In young colts, when no untoward symptoms exist in connection with scrotal hernia, the return of the intestinal contents of the scrotum 314 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. may be effected by taxis; that is, by laying- the animal on its back, raising the hinder part of the body from the ground as far as possible, ard by gentle manipulation of the scrotal contents cause their return to the abdominal cavity. The animal should then be laid on its side and allowed to rise as quietly as possible. A return of intestine into the scrotum may not occur again; but should it happen more than twice it will be best to castrate the animal without unnecessary delay, the removal of the testicles being done by the so- called covered operation. It would be highly improper and dangerous to castrate such an animal in the usual manner by opening the tunica vaginalis (so-called striffing or white sack), which is in direct connection with the abdominal cav- ity. Scrotal hernia in older animals should be treated in a similar manner; that is, the animal should be made resist- less by the proper administration of anaesthetics, probably the least dangerous of which is the following combination, which is almost invariably used by myself in all animals, viz.: one part of alcohol, two parts of chloroform, and three parts of sulphuric ether, administered by saturating a sponge, which should then be held close to (not against) the lower nostril, while a towel or small blanket is laid loosely over the sponge and half of the head. Both nostrils should never be covered by the sponge. When entirely under the influence of the anaesthetic the animal should be laid on its back; sacks filled with oats or packed with hay should be placed under the crupper and loins to raise that part of the body from the ground; equilibrium of the body being main- tained by strong bands holding the four limbs; the oiled hand and arm inserted through the rectum; and by manipu- lation of the intestines, simultaneously with judicious ma- nipulation of the contents of the scrotum, the intestinal contents of the latter may be entirely returned to the ab- dominal cavity. Should, however, these efforts prove un- successful, nothing remains but to resort to a surgical opera- tion, the particulars of which I omit describing, as such an operation could be successfully performed only by a veteri- nary expert. Should the contents of the scrotum be suc- cessfully returned, without surgical operation, it would be DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 315 prudent to castrate the stallion by the covered method, to avoid future similar occurrence. Many a fine stallion, sup- posed to be affected with spasmodic colic, undoubtedly suffers the most excruciating pains of strangulated scrotal hernia and dies in the hands of unsuspecting owners or attendants with the real cause of suffering and death undiscovered, for which reason I have discussed this subject at length. WATERBAG, SO-CALLED. This condition may exist as a simple dropsical (oedema- tous) infiltration of the connective tissue of the scrotum, and as one of the sequels of influenza or other internal dis- eases. Water or serum, contained in the scrotal sac, to- gether with the testicles, may be the result of local injury or abdominal dropsy. In old stallions this condition may, and does often, co-exist with degeneration or chronic dis- eases of the testicles. It is also met with in young, weakly colts, as a result of general debility Simple dropsical in- filtration may be treated locally by stimulating applications, and internally by the administration of diuretics, succeeded with tonics, liberal keep and proper daily exercise. Ac- cumulation of water in the scrotal cavity may be returned to the abdomen by placing the animal on its back and raising the hinder quarters; and the absorption and elimination of the fluid may then be accomplished by the administration of laxative or diuretic remedies, succeeded with tonics, liberal keep and exercise. When the aqueous accumulation in the scrotum is due to, and co-exists with degeneration or en- largement of one or both testicles, castration may be re- sorted to. EXCESSIVE VENERY (Satyriasis). A condition in which excessive sexual excitement occurs at frequent intervals, even almost uninterruptedly, may exist in both sexes. In the stallion ejaculation of semen may occur during the paroxysm of erection and excitement, or just before sexual connection. The condition manifests itself mainly when the stallion is kept within the sight or smell of mares, or in the same stable; seldom when he is kept abso- 316 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. lutely secluded. It may be a consequence of idleness, to- gether with a want of sexual intercourse, and especially when the animal is kept on very rich and stimulating food; otherwise, a constitutional predisposition to excessive virility may exist. The evil may be remedied by seclusion, more frequent sexual intercourse, woi'k, less nutritious food, the administration of occasional laxatives; also by the use of bromide of potassium in two-drachm doses; or camphor with nitrate of potassium, respectively one and two-drachm doses. Castration as a last resort. NON-EMISSION OF SEMEN, OR "PROUDNESS," SO-CALLED. The question is frequently asked: "What causes a stallion to dismount proud?" or "What can be done for a 'proud' stallion?" This condition is a variety of sterility in which sexual intercourse is not finished with an ejaculation of semen, either because that fluid does not enter the urethra, or be- cause its forcible expulsion is prevented by some obstacle in the course of the urethra. Non-emission may be congenital or acquired, and permanent or temporary. It may be, and probably most frequently is, the result of either masturbation or over-taxation of the sexual organs. Dr. Howe says oa this subject: "The power of erection remains intact, but the patient exerts himself in vain to produce an orgasm. This condition may continue a few weeks, disappear and then re- turn. It is by no means a permanent condition, but it may lead to permanent sterility and impotence. Some writers say that it is due to spasm of the orifices of the ejaculatory duct, which prevents the passage of seminal fluid into the urethra; others, that it is due to a lack of secretion in the various glands. This latter view, however, is not tenable, because such patients are subject to nocturnal pollutions as a result of lascivious dreams. It is more than probable that there is a temporary paralysis of sansation existing in the prostatic portion of the urethra, in the ducts, and perhaps in the vesicles. This lack of sensation prevents the reflex muscular action necessary for the propulsion of the semen." This latter view coincides with my opinion, stated above, as to the most frequent causes of this condition in stallions, DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 317 namely: sexual abuse or over- taxation; and the treatment which I have generally recommended, and which has been most successful, has had for its object to restore the sexual powers to their normal condition by remedies which tone up the system at large and excite the reflex activity of the genito-spinal center. Thus the following combination may be used twice or thrice daily during one week, viz.: Half an ounce each of tincture of iron and Fowler's solution of arsenic, and two drachms of tincture of nux vomica, given in half a pint of flaxseed tea or water sweetened with molasses. During the following week may be given, twice or thrice daily, half an ounce of fluid extract of damiana and one ounce of tincture of valeriana, in half a pint of sweetened water. Meanwhile, frequent bathing with cold water should be applied along the urethra, from the anus downward; and the stallion should be withheld from service during at least one month. SEXUAL SLUGGISHNESS. Among the causes of sexual indifference in the presence of the opposite sex in heat may be mentioned too long con- tinued abstinence or sexual restraint, over-taxation of the male sexual organs, abnormal condition of these, other in- ternal diseases, insufficient or innutritious food, general de- bility, obesity, etc. Treatment consists in the removal or avoidance of the causes; when indicated, nutritive and stim- ulating food, liberty out-doors with mares. To force sexual activity by stimulating or irritating nostrums does not gen- erally prove permanently successful. SPERMATORRHOEA. This is a condition in which the semen is discharged without friction of the male organ. It is one of the conse- quences of masturbation, and may also result from debility of sexual organs from over-taxation of these. Treatment consists in the prevention or avoidance of the causes, isola- tion, frequent cold applications locally, and the administra- tion internally of tonic and astringent remedies, such as iron, sulphate of zinc or sulphate of copper, in one-drachm doses. 318 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. VESICULAR ERUPTIONS ON THE PENIS. Phlyctenoid vesicular eruptions on the penis are some- times met with in stallions, and are by some regarded as a non-malignant species of chancre. It is a pellucid vesicle containing a serous fluid, which sometimes also occurs in young stallions that never have been used for service. The vesicles, after bursting, leave small ulcers, which readily heal when cleanliness of the parts is attended to. Otherwise they may become more or less aggravated and incapacitate the animal for service. During the eruption of the vesicles more or less local pain and inflammation exists. An animal thus affected should not be used for service. Treatment con- sists in frequent bathing, first with a Solution of one part of Goulard's extract and ten parts of water. When inflamma- tion has subsided use frequent applications of a solution of alum in water, and cleanse the parts with soap and water. In aggravated or protracted cases use frequent bathing with a solution of one part of chloride of lime in twelve to fifteen parts of cold water. Internal remedies are generally not necessary. FOUL SHEATH. Accumulation of sebaceous matter, cuticular desquamma- tion and other deposits within the cavity or folds of the sheath often cause considerable local irritation and conse- quently more or less swelling of the sheath. This latter condition may also be due to accumulation of serum in the areolar or subcellular tissue, in consequence of local or gen- eral debility, or from some constitutional cause; and the swelling of the sheath, from whatever cause, may exist to such an extent as to impede the extension or protrusion of the penis, and cause the animal to acquire the babit of dis- charging the urine within the sheath. The irritation already existing within thus becomes aggravated; decompo- sition of the accumulated greasy substances is thereby en- hanced and putrescence and fetor ensue. During summer this may attract flies, which "blow" the parts and cause accumulation of myriads of maggots within the sheath. Continued irritation may produce more or less local inflam- DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 319 mation and ulce ration, and ultimately impair the general condition of the horse. When soap is used in cleansing the parts they should be rinsed with clean water thereafter. Oil or greasy substances should never be applied after cleans- ing, as is frequently done, for these substances are apt to de- compose and cause renewed irritation. If the parts were for some time daily cleansed and then bathed with a solution of chlorinated lime, in the proportion of two ounces to a quart of cold water, gradual improvement and a subsequently per- manent healthy condition would be likely to result. The use of this solution would also prevent the appearance of maggots. The horse's general condition should be improved by liberal keep, the administration of tonic remedies inter- nally, and if he is used for work, by lessening or discontinu- ing the same for a sufficient length of time. MASTURBATION. It occurs to me that I should not close my remarks on the most common ailments to which the stallion is subject with- out referring to an evil with which I presume all of my read- ers are familiar. In fact, the subject of masturbation, or self-abuse, is one of considerable interest and importance, not only to horsemen, but to all breeders of live stock. It is a remarkable fact that our literature on live-stock matters almost entirely ignores the subject. There certainly cannot be any impropriety in discussing this matter in a work en- tirely devoted to the interest of breeding, especially when we consider the often serious results of the practice and the inconvenience and trouble it often causes during the season of training, or when, for other reasons, the stallion is with- held from service. I remember several instances where the result upon the health and usefulness of stallions was of so serious a nature that castration was resorted to as the only effective remedy. The too frequent practice of masturbation by, and its evil effects upon, the little stallion King Phillip, with a record of 2:21, was the reason given for castrating him. There are various causes of this habit. "Idleness begets Vice" is an adage applicable to a great extent in the case of 320 A TREATISE ON HORSE.-BREEDING. self- abuse in the males of our domestic animals, many of which, especially the better-bred and more valuable ones, are fed on stimulating food and kept idle most of their time. But besides idleness and restraint of sexual intercourse, there are other causes of the habit, among which may be mentioned special generic disturbances and excessive generic potency, and which are more frequently met with in the bull than in the stallion. When masturbation is practiced frequently organic dis- ease of the testicles may result; also, weakness of the loins, loss of power of propulsion, loss of flesh, and general emacia- tion; spermatorrhoea, as well as so-called clap, besides im- potence, may supervene, and these so much the sooner if the animal is kept on low diet with the idea of thus lowering his sexual excitement. The subject of prevention is of course one of great impor- tance. If the animal practices masturbation by the .aid of his own body or limbs it is next to impossible to prevent the same. Chastisements are of no use, and shame is out of the question. Among the remedial measures are unrestrained liberty outdoors, but which, especially with the stallion, is not generally practicable; also moderate work in the field or on the road, and regular but moderate use in the stud or herd. The main object is to prevent the exercise of the habit, if possible, but no means have been devised by which this can always be done successfully, especially when the habit has been long indulged in. The means adopted in human practice cannot very well be carried out with the same result. Among these we may, however, mention occa- sional blistering of the prepuce, or ringing it with silver wire, somewhat similar to ringing of the nose of swine. While the habit, by these or similar means, and by constant watching, or by applying a straight-jacket during the night, may prove successful in the human family, such stringent measures cannot be effectually applied in the case of animals, as the chances are that when the restrictions or applications are omitted, or*after awhile, the animal will return to its old habits. Internal remedies, such as bromide of potassium, continued for some time, reduces sexual desire and potency, DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 321 but it is also apt to produce great weakness and emaciation, and could not be continued for any length of time without danger. Faradization of the spine has in some instances been used with benefit against self-abuse, but this is also likely to be of only temporary benefit; and, so far as I know, there is no sure cure for the evil. In inveterate cases, where the effects of masturbation have extended so far that the ani- mal refuses to notice the opposite sex in heat, nothing re- mains but to castrate him and thus preserve his usefulness for other purposes. CKYPTORCHIDS ( "RIDGLINGS, " SO-CALLED). In common parlance the appellation of ridgling is given to a stallion in which either one or both testicles have failed to descend into the scrotum. In the cases where one testicle has descended the animal may serve the purposes of a sire and prove as fertile as if both testicles had descended. But the testicle or testicles that fail to descend into the scrotum, and are retained in the abdomen or the groin, are generally small and undeveloped, and now and then atrophied through fibrous or fatty degeneration. As a result of these malposi- tions or morbid change?, cryptorchids have generally been considered to be absolutely sterile, although they were known to have strong sexual desires and enjoy the capacity for copulation and ejaculation. While as a rule the ejaculated fluid is devoid of the fecundating germs, termed spermato- zoae, exceptional instances have occurred where such males have proved fertile, and where consequently the fluid mu&t have contained spermatozose. THE BROOD MARE— BARRENNESS. A mare should not be considered barren because she does not get in foal, even after repeated service by one certain stallion, for it often occurs that a change of stallion proves effective. The causes of barrenness in mares are numerous, and among the most f requent are a phlegmatic temperament, or the reverse; excessive sexual excitement; also, reduced vitality, due to poverty of constitution, overwork, innutri- tious food; or the reverse condition, that of obesity; too 322 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. great sexual excitement and violent efforts in the approach- ing stallion, especially if he is large and powerful while the mare is young and this her first experience; or the reverse, when the mare is small, old, overworked, in poor condition and low-spirited. Among causes of a mechanical nature may be mentioned obliteration or stricture of the vagina; super- sensitiveness, with spasmodic closure of the vagina; vaginal or uterine tumors; engorgement or induration of the neck of the womb; obliteration or great narrowing of the canal of the neck of the womb, or its closure by glutinous exudation; occlusion .of the fallopian tubes (which connect the womb with the ovaries); morbid or abnormal condition of the ova- ries. All morbid discharges, due to retention of a portion or all of the after-birth, or to catarrh or leucorrhcea (so- called whites), effectively prevent pregnancy. I coincide with the opinion of experienced breeders, that pasturage upon red clover is among the fertile causes of barrenness in mares; and I believe that impotence in mares in this case is due to the honey contained in the flowers, this opinion being based upon the fact that a continued consumption of pure honey will produce impotence in both sexes of mankind. Nymphomania is also a cause of barrenness. Many of the conditions named above are of a permanent character; others are amenable to treatment, and may be successfully avoided, remedied or removed. Thus, too great excitability of the mare may be overcome by starving her during twenty-four hours (not withholding drinking water), and driving her till she begins to tire just before service. The removal of tumors should be effected by surgical means; closure of the neck of the womb may be overcome by digital manipulation, which is best effected during heat. When due to supersensitiveness, or spasmodic contraction, a sponge, saturated with fluid extract of belladonna, may be inserted in the vagina and brought in contact with the neck of the womb, and remain inserted during an hour before service, when it should be removed, the parts cleansed with warm water, and the stallion admitted. The cases of barrenness which are most likely to yield to treatment are those where signs of heat occur at regular intervals, as here the cause is DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK, 328 generally of a mechanical nature. But when the animal never shows any sign of heat the prospects of its appearance are very unfavorable. Sexual energy may be restored in mares that have been overworked, or are in a poor condition from want of proper nutrition, by a reversal to freedom from work and liberal keep upon nutritious and stimulating food. In phlegmatic mares, or such where sexual sluggishness or indifference exists, if not due to obesity, they should be fed on rich and stimulating food, often changed, occasionally steamed or cooked, among which may be mixed a handful of hempseeds twice daily. By way of experiment, fluid extract of damiana may be tried in half -ounce doses, together with tincture of cantharides in half-ounce doses, mixed with half a pint of flaxseed tea, and such a dose given twice or thrice daily during a week, and repeated with intervals of one week for a term of three weeks; meanwhile letting the mare once or twice weekly come near the stallion, or be placed near him in the stable. The medicines may be bought at wholesale price by buying a pound or pint of each; otherwise the ex- periment will be too costly. NYMPHOMANIA. Excessive venery exists in the female as well as in the male, and is evidenced by an insatiable desire for sexual in- tercourse, the mare appearing to be almost constantly in heat. This condition has several causes for its existence, among which may be mentioned undue irritation or conges- tion of the ovaries, the fallopian tubes, or the womb, which causes the secretion of a peculiar irritating fluid. Scrofulous affections of the generative organs, or tuberculosis, especially of the body of the womb and its divergences, are known to be frequent causes of nymphomania. The state of the gen- erative organs, under the last-named causes, is such as to render conception impossible; while at the same time the irritation induced by the morbid secretions continually in- duces an excessive and unnatural sexual desire. Under the existence of any of these conditions gestation could not exist, neither could conception be accomplished. A mare affected with nymphomania is a continual disturber of the peace and 324 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. quiet in the stable, and often dangerous while in harness. When this condition has existed only a short time, concep- tion may be brought about by spare keep, loosening- food and laxative medicines. Two drachms each of camphor and saltpetre, given morning and evening during a week, often allays the excitement and irritation, when the stallion should be admitted; but it is totally useless to admit the stallion while the excitement of nymphomama exists. In some ex- ceptional instances the amputation of the clitoris has proved successful. In old offenders the last remedy is spaying, and with that the nuisance is abated; but the operation is often dangerous to the life of the mare. TUMORS WITHIN THE VAGINA AND UTERUS. These may occur of various kinds and sizes, and frequently have a narrow neck. Their presence may be productive of slimy or bloody discharges of more or less offensive odor. When numerous or large they may cause prolapse of the vagina, difficult urinating, more or less frequent straining, and may hinder or obstruct copulation. Their successful re- moval, by twisting, ligation, dissection, or by means of the ecraseur, will of course depend upon their location, their shape, form of basis or attachment, etc. LEUCORRHCEA, OR SO-CALLED WHITES. This consists of a more or less copious slimy or purulent discharge, originating in the vagina or in the womb, and may be acute or chronic. Among its causes may be mentioned exposure to cold after foaling, other acute or chronic diseases, such as influenza, glanders, etc., or the presence of polypus, melanotic or other kinds of tumors within the vagina or uterus, the existence of recto- vaginal fistula, cancer of the womb, atrophy of the womb, etc. Depending upon the cause, the treatment should be either local or general. If the animal is in poor condition, treatment should be assisted by liberal keep on nutritious food. Among internal remedies may be mentioned juniper berries, savin, ergot, resin, common turpentine, muriatic acid, oak bark, of which the following formula may serve ad an example: Take half an ounce of DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 325 common turpentine, twenty drops of muriatic acid, two drachms of powdered ginger, and ten ounces of decoction of oak bark. Give such a dose once a day during a week. In cases where the discharge is very profuse sugar of lead and oil of turpentine may be used, as follows: Take one drachm of sugar of lead, dissolve it in a sufficient quantity of warm water, add thereto two drachms of oil of turpentine, previously beaten into an emulsion with one yolk of egg; shake this mixture well together with half a pint of flaxseed tea, and give such a dose morning and evening during a week. The local treatment should be conducted as follows: By inserting the hand it may be ascertained whether the discharge proceeds from the womb, which is likely to be the case if the cervix or neck of the womb is wide open. In this case injection of warm water should be made into this organ by means of a long, flexible catheter, with a view of washing out the contents; after which, by the same means, make in- jections twice or thrice daily of tar water, clear lime water, or a solution of sulphate of zinc (half an ounce to each pint of water). A change of remedy often hastens the cure of such cases; wherefore, a solution of sugar of lead (two drachms to each pint of water) may be used every second week. The contents of the womb should, as far as possible, be withdrawn before the remedies are injected. In case the disease is confined to the vagina the cleansing and applica- tion of medicine may be done by the use of an ordinary syringe that will hold at least half a pint. For uterine application the capacity of the syringe should be from a pint to a quart. If the morbid discharge from the genital parts is due to the presence of polypi, or any other kind of tumors, of course the internal as well as local treatment above sug- gested will be useless, as a permanent cure under such cir- cumstances would wholly depend upon whether these tumors were removable or not. COLT FOUNDER, SO-CALLED. Laminitis, or so-called founder, after foaling, is generally more troublesome or dangerous than the same disease oc- curring at other times and from other causes. It is some- 326 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. times complicated with metritis, or inflammation of the womb, or some other excitant malady, which should be ascertained, and treatment of such complications directed ac- cording to their nature. (See "Inflammation of the Womb.") Among the causes of colt founder is a plethoric condition, resulting from improper diet and regimen during the last months of pregnancy. Mares subjected to moderate work and light, nutritious diet, are seldom affected with this mal- ady, while those kept idle and fed largely on corn or rich food are more commonly affected. In some instances breed- ers are known to have given their brood mares large and nutritious mashes, with the intention of promoting a large flow of milk. When such a diet is combined with total in- activity, as is common, with a mistaken view of avoiding abortion, a state of plethora is readily induced, which has a great tendency to the development of local inflammations, and among these the so-called colt founder. The treatment should, from the beginning of the evil, be like that adopted for the same disease generally, but more energetic, both locally and internally. Saline laxatives (a pound of Epsom or Glauber's salts, etc.), succeeded with sedatives (aconite, fifteen to twenty-drop doses, not exceeding six doses, at in- tervals of two hours), and poultices applied to the feet, after the shoes have been removed and the edge of the hoof has been pared down, leaving the sole and the frog intact, so that the bearing of the animal's weight comes most upon the central part of the foot. Not the least effective remedy is that of allowing the colt to suck, and, if necessary, additional stripping of the udder, with a view of promoting increased secretion of the mammary glands. In some cases, with acute inflammation and high fever, no milk is secreted; nevertheless the sucking should never be omitted. The re- turn of milk generally indicates a successful issue. A mare subject to such affection should not be bred so as to have her colt too early in the year; for if she could be turned out on a good pasture before foaling the trouble would most likely be entirely avoided. She must not be fed so as to become plethoric or fat. Give good oats, occasional soft mashes, with bran and flaxseed-meal, say at least once a week, and DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 327 avoid corn during the last six weeks. Keep constantly some common salt placed within reach, in a separate small trough, and do not mix it among the food. The quantity consumed may safely be left to the animal's instinct, but access to good drinking water at least thrice daily should be given. When too early for grass, a roomy, well-littered box-stall, or com- fortable, closed shed, should be allowed during the last two months of pregnancy. Give gentle exercise daily, or liberty out-doors during daytime when the weather is moderate and dry. Accidents from company with other horses, by kick- ing, etc., may be avoided by providing a small inclosed dry yard adjacent to her shed or box-stall. (EDEMA DURING PREGNANCY. During the latter part of the period of gestation the mare is subject to dropsical swelling, especially of ,the udder and along the under surface of the chest and abdomen. Such local accumulations, and consequent more or less stiffness, generally disappear after foaling; but sometimes they are apt to become quite extensive, and may call for treatment. Such mares should never be kept tied up in a stall, but should be given the same facilities and liberty as recom- mended in the preceding paragraph, with access to common salt, as stated. Friction by hand-rubbing or a stiff brush, and the application of high wine or spirits of camphor, are among the remedies employed in such cases. Laxative remedies, as well as remedies to excite the kidneys to action, are not safe to employ during the latter part of gestation, as they are apt to produce abortion. Vegetable tonics, such as powdered gentian root, may be given among food once or twice a day during a few days to a week, in four to six- drachm doses. SUPERIMPREGNATION. According to its nature, superimpregnation is divided into two forms, technically termed superfcetation and super- foecundation. Cases of the first form occur after one or more sexual connections during the period of one and the same heat, and the consequence is the production of twins or triplets. The second form appears after coital connection 328 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDlNG, during the time of any subsequent period of evolution or heat; and though there may, in such a case, bs two or more foetuses developing within the uterus at the same time, they cannot be regarded as twins or triplets, because their nat- ural term of gestation terminates unequally, the difference depending upon the length of time that passed between the two different acts of conception; and, besides, if no acci- dental or detrimental influences should occur during the original term of gestation they would be born of two en- tirely independent acts of parturition. Superimpregnation, in its two forms, may occur after sexual connection with one or with several males. The difference in time between the two acts of parturition, in cases of superfoecundation, in re- corded cases, has been from two to six months. HEAT DURING PREGNANCY. As a rule, when conception has taken place, the regular periods of heat terminate, and do not reappear until after parturition. But there are exceptions to this rule, and these are due to the fact that during gestation an ovule may ma- ture, and, as a consequence, heat will appear. This may happen in all species of animals and during any period of gestation. If during such heat sexual intercourse should happen, conception may take place again, constituting su- perf cec undation . LACERATION OF THE RECTUM. Occasionally reports have come to hand concerning cases where, during the service of the stallion, the rectum became lacerated. These reports invariably contained statements of a fatal termination. While laceration of, the rectum may happen during the normal performance of coition, it is, however, more likely to occur when, as sometimes happens, the penis enters the rectum instead of the vagina. Lacer- ation of the rectum during coition may be considered as incurable and generally causes death of the mare. ABORTION. The causes of abortion are numerous. Among these may be mentioned qplic, violent external injuries, violent exer- DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 329 tions, heroic medicines, musty food, rancid oil-cake, rich and stimulating food in liberal quantities, impure water, etc.; also, disease of the foetus and its enveloping membranes, and a predisposition after previous abortion. Abortion does not always occur immediately, but frequently after several weeks of preparation; and treatment to prevent abortion is useless after the act has commenced. When it is known that an an- imal has received an injury, or an exciting" cause has been in operation that might produce abortion, some preventive treatment may be adopted, such as small doses of camphor (a scruple to half a drachm) with opium (one scruple) twice or thrice daily during one to three days; or half-drachm doses of powdered sulphate of iron; this latter mixed among food twice a day for a few days, not to exceed a week. DIFFICULT PARTURITION. As before stated the mare should, towards the time of foaling, be placed in comfortable, roomy quarters by herself. She should not be interfered with when foaling, unless there should appear to be unnatural presentation, unusual length of time or other difficulty; and when assistance appears to be necessary preparations should be made to facilitate the same. All stable implements, loose troughs and buckets should be removed, and clean bedding should be furnished. A bucket of warm water and sponge, and oil to lubricate the hand and arm before insertion, should be at hand, as well as a few flat and pliable light ropes, and such obstetrical in- struments as may be required. A few strong hands, that may be necessary for assistance, should also be present. The mare should be haltered and held by an assistant. The hand and arm should be oiled, for the purpose of first emptying the rectum of possible contents, as should also the urinary bladder, by gentle compression or by the aid of a catheter. The hand and arm should then be washed, and it should be remembered that if finger rings are worn they should be re- moved before the hand is introduced into the genital parts; and if the finger-nails are long they should be shortened. The complications or unnatural presentations are very various; but a few of the most common will be considered 380 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. here, as the more complicated cases will require skilled veterinary assistance. The usual and proper presentation of the foal is with both fore legs first, and next, resting upon these, the head will appear. In such a case help is not called for, unless the colt be a very large one, or the mare small with a narrow pelvis, when a little assistance may be care- fully given by gently drawing upon the legs after the head is well forward. But if there should appear only one fore leg, or one or both hind legs, or the head is presented with- out the legs, assistance should be rendered without delay. It is generally necessary in such cases to return the foal, but this should be done only between the throes of the mare, and with care not to injure the foal. At other times the head will be found to be bent down- ward, with the occipit or top pressing firmly against the brim of the pelvis, and the feet only presented to our view. Here our object must be to pass the foetus back until we can grasp the head, and should we be able to reach it, we will find a very convenient spot in the cavities of the orbits to place a finger and thumb, when, by a little exertion, the head may be brought into its proper place. One of the most common forms of irregular presentation is the one in which both fore feet appear, with the head doubled back or to one side. Before returning the foal a flat or pliable rope should be fastened to each of the fore legs above the fetlocks. Pressure should then be made against the breast of the foal, and usually the head will then come into line, if the foal is pushed far enough in. The ropes on the feet are applied to secure them in case they should slip into a wrong position, and actual pulling, if any should be- come necessary after the foal is brought into position, should never be done by these ropes, but by the feet and the head, and not between the labor pains, but only when the mare herself helps. Should the head be presented without the fore legs a slip- noose of soft cord should be applied around the lower jaw. The head should then be pushed inward as far as possible, and the feet, one by one, drawn forward into position and secured with soft rope, as above stated. The head should DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 331 then, by aid or the hand and partly by the rope, be secured and placed upon the fore legs, when gentle traction, not by the ropes, should be proceeded with as in the foregoing case. It will be useless to attempt to bring the foal forth with the head alone protruding, nor should the attempt be made, as the life of the colt will thus be endangered. Again, we meet with what are termed breech presenta- tions, where the tail only presents itself to our view, and the hind legs are doubled under the body; and these will be found to offer an insuperable obstacle to natural expulsion. The hand must be introduced, so as to fasten cords around each leg above the hocks, after which the foetus must be passed as far back into the uterus as possible, to enable us to bring forward the feet, when the birth may be easily ac- complished. In the case where only one fore leg is presented, the other one extending inward, and the head pressed against the pelvic bone, the soft cord should be applied around the pro- truding leg; then the hand, armed with a soft slip-noose, should secure this around the lower jaw, after which pres- sure should be made against the breast and the foal pushed in so far as to allow the head to be placed in position by an assistant gently pulling on the rope attached around the jaw. Then the other fore leg is to be secured and brought forward, whereupon moderate traction may be made upon both legs and the head, but not by the ropes. If the expul- sive pains of the mare are strong the tightly impacted state of the head will offer considerable difficulty in manipulation. One of the most dreaded of all other cases is where the animal has been neglected and the foetus is discovered to have been dead several hours. Putrefactive fermentation will be found to have taken place, an immense quantity of gas has diffused itself in the cellular tissue, and the foetus has attained twice its natural size. The safest and almost only method to adopt in such cases will be to dissect the foetus away; for although it may present itself in a natural position, we should not be warranted in having recourse to any means to endeavor to excite the uterus to contract upon its contents, as we invariably find that great prostration of A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. strength and extreme debility have been produced by the frequent and powerful efforts of the animal to expel the foetus. There are various other unnatural presentations and causes in operation to prevent the natural process of partu- rition, as, for instance, dropsy or from the urachus being impervious, when the whole of the urine secreted by the young animal during the foetal life would collect in its blad- der and thus cause an immense enlargement of its abdomen; or, the foetus may partake of the form of a lusus natures, where we have a redundancy or multiplicity of natural parts, as of two heads and one body, or vice versa, etc. A hard and unyielding (rigid) state of the neck of the uterus will also prevent labor. Should it proceed from spasmodic contrac- tion of that part, as is sometimes the case, constant pressure by the hand will often relieve it and thus cause it to dilate; but if we cannot dilate it in this way the best method is to carefully divide it with a bistoury. Tumors in the vagina also are great obstacles to the passage of the foetus, and it is frequently found necessary to dissect them away before de- livery can be effected. In all cases where we have preternatural presentation our object must be to endeavor to bring it as near to a natural one as possible. Whenever turning or altering the position of the young one must be had recourse to, it should be done, if possible, before the uterus has firmly contracted itself around the body or its contents; for it is always a circum- stance which renders the operation infinitely more difficult and dangerous and not infrequently impracticable. The skilled veterinarian when called to attend in protracted cases very often finds the uterus strongly contracted around its contents and the operation so replete with difficulty and danger, both to the mother and the young, that he cannot hope for the preservation of them both, and perhaps turning has become impracticable. Some other expedient must then be resorted to and the young one destroyed to save the life of the mother. If the foetus cannot be extracted by mod- erate force recourse must be had to embryotomy or removal by dismemberment, beheading, disemboweling, etc. DISEASES PECULIAR TO BREEDING STOCK. 333 It will be useless to describe the more difficult presenta- tions, as they will require for their safe delivery, where such is possible, a variety of instruments and appliances, with which, and their proper use, the breeder cannot be expected to be familiar. In all difficult cases the farmer or breeder will find it to his advantage to send without delay for a prop- erly educated veterinary surgeon, who alone is capable, from his knowledge of the anatomy of the genital organs, of ren- dering efficient assistance in complicated and difficult cases. But it is to be regretted that the scarcity of this class of men is so great, wherefore much suffering and considerable loss must unavoidably be sustained. LACERATION OF THE PERINEUM. To a mare to which such an accident has happened the queer name of a "gill-flirt" is vulgarly applied. The injury consists in a laceration of the membrane between the anus and the genital organs, caused by difficult parturition, espe- cially in cases where the foal is very large and the labor pains excessively strong. Treatment by way of uniting the parts by sutures generally proves unsuccessful unless insti- tuted immediately after the accident. When the laceration has not included the anal sphincter a partial healing some- times occurs with surgical assistance. The condition does not unfit a mare for future breeding; but special care is re- quired at the time of service to so direct the stallion (who should stand on higher ground than the mare if she is large) that the vagina proper", and not the rectum, be entered; that is, if the entire extent of the perinseum, including the anal sphincter, be lacerated. In this latter event there is also the unpleasant feature of the dung passing from the rectum into the vagina, making the voiding of the same to some extent difficult and more or less incomplete and offen- sive. To the foregoing pages of this chapter by Dr. Paaren I may very properly add the follow- ing: 334 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. MANGE. In cases where colts are troubled with mange a very prominent and extensive horse-breeder of my acquaintance has long made use of the following remedy with uniform good results: Take one gallon of linseed oil, one-half pound sulphur reduced to a fine powder, one-half pound common gunpowder, also powdered fine; mix thoroughly and apply to every part of the animal with a brush. Let it remain on three days, then wash off and renew for another three days, and so on until a cure is effected. LICE ON COLTS. For this troublesome pest the following is the remedy mainly relied upon by Dr. A. J. Murray: Take an ounce of common smoking tobacco and put into a gallon of water. Put this on the stove so as to make an infusion of it, as if one were making tea, and when this preparation has cooled sufficiently wash the animal's body with it and the lice will disappear. It sometimes happens that parts of the body are not wet with this infusion, so that some of the lice escape. When this happens the application of the tobacco must be repeated. For the same trouble, Prof. Joseph Hughes of the Chicago Veterinary Medical College prescribes the following: Rub the infested parts thoroughly with a mixture of one part of kerosene and three of lard. Dr. Paaren's prescription in such cases is as follows: Dissolve six drachms of borax in two quarts of warm water, and when cold add thereto two and one-half pints of acetic acid. Apply this solution twice weekly by means of a stiff brush. DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 335 CHAPTER V. DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. [Prepared by Dr. James Law, F. R. C. V. S., Professor of Veterinary Science, etc., in Cornell University, for the re- Dort on ''Diseases of the Horse," published by the United States Department of Agriculture. Reprinted by permission of the Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry.] CONGESTION AND INFLAMMATION OF THE TESTICLES — ORCHITIS. In the prime of life, in vigorous health, and on stimulat- ing- food stallions are subject to congestion of the testicles, which become swollen, hot, and tender, but without any active inflammation. A reduction of the grain in the feed, the administration of one or two ounces of Glauber salts daily in the food, and the bathing- of the affected organs daily with tepid water or alum water will usually restore them to a healthy condition. When the factors producing congestion are extraordina- rily potent, when there has been frequent copulation and heavy grain feeding, when the weather is warm and the animal has had little exercise, and when the proximity of other horses or mares excite the generative instinct without gratification, this congestion may grow to actual inflamma- tion. Among the other causes of orchitis are blows and penetrating wounds implicating the testicles, abrasions of the scrotum by a chain or rope passing inside the thigh, con- tusions and frictions on the gland under rapid paces or heavy draught, compressions of the blood-vessels of the spermatic 336 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. cord by the inguinal ring under the same circumstances, and finally sympathetic disturbance in cases of disease of the kidneys, bladder, or urethra. Stimulants of the generative functions, like rue, savin, tansy, cantharides, and damiana, may also be accessory causes of congestion and inflammation. Finally, certain specific diseases like mal du coit, glanders, and tuberculosis, localized in the testicles, will cause inflam- mation. Apart from actual wounds of the parts the symp- toms of orchitis are swelling, heat, and tenderness of the testicles, straddling with the hind legs alike in standing and walking, stiffness and dragging of the hind limbs or of the limb on the affected side, arching of the loins, abdominal pain, manifested by glancing back at the flank, with more or less fever, elevated body temperature, accelerated pulse and breathing, inappetence, and dullness. In bad cases the scanty urine may be reddish and the swelling may extend to the skin and envelopes of the testicle, which may become thickened and doughy, pitting on pressure. The swelling maybe so much greater in the convoluted excretory duct along the upper border of the testicle as to suggest the pres- ence of a second stone. Even in the more violent attacks the intense suffering abates somewhat on the second or third day. If it lasts longer it is likely to give rise to the forma- tion of matter (abscess). In exceptional cases the testicle is struck with gangrene or death. Improvement may go on slowly to complete recovery, or the malady may subside into a subacute and chronic form with induration. Matter (ab- scess) may be recognized by the presence of a soft spot, where pressure with two fingers will detect fluctuation from one to the other. When there is liquid exudation into the scrotum, or sack, fluctuation may also be felt, but the liquid can be made out to be around the testicle and can be pressed up into the abdomen through the inguinal canal. When ab- scess occurs in the cord the matter may escape into the scrotal sack and cavity of the abdomen and pyaemia may follow. Treatment consists in perfect rest and quietude, the admin- istration of a purgative (one to one and one-half pounds of Glauber's salts) and the local application of an astringent DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 387 lotion (acetate of lead two drachms, extract of belladonna two drachms, and water one quart) upon soft rags or cotton wool, kept in contact with the part by a suspensory bandage. This bandage, of great value for support, may be made nearly triangular and tied to a girth around the loins and to the upper part of the same surcingle by two bands carried backward and upward between the thighs. In severe cases scarifications one-fourth inch deep serve to relieve vascular tension. When abscess is threatened its formation may be favored by warm fomentations or poultices, and on the oc- currence of fluctuation the knife may be employed to give free escape to the pus. The resulting cavity may be injected daily with a weak carbolic-acid lotion, or salol may be intro- duced. The same agents may be used on a gland threatened with gangrene, but its prompt removal by castration is to be preferred, antiseptics being applied freely to the resulting cavity. SARCOCELE. This is an enlarged and indurated condition of the gland resulting from chronic inflammation, though it is often asso- ciated with a specific deposit like glanders. In this condition the natural structure of the gland has given place to em- bryonal tissue (small, round cells, with a few fibrous bundles), and its restoration to health is very improbable. Apart from active inflammation, it may increase very slowly. The dis- eased testicle is enlarged, firm, non-elastic and comparatively insensible. The skin of the scrotum is tense, and it may be oedematous (pitting on pressure), as are the deeper envelopes and spermatic cord. If liquid is present in the sack the symptoms are masked somewhat. As it increases it causes an awkward, straddling, dragging movement of the hind limbs, or lameness on the affected side. The spermatic cord often increases at the same time with the testicle, and the inguinal ring being thereby stretched and enlarged a portion of in- testine may escape into the sack, complicating the disease with hernia. « The only rational and effective treatment is castration, and even this may not succeed when the disease is specific (glanders, tuberculosis). 338 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. HYDROCELE— DROPSY OF THE SCROTUM. This may be merely an accompaniment of dropsy of the abdomen, the cavity of which is continuous with that of the scrotum in horses. It may be the result, however, of local disease in the testicle, spermatic cord, or walls of the sack. The symptoms are enlargement of the scrotum and fluctu- ation under the fingers, the testicle being recognized as float- ing in water. By pressure the liquid is forced in a slow stream and with a perceptible thrill into the abdomen. Sometimes the cord, or the scrotum, are thickened and pit on pressure. Treatment maybe the same as for ascites, yet when the effusion has resulted from inflammation of the testicle or cord, astringent applications (chalk and vinegar) may be applied to these. Then if the liquid is not reabsorbed under diuretics and tonics it may be drawn off through the nozzle of a hypodermic syringe which has been first passed through carbolic acid. In geldings it is best to dissect out the sacks. VARICOCELE. This is an enlargement of the venous network of the spermatic cord and gives rise to general thickening of the cord from the testicle up to the ring. The same astringent dressings may be tried as in hydrocele, and this failing cas- tration may be resorted to. ABNORMAL NUMBER OF TESTICLES. Sometimes one or both testicles are wanting; in most such cases, however, they are merely partially developed and re- tained in the inguinal canal or the abdomen (cryptorchid). In rare cases there may be a third testicle, the animal be- coming to this extent a double monster. Teeth, hair and other indications of a second foetus have likewise been found in the testicle, or scrotum. DEGENERATION OF THE TESTICLES. The testicles may become the seat of fibrous, calcareous, fatty, cartilaginous, or cystic degeneration, for all of which the appropriate treatment is castration. They also become DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS, 339 the seat of cancer, glanders, or tuberculosis, and castration is requisite, though with less hope of arresting the disease. Finally they may become infested with cystic tapeworms, or the armed round worm (sclerostomum equinum). WARTS ON THE PENIS. These are best removed by seizing them between the thumb and forefinger and twisting them off. Or they may be cut off with scissors and the roots cauterized with nitrate of silver. DEGENERATION OF PENIS— PAPILLOMA, EPITHELIOMA. The penis of the horse is subject to great cauliflower-like growths on its free end, which extend back into the sub- stance of the organ, obstruct the passage of urine, and cause very fetid discharges. The only resort is to cut them off, together with whatever portion of the penis has become dis- eased and indurated. The operation, which should be per- formed by a veterinary surgeon, consists in cutting through the organ from its upper to its lower aspect, twisting or tying the two dorsal arteries and leaving the urethra longer by half an inch to one inch than the adjacent structures. EXTRAVASATION OF BLOOD IN THE PENIS. As the result of kicks, blows, or of forcible striking of the yard on the thighs of the mare which it has failed to enter, the penis may become the seat of effusion of blood from one or more ruptured blood vessels. This gives rise to a more or less extensive swelling on one or both sides, followed by some heat and inflammation, and on recovery a serious curving of the organ. The treatment in the early stages may be the application of lotions of alum or other astringents to limit the amount of effusion and favor absorption. The penis should be suspended in a sling. PARALYSIS OF THE PENIS. This results from blows and other injuries, and also in some cases from too frequent and exhausting service. The yard hangs from the sheath, flaccid, pendulous and often cold. The passage of urine occurs with lessened force, and 340 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. especially without the final jets. In cases of local injury the inflammation should first be subdued by astringent and emol- lient lotions, and in all cases the system should be invigor- ated by nourishing diet, while thirty-grain doses of nux vomica are given twice a day. Finally, a weak current of electricity sent through the penis from just beneath the anus to the free portion of the yard, continued for ten or fifteen minutes and repeated daily, may prove successful. SELF-ABUSE—MASTURBATION. Some stallions acquire this vicious habit, stimulating .the sexual instinct to the discharge of semen by rubbing the penis against the belly or between the fore limbs. The only remedy is a mechanical one, the fixing of a net under the penis in such fashion as will prevent the extension of the penis or so prick the organ as to compel the animal to desist through pain. MAL DU COIT — DOURINE. This is propagated, like syphilis, by the act of copulation and affects stallions and mares. It has been long known in Northern Africa, Arabia and Continental Europe. It was imported into Illinois in 1882 in a Percheron horse. Prom one to ten days after copulation, or in stallions it may be after some weeks, there is irritation, swelling, and a livid redness of the external organs of generation, some- times followed by the eruption of small blisters, one-fifth of an inch across, on the penis, the vulva, clitoris and vagina, and the subsequent rupture of these vesicles and the forma- tion of ulcers or small open sores. Vesicles have not been noticed in this disease in the dry climate of Illinois. In the mare there is frequent contraction of the vulva, urination, and the discharge of a watery and later a thick viscid liquid of a whitish, yellowish, or reddish color, which collects on and soils the tail. The swelling of the vulva increases and decreases alternately, affecting one part more than another and giving a distorted appearance to the opening. The af- fection of the skin leads to the appearance of circular white spots, which may remain distinct or coalesce into extensive patches which persist for months. This with the soiled tail, DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 341 red, swollen, puckered and distorted vulva, and an increas- ing weakness and paralysis of the hind limbs, serve to char- acterize the affection. The mare rarely breeds, but will take the male and thus propagate the disease. The disease winds up with great emaciation and stupidity, and death in four months to two years. In horses which serve few mares there iaay be only swelling of the sheath for a year, but with fre- quent copulation the progress is more rapid. The penis may be enlarged, shrunken, or distorted ; the testicles are unusually pendant and may be enlarged or wasted and flabby; the skin, as in the mare, shows white spots and patches. Later the penis becomes partially paralyzed and hangs out of the sheath; swelling of the adjacent lymphatic glands (in the groin) and even of distant ones, and of the skin, ap- pear, and the hind limbs become weak and unsteady. In some instances the glands under the jaw swell and a discharge flows from the nose as in glanders. In other cases the itching of the skin leads to gnawing and extensive sores. Weakness, ema- ciation and stupidity increase until death, in fatal cases, yet the sexual desire does not seem to fail. A stallion without sense to eat except when food was put into his mouth would still neigh and seek to follow mares. In mild cases an. ap- parent recovery may ensue, and through such animals the disease is propagated to new localities to be roused into activity and extension under the stimulus of service. The diseased nerve centers are the seat of cryptogamic growths. (Thannhoffer.) Treatment of the malady has proved eminently unsatis- factory. It belongs to the purely contagious diseases and should be stamped out by the remorseless slaughter or cas- tration of every horse or mare that has had sexual congress with a diseased animal. A provision for Government in- demnity for the animals so destroyed or castrated and a se- vere penalty for putting any such animal to breeding would serve as effectual accessory resorts. CASTRATION OP STALLIONS. This is usually done at one year old, but may be accom- plished at a few weeks old at the expense of an imperfect de- velopment of the fore parts. The simplicity and safety of 342 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. the operation are greatest in the young. The delay till two, three or four years old will secure a better development and carriage of the fore parts. The essential part of castration is the safe removal or destruction of the testicle and the ar- rest or prevention of bleeding from the spermatic artery found in the anterior part of the cord. Into the many meth- ods of accomplishing this limited space forbids us to enter here, so that the method most commonly adopted, castration by clamps, will alone be noticed. The animal having been thrown on his left side and the right hind foot drawn up on the shoulder, the exposed scrotum, penis and sheath are washed with soap and water, any concretion of serum being carefully removed from the bil ocular cavity in the end of the penis. The left spermatic cord, just above the testicle, is now seized in the left hand, so as to render the skin tense over the stone, and the right hand, armed with the knife, makes an incision from before backward, about three-fourths of an inch from and parallel to the median line between the thighs, deep enough to expose the testicle and long enough to allow that organ to start out through the skin. At the moment of making this incision the left hand must grasp the cord very firmly, otherwise the sudden retraction of the testicle by the cremaster muscle may draw it out of the hand and upward through the canal and even into the ab- domen. In a few seconds, when the struggle and retraction have ceased, the knife is inserted through the cord, between its anterior and posterior portions, and the latter, the one which the muscle retracts, is cut completely through. The testicle will now hang limp and there is no longer any ten- dency to retraction. It should be pulled down until it will no longer hang loose below the wound and the clamps ap- plied around the still attached portion of the cord, close up to the skin. The clamps, which may be made of any tough wood, are grooved along the center of the surfaces opposed to each other, thereby fulfilling two important indi- cations, (a) enabling the clamps to hold more securely and (6) providing for the application of an antiseptic to the cord. For this purpose a drachm of sulphate of copper may be ' mixed with an ounce of lard and pressed into the groove in DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 343 the face of each clamp. In applying* the clamp over the cord it should be drawn so close with pincers as to press out all blood from the compressed cord and destroy its vitality, and the cord applied upon the compressing clamps should be so hard-twined that it will not stretch later and slacken the hold. When the clamp has been fixed the testicle is cut off one-half to one inch below it, and the clamp may be left thus for twenty-four hours; then, by cutting the cord around one end of the clamp the latter may be opened and the stump liberated without any danger of bleeding. Should the stump hang out of the wound it should be pushed inside with the finger and left there. The wound should begin to discharge white matter on the second day in hot weather, or the third in cold, and from that time a good recovery may be ex- pected. CONDITIONS FAVORABLE TO SUCCESSFUL, CASTRATION. The young horse suffers less from castration than the old and very rarely perishes. Good health in the subject is all important. Castration should never be attempted during the prevalence of strangles, influenza, catarrhal fever, con- tagious pleurisy, bronchitis, pneumonia, purpura haemorr- hagica, or other specific disease, nor on subjects that have been kept in close, illy ventilated, filthy buildings, where the system is liable to have been charged with putrid bac- teria or other products. Warm weather is to be preferred to cold, but the fly-time should be avoided or the flies kept at a distance by the application of a watery solution of tar, carbolic acid or camphor to the wound. CASTRATION OF CRYPTORCHIDS (RIDGELINGS). This is the removal of a testicle or testicles that have failed to descend into the scrotum, but have been detained in the inguinal canal or inside the abdomen. The manipula- tion requires an accurate anatomical knowledge of the parts, and special skill, experience, and manual dexterity, and cannot be made clear to the unprofessional mind in a short notice. It consists, however, in the discovery and removal of the missing gland by exploring through the natural .chan- nel (the inguinal canal), or, in case it is absent, through the 344 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. inguinal ring or through an artificial opening made in front and above that channel between the abdominal muscles and the strong fascia on the inner side of the thigh (Poupart's ligament). Whatever method is used the skin, hands, and instruments should be rendered aseptic with a solution of murcuric chloride, 1 part; water, 2,000 parts (a carbolic-acid lotion for the instruments), and the spermatic cord is best torn through by the ecraseur. In many such cases, too, it is desirable to sew up the external wound and keep the animal still to favor healing of the wound by adhesion. PAIN AFTER CASTRATION. Some horses are pained and very restless for some hours after castration, and this may extend to cramps of the bowels and violent colic. This is best kept in check by carefully rubbing the patient dry when he rises from the operation and then leading him in hand for some time. If the pain still persists a dose of laudanum (one ounce for an adult) may be given. BLEEDING AFTER CASTRATION. Bleeding from the wound in the scrotum and from the little artery in the posterior portion of the spermatic cord always occurs, and in warm weather may appear to be quite free. It scarcely ever lasts, however, over fifteen minutes and is easily checked by dashing cold water against the parts. Bleeding from the spermatic artery in the anterior part of the cord may be dangerous when due precaution has not been taken to prevent it. In such cases the stump of the cord should be sought for and the artery twisted with artery forceps or tied with a silk thread. If the stump cannot be found pledgets of tow wet with tincture of muriate of iron may be stuffed into the canal to favor the formation of clot and the closure of the artery. STRANGULATED SPERMATIC CORD. If in castration the cord is left too long, so as to hang out of the wound, the skin wound in contracting grasps and strangles it, preventing the free return of blood and causing a steadily advancing1 swelling. In addition the cord becomes adherent to the lipt> of the wound in the skin, whence it de- DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 345 rives an increased supply of blood and is thereby stimulated to more rapid swelling. The subject walks stiffly, with straddling gait, loses appetite, and has a rapid pulse and high fever. Examination of the wound discloses the partial closure of the skin wound and the protrusion from its lips of the end of the cord — red, tense, and varying in size from a hazelnut upward. If there is no material swelling and little protrusion the wound may be enlarged with the knife and the end of the cord broken loose from any connection with the skin and pushed up inside. If the swelling is larger the mass constitutes a tumor and must be removed. (See below ) SWELLING OF THE SHEATH, PENIS, AND ABDOMEN. This occurs in certain unhealthy states of the system in unhealthy seasons, as the result of operating without cleans- ing the sheath and penis, or of keeping the subject in a filthy, impure building, as the result of infecting the wound by hands or instruments bearing septic bacteria, or as the re- sult of premature closure of the wound and imprisonment of matter. Pure air and cleanliness of groin and wound are to be secuied. Antiseptics, like the mercuric chloride lotion (I part to 2,000), are to be applied to the parts; the wound, if closed, is to be opened anew, any accumulated matter or blood washed out, and the antiseptic liquid freely applied. The most tense or dependent parts of the swelling in sheath or penis, or beneath the belly, should be pricked at intervals of three or four inches and to a depth of half an inch and antiseptics freely used to the surface. Fomentations with warm water may also be used to favor oozing from the inci- sions and to encourage the formation of white matter in the original wounds, which must not be allowed to close again at once. A 'free, cream-like discharge implies a healthy action in the sore, and is the precursor of recovery. PHYMOSIS AND PARAPHYMOSIS. In cases of swelling, as above, the penis may be impris- oned within the sheath (phymosis) or protruded and swollen so that it cannot be retracted into it (paraphymosis). In 346 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. these cases the treatment indicated above, and especially the scarifications, will prove a useful preliminary resort. The use of astringent lotions is always desirable, and in case of the protruded penis the application of an elastic or simple linen bandage, so as to press out the blood and accumulated fluid, will enable the operator to return it. TUMORS ON THE SPERMATIC CORD. These are due to rough handling or dragging upon the cord in castration, to strangulation of unduly long cords in the external wound, to adhesion of the end of the cord to the skin, to inflammation of the cord succeeding exposure to cold or wet, or to the presence of septic or irritant matters. These tumors give rise to a stiff, straddling gait, and may be felt as hard masses in the groin connected above with the cord. They may continue to grow slowly for many years until they reach a weight of fifteen to twenty pounds and contract adhesions to all surrounding parts. If disconnected from the skin and inguinal canal they may be removed in the same manner as the testicle, while if larger and firmly adherent to the skin and surrounding parts generally they must be carefully dissected from the parts, the arteries be- ing tied as they are reached and the cord finally torn through with an ecraseur. When the cord has become swollen and indurated up into the abdomen such removal is impossible, though a partial destruction of the mass may still be at- tempted by passing white-hot pointed irons upward toward the inguinal ring in the center of the thickened and indu- rated cord. CASTRATION OF THE MARE. Castration is a much more dangerous operation in the mare than in the females of other domesticated quadrupeds, and should never be resorted to except in animals that be- come unmanageable on the recurrence of heat and that will not breed, or that are utterly unsuited to breeding. For- merly the operation was extensively practiced in Europe, the incision being made through the flank and a large proportion of the subjects perishing. By operating through the vagina DISEASES OP THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 347 the risk can be largely obviated, as the danger of unhealthy inflammation in the wound is greatly lessened. The animal should be fixed in a trevis, with each foot fixed to a post and a sling placed under the body, or, better, it may be thrown and put under chloroform. The manual operation demands special professional knowledge and skill, but it consists essentially in making an opening through the roof of the vagina just above the neck of the womb, then following with the hand each horn of the womb until the ovary on that side is reached and grasped between the lips of the forceps and twisted off. It might be torn off by an ecraseur especially constructed for the purpose. The straining that follows the operation may be checked by ounce doses of laudanum, and any risk of protrusion of the bowels may be obviated by ap- plying the truss advised to prevent e version of the womb. To further prevent the pressure of the abdominal contents against the vaginal wound the mare should be tied short and high for twenty-four or forty-eight hours, after which I have found it best to remove the truss and allow tha privilege of lying down. Another important point is to give bran mashes and other laxative diet only, and in moderate quan- tity, for a fortnight, and to unload the rectum by copious injections of warm water in case it should threaten to be- come impacted. STERILITY. Sterility may be in the male or in the female. If due to the stallion, then all the mares put to him remain barren; if due to the mare, she alone fails to conceive. In the stallion sterility may be due to the following causes: (a) Imperfect development of the testicles, as in cases in which they are retained within the abdomen; (b) inflamma- tion of the testicles, resulting in induration; (c) fatty de- generation of the testicles in stallions liberally fed on starchy food and not sufficiently exercised; (d) fatty degen- eration of the excretory ducts of the testicles (vasa defer- entia}; (e} inflammation or ulceration of these ducts; (/) in- flammation or ulceration of the mucous membrane covering the penis; (g) injuries to the penis from blows (often causing paralysis; (h) warty growths on the end of the penis; (») tu- 348 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. mors of other kinds (largely pigmentary) affecting the tes- ticles or panis; (j ) nervous diseases which abolish the sexual appetite or that control over the muscles which is essential to the act of coition; (k) azoturia with resulting weakness or paralysis of the muscles of the loins or the front of the thigh (above the stifle); (I) ossification (anchylosis) of the joints of the back or loins, which renders the animal unable to rear or mount; (m) spavins, ringbones, or other painful affections of the hind limbs, the pain of which in mounting causes th3 animal to suddenly stop short in the act. In the first three of these only (a, b and c) is there real sterility in the sense of the non-development or imperfect development of the male vivifying element (spermatozoa). In the other ex- amples the secretion may be perfect in kind and amount, but as copulation is prevented it cannot reach and impregnate the ovum. In the mare barrenness is equally due to a variety of causes. In a number of breeding studs the proportion of sterile mares has varied from 20 to 40 per cent. It may ba due to: (a) Imperfect development of the ovary and non- maturation of ova; (6) cystic or other tumors of the ovary; (c) fatty degeneration of the ovary in very obese, pampered mares; (d) fatty degeneration of the excretory tubes of the ovaries (fallopian tubes); (e) catarrh of the womb, with muco-purulent discharge; (/) irritable condition of the womb, with profuse secretion, straining, and ejection of the semen; [g] nervous irritability, leading to the same expulsion of the male element; (h) high condition (plethora) with profuse secretion and excitement; (i) low condition with imperfect maturation of the ova and lack of sexual de- sire; (j) poor feeding, overwork and chronic debilitating diseases, as leading to the condition just named; (k) closure of the neck of the womb, temporarily by spasm or perma- nently by inflammation and induration; (I) closure of the entrance to the vagina through imperforate hymen, a rare though not unknown condition in the mare; (m) acquired indisposition to breed, seen in old, hard-worked mares, which are first put to the stallion when aged; (n) change of climate has repeatedly been followed by barrenness; (o) DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 349 hybridity, which in male and female alike usually entails sterility. The treatment of the majority of these conditions will be found dealt with in other parts of this work, so that it is only necessary here to name them as causes. Some, how- ever, must be specially referred to in this place. Stallions with undescended testicles are beyond the reach of medicine and should be castrated and devoted to other uses. Indu- rated testicles may sometimes be remedied in the early stages by smearing with a weak iodine ointment daily for a length of time and at the same time invigorating the system by lib- eral feeding and judicious work. Fatty degeneration is best met by an albuminoid diet (wheat bran, cotton-seed meal, rape cake) and constant, well-regulated work. Saccharine, starchy and fatty food (potatoes, wheat, corn, etc.) are to be specially avoided. In the mare one diseased and irritable ovary should be removed to do away with the resulting ex- citability of the remainder of the generative organs. An irritable womb, with frequent straining and the ejection of a profuse secretion, may sometimes be corrected by a re- stricted diet and full but well-regulated work. Even fatigue will act beneficially in some such cases; hence the practice of the Arab riding his mare to exhaustion just before service The perspiration in such a case, like the action of a purgative or the abstraction of blood just before service, benefits by ren- dering the blood vessels less full, by lessening secretion in the womb and elsewhere, and thus counteracting the ten- dency to the ejection and loss of semen. If these means are ineffectual a full dose of camphor (two drachms) or of salacin may at times assist. Low condition and anaemia demands just the opposite kind of treatment — rich, nourishing, albu- minoid food, bitter tonics (gentian), sunshine, gentle exer- cise, liberal grooming and supporting treatment generally are here in order. Spasmodic closure of the neck of the womb is common and is easily remedied in the mare by dila- tation with the fingers. The hand, smeared with belladonna ointment and with the fingers drawn into the form of a cone, is introduced through the vagina until the projecting, rounded neck of 350 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. the womb is felt at its anterior end. This is opened by the careful insertion of one finger at a time until the fingers have been passed through the constricted neck into the open cavity of the womb. The introduction is made with a gentle, rotary motion, and all precipitate violence is avoided, as abrasion, laceration or other cause of irritation is likely to interfere with the retention of the semen and with impreg- nation. If the neck of the womb is rigid and unyielding from the induration which follows inflammation — a rare con- dition in the mare, though common in the cow — more force will be requisite, and it may even be needful to incise the neck to the depth of one-sixth of an inch in four or more opposite directions prior to forcible dilatation. The incision may be made with a probe-pointed knife, and should be done by a pro- fessional man if possible. The subsequent dilatation may be best effected by the slow expansion of sponge or seaweed tents inserted into the narrow canal. In such casas it is best to let the wounds of the neck heal before putting to horse. An imperforate hymen may be freely incised in a crucial manner until the passage will admit the human hand. An ordinary knife may be used for this purpose, and after the operation the stallion may be admitted at once or only after the wounds have healed. INDICATIONS OF PREGNANCY. As the mere fact of service by the stallion does not insure pregnancy it is important that the result should be deter- mined, to save the mare from unnecessary and dangerous work or medication when actually in foal, and to obviate wasteful and needless precautions when she is not. The cessation and non-recurrence of the symptoms of heat (horsing) is a most significant though not infallible sign of conception. If the sexual excitement speedily subsides and the mare persistently refuses the stallion for a month she is probably pregnant. In very exceptional cases a mare will accept a second or third service after weeks or months, though pregnant, and some mares will refuse the horse per- sistently, though conception has not taken place, and this in spite of warm weather, good condition of the mare, and lib- DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 351 eral feeding. The recurrence of heat in the pregnant mare is most likely to take place in hot weather. If heat merely persists an undue length of time after service, or if it reap- pears shortly after, in warm weather and in a comparatively idle mare on good feeding, it is less significant, while the persistent absence of heat under such conditions may be usu- ally accepted as proof of conception. An unwonted gentleness and docility on the part of a pre- viously irritable or vicious mare, and supervening on ser- vice, is an excellent indication of pregnancy, the generative instinct which caused the excitement having been satisfied. An increase of fat, with softness and flabbiness of muscle, a loss of energy, indisposition for active work, a manifesta- tion of laziness, indeed, and of fatigue early and easily in- duced, when preceded by service, will usually imply concep- tion. Enlargement of the abdomen, especially in its lower third, with slight falling in beneath the loins and hollowness of the back, are significant symptoms, though they may be entirely absent. Swelling and firmness of the udder, with the smooth- ing out of its wrinkles, is a suggestive sign, even though it appears only at intervals during gestation. A steady increase in weight (one and one-half pounds daily) about the fourth or fifth month is a useful indication of pregnancy. So is a swollen and red or bluish-red appear- ance of the vaginal mucous membrane. From the seventh or eighth month onward the foal may be felt by the hand (palm or knuckles) pressed into the ab- domen in front of the left stifle. The sudden push displaces the foal toward the opposite side of the womb and as it floats back its hard body is felt to strike against the hand. If the pressure is maintained the movements of the live foal are felt, and especially in the morning and after a drink of cold water, or during feeding. A drink of cold water will often stimulate the foetus to movements that may be seen by the eye, but an excess of iced water may prove injurious, even to the causing of abortion. Cold water dashed on the belly has a similar effect on the foetus and equally endangers abortion. Examination of the uterus with the oiled hand introduced 352 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. into the rectum is still more satisfactory, and if cautiously conducted no more dangerous. The rectum must be first emptied and then the hand carried forward until it reaches the front edge of the pelvic bones below, and pressed down- ward to ascertain the size and outline of the womb. In tne unimpre«rnated state the vagina and womb can be felt as a single rounded tube, dividing in front to two smaller tubes (the horns of the womb). In the pregnant mare not only the body of the womb is enlarged but still more so one of the horns (right or left), and on compression the latter is found to contain a hard, nodular body, floating in a liquid, which in the latter half of gestation may be stimulated by gentle pressure to manifest spontaneous movements. By this method the presence of the fostus may be determined as early as the third month. If the complete natural outline of the virgin womb cannot be made out careful examination should always be made on the right and left side for the enlarged horn and its living contents. Should there still be difficulty the mare should be placed on an inclined plane, with her hind parts lowest, and two assistants, standing on opposite sides of the body, should raise the lower part of the abdomen by a sheet passed beneath it. Finally the ear or stethoscope applied on the wall of the abdomen in front of the stifle may detect the beating of the foetal heart (125 per minute) and a blowing sound (the uterine sough), much less rapid and correspond- ing to the number of the pulse of the dam. It is heard most satisfactorily after the sixth or eighth month and in the absence of active rumbling of the bowels of the dam. DURATION OF PREGNANCY. Mares usually go about eleven months with young, though first pregnancies often last a year. Foals have lived when born at the three-hundredth day, so with others carried till the four-hundredth day. With the longer pregnancies there is a greater probability of male offspring. HYGIENE OF THE PREGNANT MARE. The pregnant mare should not be exposed to teasing by a young and ardent stallion, nor should she be overworked or fatigued, particularly under the saddle or on uneven ground. DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS 353 Yet exercise is beneficial to both mother and offspring, and in the absence of moderate work the breeding mare should be kept in a lot where she can take exercise at will. The food should be liberal but not fattening, oats, bran, sound hay, and other foods rich in the principles which form flesh and bone being especially indicated. All aliments that tend to indigestion are to be especially avoided. Thus rank, aqueous, rapidly-grown grass and other green food, partially ripe rye grass, millet, Hungarian grass, vetches, peas, beans, or maize are objectionable, as is over-ripe, fibrous, innutri- tious hay, or that which has been injured and rendered musty by wet, or that which is infested with smut or ergot. Food that tends to costiveness should be avoided. Water given often, and at a temperature considerably above freez- ing, will avoid the dangers of indigestions and abortions which resuJt from taking too much ice-cold water at one time. Very cold or frozen food is objectionable in the same sense. Severe surgical operations and medicines that act violently on the womb, bowels or kidneys are to be avoided as being liable to cause abortion. Constipation should be corrected if possible by bran mashes, carrots or beets, sec- onded by exercise, and if a medicinal laxative is required it should be olive oil or other equally bland agent. The stall of the pregnant mare should not be too narrow so as to cramp her when lying down or to entail violent efforts in getting up, and it should not slope too. much from the front backward as this throws the weight of the uterus back on the pel vis and endangers protrusions and even abor- tion. Violent mental impressions are to be avoided, for though the majority of mares are not affected thereby, yet a certain number are so profoundly impressed that peculiari- ties and distortions are entailed on the offspring. Hence there is wisdom shown in banishing parti-colored or object- ionably tinted animals and those that show deformities or faulty conformation. Hence, too, the importance of prevent- ing prolonged acute suffering by the pregnant mare, as cer- tain troubles of the eyes, feet, and joints in the foals have been clearly traced to the concentration oJ the mother's mind on corresponding injured organs in herself. Sire and dam 354 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. alike tend to reproduce their personal defects which predis- pose to disease, but the dam is far more likely to perpetuate the evil in her progeny which was carried while she was personally enduring severe suffering caused by such defects. Hence an active bone spavin or ringbone, causing lameness, is more objectionable than that in which the inflammation and lameness have both passed, and an active ophthalmia is more to be feared than even an old cataract. For this reason all active diseases in the breeding mare should be soothed and abated at as early a moment as possible. EXTRA-UTERINE GESTATION. It is rare in the domestic animals to find the foetus devel- oped elsewhere than in the womb. The exceptional forms are those in which the sperm of the male, making its way through the womb and Fallopian tubes, impregnates the ovum prior to its escape, and in which the now vitalized and growing ovum, by reason of its gradually increasing size, becomes imprisoned and fails to escape into the womb. The arrest of the ovum may be in the substance of the ovary it- self (ovarian pregnancy), in the Fallopian tube (tubal preg- nancy), or when by its continuous enlargement it has rup- tured its envelopes so that it escapes into the cavity of the abdomen it may become attached to any part of the serous membrane and draw its nourishment directly from that (abdominal pregnancy). In all such cases there is an in- crease and enlargement of the capillary blood-vessels at the point to which the embryo has attached itself so as to furnish the needful nutriment for the growing offspring. All appreciable symptoms are absent unless from the death of the foetus or its interference with normal functions gen- eral disorder and indications of parturition supervene. If these occur later than the natural time for parturition they are the more significant. There may be general malaise, loss of appetite, elevated temperature, accelerated pulse, with or without distinct labor pains. Examination with the oiled hand in the rectum will reveal the womb of the natural unimpregnated size and shape and with both horns of one size. Further exploration may detect an elastic mass apart DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 355 from the womb and in the interior of which may be felt the characteristic solid body of the foetus. If the latter is still alive and can be stimulated to move the evidence is even more perfect. The foetus may die and be carried for years, its soft structures becoming absorbed so as to leave only the bones, or by pressure it may form a fistulous opening through the vagina or rectum. In the latter cases the best course is to favor the expulsion of the foal and to wash out the result- ing cavity with a solution of carbolic acid one part to water fifty parts. This may be repeated daily. Where there is no spontaneous opening it is injudicious to interfere, as the danger from the retention of the foetus is less than that from septic fermentations in the enormous foetal sack when that has been opened to the air. MOLES— ANIDIAN MONSTERS. These are evidently products of conception in which the impregnated ovum has failed to develop naturally and pre- sents only a chaotic mass of skin, hair, bones, muscles, etc., attached to the inner surface of the womb by an umbilical cord which is itself often shriveled and wasted. They are usually accompanied by a well-developed foetus, so that tbe mole may be looked upon as a twin which has undergone arrest and vitiation of development. They are expelled by the ordinary process of parturition, and usually, at the same time, with the normally developed offspring. CYSTIC DISEASE OF THE WALLS OF THE -WOMB — VESICULAR MOLE. This condition appears to be due to hypertrophy (enlarge- ment) of the villi on the inner surface of the womb, which become greatly increased in number and hollowed out inter- nally into a series of cysts or pouches containing liquid. Unlike the true mole, therefore, they appear to be disease of the maternal structure of the womb rather than of the product of conception. Rodet, in a case of this kind which had produced active labor pains, quieted the disorder with anodynes and secured a recovery. Where this is not availa- ble attempts may be made to remove the mass with the 356 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. ecraseur or otherwise, following this up with antiseptic in- jections, as advised under the last heading. DROPSY OF THE WOMB. This appears as a result of some disease of the walls of the womb, but has been frequently observed after sexual congress, and has therefore been confounded with pregnancy. The symptoms are those of pregnancy, but without any movements of the foetus and without the detection of any solid body in the womb when examined with the oiled hand in the rectum. At the end of four or eight months there are signs of parturition or of frequent straining to pass urine, and after a time the liquid is discharged clear and watery, or muddy, thick and fetid. The hand introduced into the womb can detect neither foetus nor foetal membrane. If the neck of the womb closes the liquid may accumulate a second time, or even a third, if no means are taken to correct the tendency. The best resort is to remove any diseased product that may be found attached to the walls of the womb and to inject it daily with a warm solution of carbolic acid two drachms, chloride of zinc one-half drachm, water, one quart. A course of bitter tonics, gentian two drachms, sulphate of iron two drachms, daily, should be given, and a nutritious, easily digested and slightly laxative diet allowed. DROPSY OF THE AMNIOS. This differs from simple dropsy of the womb in that the fluid collects in the inner of the two water bags (that in which the foal floats) and not in the otherwise void cavity of the womb. This affection can occur only in the pregnant animal, while dropsy of the womb occurs in the unimpreg- nated. The blood of the pregnant mare contains an excess of water and a smaller proportion of albumen and red glob- ules, and when this is still further aggravated by poor feed- ing and other unhygienic conditions there is developed the tendency to liquid transudation from the vessels and dropsy. As the watery condition of the blood increases with advanc- ing pregnancy, so dropsy of the amnios is a disease of the last four or five months of gestation. The abdomen is large DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 357 and pendulous and the swelling fluctuates under pressure, though the solid body of the foetus can still be felt to strike against the hand pressed into the swelling. If the hand is introduced into the vagina the wound is found to be tense and round, with the projecting rounded neck effaced, while the hand in the rectum will detect the rounded swollen mass of the womb so firm and tense that the body of the foetus cannot be felt within it. The mare moves weakly and un- steadily on its limbs, having difficulty in supporting the great weight, and in bad cases there may be loss of appetite, stocking (dropsy) of the hind limbs, difficult breathing, and colicky pains. The tension may lead to abortion, or a slow, laborious parturition may occur at the usual time. Treatment consists in relieving the tension and accumula- tion by puncturing the foetal membrane with a canula and trocar introduced through the neck of the womb and the withdrawal of the trocar so as to leave the canula in situ. Or the membranes may be punctured with the finger and the excess of liquid allowed to escape. This may bring on abortion, cr the wound may close and gestation continue to the full term. A course of tonics (gentian root two drachms, sulphate of iron two drachms, daily) will do much to fortify the system and counteract further excessive effusion. DROPSY OF THE LIMBS, PERINEUM, AND ABDOMEN. The disposition to dropsy often shows itself in the hind and even in the fore limbs, around and beneath the vulva (perinaeum) and beneath the abdomen and chest. The affec- ted parts are swollen and pit on pressure, but are not espe- cially tender and subside more or less perfectly under exer- cise, hand-rubbing and bandages. In obstinate cases rubbing with the following liniment may be resorted to: Compound tincture of iodine, two ounces; tannic acid, one-half drachm; water, ten ounces. It does not last over a day or two after parturition. CRAMPS OF THE HIND LIMBS. The pressure of the distended womb on the nerves and blocd- vessels of the pelvis besides conducing to dropsy occa- sionally causes cramps of the hind limbs. The limb is 358 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. raised without flexing the joints, the front of the hoof being directed toward the ground, or the spasms occurring inter- mittently the foot is kicked violently against the ground several times in rapid succession. The muscles are felt to be firm and rigid. The cramps may be promptly relieved by active rubbing or by walking the animal about, and it does not reappear after parturition. CONSTIPATION. This may result from compression by the gravid womb and is beat corrected by a graduated allowance of boiled flax- seed. PARALYSIS. The pressure on the nerves of the pelvis is liable to cause paralysis of the hind limbs, or in the mare of the nerve of sight. These are obstinate until after parturition, when they recover spontaneously or under a course of nux vomica and (locally) stimulating liniments. PROLONGED RETENTION OF THE FOETUS (FOAL). In the mare, though far less frequently than in the cow, parturition may not be completed at term, and the foal may continue to be carried in the womb for a number of months, to the serious or even fatal injury of the mare. Hamon records one case in which the mare died after carrying the foetus for seventeen months, and Caillier a similar result after it had been carried twenty-two months. In these cases the foetus retained its natural form, but in one reported by Gohier the bones only were left in the womb amid a mass of apparently purulent matter. The cause may be any effective obstruction to the act of parturition, such as lack of contractile power 'in the womb, unduly strong (inflammatory) adhesions between the womb and the foetal membranes, wrong presentation of the foetus, contracted pelvis (from fracture, or disease of the bones), or disease and induration of the neck of the womb. The mere prolongation of gestation does not necessarily entail the death of the foal; hence the latter has been born alive at the four-hundredth day. Even when the foal has DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 859 perished putrefaction does not set in unless the membranes (water bags) have been ruptured and septic bacteria have been admitted to the interior of the womb. In the latter case a fetid decomposition advances rapidly and the mare usually perishes from poisoning with the putrid matters absorbed. At the natural period of parturition preparations are ap- parently made for that act. The vulva swells and discharges much mucus, the udder enlarges, the belly becomes more pendant, and the animal strains more or less. No progress is made, however; there is not even opening of the neck of the womb, and after a time the symptoms subside. The mare usually refuses the male, yet there are exceptions to this rule. If the neck of the womb has been opened and putrefying changes have set in in its contents the mare loses appetite and condition, pines, discharges an offensive matter from the generative passages, and dies of inflamma- tion of the womb and putrid infection. In other cases there is a slow wearing out of the strength and the mare finally dies of exhaustion. The treatment is such as will facilitate the expulsion of the foetus and its membranes and the subsequent washing out of the womb with disinfectants. So long as the mouth of the womb is closed time should be allowed for its natural dilata- tion, but if this does not come about after a day or two of straining the opening may be smeared with extract of bella- donna, and the oiled hand, with the fingers and thumb drawn into the form of a cone, may be inserted by slow oscillating movements into the interior of the womb. The water bags may now be ruptured, any mal presentation rectified (see "Difficult Parturition") and delivery effected. After re- moval of the membranes wash out the womb tirst with tepid water and then with a solution of two ounces of borax in half a gallon of water. This injection may have to be repeated if a discharge sets in. The same course may be pursued even after prolonged retention. If the soft parts of the foetus have been absorbed and the bones only left these must be carefully sought for and removed, and subsequent daily injections will be re- 860 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING, quired for some time. In such cases, too, a course of iron tonics (sulphate of iron, two drachms daily) will be highly beneficial in restoring- health and vigor. ABORTION. Abortion is, strictly speaking, the expulsion of the im- pregnated ovum at any period from the date of impregnation until the foal can survive out of the womb. If the foal is ad- vanced enough to live it is premature parturition, and in the mare this may occur as early as the tenth month (three- hundredth day). The mare may abort by reason of almost any cause that very profoundly disturbs the system. Hence very violent inflammations of important internal organs (bowels, kidneys, bladder, lungs) may induce abortion. Profuse diarrhoea, whether occurring from the reckless use of purgatives, the consumption of irritants in the food, or a simple indigestion, is an effective cause. No less so is acute indigestion with evolution of gas in the intestines (bloating). The presence of stone in the kidneys, ureters, bladder, or urethra may in- duce so much sympathetic disorder in the womb as to induce abortion. In exceptional cases wherein mares come in heat during gestation service by the stallion may cause abortion. Blows or pressure on the abdomen, rapid driving or riding of the pregnant mare, especially if she is soft and out oi con- dition from idleness; the brutal use of the spur or whip, and the jolting and straining of travel by rail or boat are prolific causes. Bleeding the pregnant mare, a painful surgical operation, and the throwing and constraint resorted to for an operation are other causes. Traveling on heavy, muddy roads, slips and falls on ice, and jumping must be added. The stimulation of the abdominal organs by a full drink of iced water may precipitate a miscarriage, as may exposure to a cold rain-storm or a very cold night after a warm day. Irritant poisons that act on the urinary or generative organs, such as Spanish flies, rue, savin, tansy, cotton-root bark, ergot of rye or other grasses, the smut of maize and other grain, and various fungi in musty fodder are additional causes. Frosted food, indigestible food, and above all green succulent DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 361 vegetables in a frozen state have proved effective factors, and filthy, stagnant water is dangerous. Low condition in the dam and plethora have in opposite ways caused abortion, and hot relaxing stables and lack of exercise strongly conduce to it. The exhaustion of the sire by too frequent service, en- tailing debility of the offspring and disease of the foetus or of its envelopes, must be recognized as a further cause. The symptoms vary mainly according as the abortion is early or late in pregnancy. In the first month or two of pregnancy the mare may miscarry without observable symp- toms and the fact only appear by her coming in heat. If more closely observed a small clot of blood may be found be- hind her, in which a careful search reveals the rudiments of the foal. If the occurrence is somewhat later in gestation there will be some general disturbance, inappetence, neigh- ing, and straining, and the small body of the foetus is ex- pelled enveloped in its membranes. Abortions during the later stages of pregnancy are attended with greater consti- tutional disturbance and the process resembles normal par- turition, with the aggravation that more effort and straining is requisite to force the foetus through the comparatively undilatable mouth of the womb. There is the swelling of the vulva, with mucus or even bloody discharge; the abdo- men droops, the flanks fall in, the udder fills, the mare looks at her flanks, paws with the fore feet and kicks with the hind, switches the tail, moves around uneasily, lies down and rises, strains, and, as in natural foaling, expels first mu- cus and blood, then the waters, and finally the foetus. This may occupy an hour or two, or it may be prolonged for a day or more, the symptoms subsiding for a time, only to reappear with renewed energy. If there is malpresentation of the foetus it will hinder progress until rectified, as in difficult parturition. Abortion may also be followed by the same ac- cidents, as flooding, retention of the placenta and leucorr- haea. The most important object in an impending abortion is to recognize it at as early a stage as possible, so that it may be if possible cut short and prevented. Any general indefin- able illness in a pregnant mare shov.ld lead to a close exam- 362 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. ination of the vulva as regards swelling1, vascularity of its mucous membrane and profuse mucous secretion, and above all any streak or staining of blood; also the condition of the udder, if that is congested and swollen. Any such indica- tion, with colicky pains, straining, however little, and active movement of the foetus or entire absence of movement, are suggestive symptoms and should be duly counteracted. The changes in the vulva and udder, with a soiled and bloody condition of the tail, may suggest an abortion already accomplished, and the examination with the hand in the vagina may detect the mouth of the womb soft and dilatable and the interior of the organ slightly filled with a bloody liquid. Treatment should be preventive if possible, and would embrace the avoidance of all causes mentioned, and particu- larly of such as may seem to be particularly operative in the particular case. Where abortions have already occurred in a stud, the especial cause in the matter of food, water, ex- posure to injuries, overwork, lack of exercise, etc., may often be identified and removed. A most important point is to avoid all causes of constipation, diarrhoea, indigestion, bloating, violent purgatives, diuretics or other potent med- icines, painful operations and slippery roads, unless well frosted. When abortion is imminent the mare should be placed alone in a roomy, dark, quiet .stall, and have the straining checked by some sedative. Laudanum is usually at hand and may be given in doses of one or two ounces, according to" size, and repeated after two or three hours, and even daily if necessary. Chloroform or chloral hydrate, three drachms, may be substituted if more convenient. These should be given in a pint or quart of water to avoid burning the mouth and throat. Or viburnum prunifoHum, one ounce, may be given and repeated if necessary to prevent straining. When all measures fail and miscarriage proceeds, all that can be done is to assist in the removal of the foetus and its membranes as in ordinary parturition. As in the case of re- tention of the foetus, it may be necessary after delivery to employ antiseptic injections into the womb to counteract DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 363 putrid fermentation. This, however, is less requisite in the mare than in the cow, in which the prevalent contagious abortion must he counteracted by the persistent local use of antiseptics. After abortion a careful hygiene is demanded, especially in the matter of pure air and easily digestible food. The mare should not be served again for a month or longer, and in no case until after all discharge from the vulva has ceased. SYMPTOMS OF PARTURITION. As the period of parturition approaches the swelling of the udder bespeaks the coming event, the engorgement in exceptional cases extending forward on the lower surface of the abdomen and even into the hind limbs. For about a week a serous fluid oozes from the teat and concretes as a yellow, wax-like mass around its orifice. About twenty-four hours before the birth this gives place to a whitish, milky liquid, which falls upon and mats the hairs on the inner sides of the legs. Another symptom is enlargement of the vulva, with redness of its lining membrane and the escape of glairy mucus. The belly droops, the flanks fall in, and the loins may even become depressed. Finally the mare becomes uneasy, stops feeding, looks anxious, whisks her tail, and may lie down and rise again. In many mares this is not repeated, but the mare remains down; violent contractions of the ab- dominal muscles ensue; after two or three pains the water- bags appear and burst, followed by the fore feet of the foal, with the nose between the knees, and by a few more throes the foetus is expelled. In other cases the act is accomplished standing. The whole act may not occupy more than five or ten minutes. This, together with the disposition of the mare to avoid observation, renders the act one that is rarely seen by the attendants The navel string, which connects the foal to the mem- branes, is ruptured when the foetus falls to the ground, or when the mare rises, if she has been down, and the mem- branes are expelled a few minutes later. 364 A TREATISE ON HORSE BREEDING. NATURAL PRESENTATION. When there is a single foal the common and desirable presentation is with the fore feet first, the nose between the knees, and with the front of the hoofs and knees and the forehead directed upward toward the anus, tail and croup. (Plate IX, Fig. 1.) In this way the natural curvature of the body of the foetus corresponds to the curve of the womb and genital passages, and particularly of the bony pelvis, and the foal passes with much greater ease than if it were placed with its back downward toward the udder. When there is a twin birth the second foal usually comes with its hind feet first, and the backs of the legs, the points of the hocks and the tail and croup are turned upward toward the anus and tail of the mare. (Plate IX, Fig. 2.) In this way, even with a posterior presentation, the curvature of the body of the foal still corresponds to that of the passages, and its expul- sion may ba quite as easy as in anterior presentation. Any presentation aside from these two may bs said to be abnor- mal and will be considered under "Difficult Parturition." DIFFICULT PARTURITION. With natural presentation this is a rare occurrence. The great length of' the fore limbs and face entail in the anterior presentation the formation of a long cone, which dilates and glides through the passages with comparative ease. Even with the hind feet first a similar conical form is presented and the process is rendered easy and quick. Difficulty and danger arise mainly from the act being brought on prema- turely before the passages are sufficiently dilated, from nar- rowing of the pelvic bones or other mechanical obstruction in the passages, from monstrous distortions or duplications in the foetus, or from the turning back of one of the mem- bers so that the elongated conical or wedge-shaped outline is done away with. But prompt as is the normal parturition in the mare, difficult and delayed parturitions are surrounded by special dangers and require unusual precautions and skill. From the proclivity of the mare to unhealthy inflammations of the peritoneum and other abdominal organs, penetrating wounds of the womb or vagina are liable to prove fatal. The DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 365 contractions of the womb and abdominal walls are so power- ful as to exhaust and banumb the arm of the assistant and to endanger penetrating wounds of the genital organs. By reason of the looser connection of the foetal membranes with the womb, as compared with those of ruminants, the violent throes early detach these membranes throughout their whole extent, and the foal, being thus separated from the mother and thrown on its own resources, dies at an early stage of any protracted parturition. The foal rarely sur- vives four hours after the onset of parturient throes. From the great length of the limbs and neck of the foal it is ex- tremely difficult to secure and bring up limb or head which has been turned back when it should have been presented. When assistance must be rendered the operator should don a thick woolen undershirt with the sleeves cut out at the shoulders. This protects the body and leaves the whole arm free for manipulation. Before inserting the arm it should be smeared with lard. This protects the skin against septic infection and favors the introduction of the hand and arm. The hand should be inserted with the thumb and fingers drawn together like a cone. Whether standing or lying the mare should be turned with head down hill and hind parts raised as much as possible. The contents of the abdomen gravitating forward leave much more room for manipula- tion. Whatever part of the foal is presented (head, foot) should be secured with a cord and running noosa before it is pushed back to search for the other missing parts. Evren if a missing part is reached no attempt should be made to bring it up during a labor pain. Pinclmng the back will sometimes check the pains and allow the operator to secure and bring up the missing member. In intractable cases a large dose of chloral hydrate (one ounce in a quart of water) or the in- halation of chloroform and air (equal proportions) to insensi- bility may secure a respite, during which the missing mem- bers may bs replaced. If the waters have been discharged and the mucus dried up the genital passages and the body of the foetus should be lubricated with lard or oil before any attempt at extraction is made. When the missing member has been brought up into position, and presentation has been 366 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. rendered natural, traction on the foetus must be made only during a labor pain. If a mare is inclined to kick it may be necessary to apply hobbles to protect the operator. PREMATURE LABOR PAINS. These may be brought on by any violent exertion, use under the saddle, or in heavy draft, or in rapid paces, or in travel by rail or sea, blows, kicks, crushing by other animals in a doorway or gate. Excessive action of purgative or diu- retic agents, or of agents that irritate the bowels or kidneys, like arsenic, Paris green, all caustic salts and acids, and acrid and narcotico-acrid vegetables, are equally injurious. Finally the ingestion of agents that stimulate the action of the gravid womb (ergot of rye or of other grasses, smut, various fungi of fodders, rue, savin, cotton-root, etc.) may bring on labor pains prematurely. Besides the knowledge that parturition is not yet due, there will be less enlargement, redness and swelling of the vulva, less mucous discharge, less filling»of the udder, and less appearances of wax and probably none of milk from the ends of the teats. The oiled hand introduced into the vulva will not enter with the ease usual at full term, and the neck of the womb will be felt not only closed, but with its project- ing papillae, through which it is perforated, not yet flattened down and effaced, as at full term. The symptoms are indeed those of threatened abortion, but at such an advanced stage of gestation as is compatible with the survival of the off- spring. The treatment consists in the separation of the mare from all other animals in a quiet, dark, secluded place, and the free use of anti-spasmodics and anodynes. Opium in drachm doses every two hours, or laudanum in ounce doses at similar intervals, will often suffice. When the more urgent symp- toms have subsided these doses maybe repeated thrice a day till all excitement passes off or until the passages have be- come relaxed and prepared for parturition. Viburnum pru- nifolium, in ounce doses, may be added if necessary. Should parturition become inevitable it may be favored and any necessary assistance furnished. DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS 367 DIFFICULT PARTURITION FROM NARROW PELVIS. A disproportion between the foetus got by a large stallion and the pelvis of a small dam is a serious obstacle to parturi- tion sometimes seen in the mare. This is not the rule, how- ever, as the foal up to birth usually accommodates itself to the size of the dam, as illustrated in the successful crossing of Percheron stallions on mustang mares. If the dispropor- tion is too great the only resort is embryotomy. FRACTURED HIP-BONES. More commonly the obstruction comes from distortion and narrowing of the pelvis as the result of fractures. (Plate XIV, Fig. 2. ) Fractures at any point of the lateral wall or floor of the pelvis are repaired with the formation of an ex- tensive bony deposit bulging into the passage of the pelvis. The displacement of the ends of the broken bone is another cause of constriction, and between the two conditions the passage of the foetus may be rendered impossible without embryotomy. Fracture of the sacrum (the continuation of the backbone forming the croup) leads to the depression of the posterior part of that bone in the roof of the pelvis and the narrowing of the passage from above downward by a bony ridge presenting its sharp edge forward. In all cases in which there has been injury to the bones of the pelvis the obvious precaution is to withhold the mare from breeding and to use her for work only. If a mare with a pelvis thus narrowed has got in foal in- advertently abortion may be induced in the early months of gestation by slowly introducing the oiled finger through the neck of the womb and following this by the other fingers until the whole hand has been introduced. Then the water- bags may be broken and with the escape of the liquid the womb will contract on the solid foetus and labor pains will ensue. The foetus being small it will pass easily. TUMORS IN THE VAGINA AND PELVIS. Tumors of various kinds may form in the vagina or else- where within the pelvis, and when large enough will ob- 368 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. struct or prevent the passage of the foetus. Gray mares, which are so subject to black pigment tumors (melanosis) on the tail, anus, and vulva, are the most likely to suffer from this. Still more rarely the wall of the vagina becomes re- laxed, and being pressed by a mass of intestines will protrude through the lips of the vulva as a hernial sac, containing a part of the bowels. Where a tumor is small it may only re- tard and not absolutely prevent parturition. A hernial pro- trusion of the wall of the vagina may be pressed back and emptied so that the body of the foetus engaging in the pas- sage may find no further obstacle. When a tumor is too large to allow delivery the only resort is to remove it, but before proceeding it must be clearly made out that the ob- struction is a mass of diseased tissue, and not a sac contain- ing intestines. If the tumor hangs by a neck it can usually be most safely removed by the ecraseur, the chain being passed around the pedicle and gradually tightened until that is torn through. HERNIA OF THE WOMB. The rupture of the musculo-fibrous floor of the belly and the escape of the gravid womb into a sac formed by the peri- toneum and skin hanging towards the ground is described by all veterinary obstetricians, yet it is very rarely seen in the mare. The form of the foetus can be felt through the walls of the sac, so that it is easy to recognize the condition. Its cause is usually external violence, though it may start from an umbilical hernia. When the period of parturition arrives the first effort should be to return the foetus within the proper abdominal cavity, and this can sometimes be ac- complished with the aid of a stout blanket gradually tight- ened around the belly. This falling, the mare may be placed on her side or back and gravitation brought to the aid of manipulation in securing the return. Even after the hernia has been reduced the relaxed state of the womb and abdomi- nal walls may serve to hinder parturition, in which case the oiled hand must be introduced through the vagina, the foetus brought into position, and traction coincident with the labor pains employed to secure delivery. DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE ORGANS. 369 TWISTING OF THE NECK OF THE WOMB. This condition is very uncommon in the mare, though occasionally seen in the cow, owing to the greater laxity of the broad ligaments of the womb in that animal. It consists in a revolution of the womb on its own axis, so that its right or left side will be turned upward (quarter* re volution), or the lower surface may be turned upward and the upper surface downward (half revolution). The effect is to throw the nar- row neck of the womb into a series of spiral folds, turning in the direction in which the womb has revolved, closing the neck and rendering distention and dilatation impossible. The period and pains of parturition arrive, but in spite of continued efforts no progress is made, neither water-bags nor liquids appearing. The oiled hand introduced into the closed neck of the womb will readily detect the spiral direc- tion of the folds on its inner surface. The method of relief which I have successfully adopted in the cow may be equally happy in the mare. The dam is placed (with her head up-hill) on her right side if the upper folds of the spiral turn toward the right, and on her left side if they turn toward the left; and the oiled hand is introduced through the neck of the womb and a limb or other part of the body of the foetus is seized and pressed against the wall of the womb, while two or three assistants turn the animal over her back toward the other side. The object is to keep the womb stationary while the animal is rolling. If success attends the effort the constriction around the arm is suddenly relaxed, the spiral folds are effaced, and the water-bags and foetus press forward into the passage. If the first attempt does not succeed it may be repeated again and again until success crowns the effort. Among my occasional causes of failure have been the prior death and decomposition of the foetus, with the extrication of gas and overdistention of the womb, and the supervention of inflammation and inflamma- tory exudation around the neck of the womb, which hinders untwisting. The first of these conditions occurs early in the horse from the detachment of the foetal membranes from the wall of the womb, and as the mare is more subject to fatal 370 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. peritonitis than the cow it may be concluded that both these sources of failure are more probable in the equine subject. When the case is intractable, though the hand may be easily introduced, the instrument shown in Plate VIII, Fig. 7, may be used. Each hole at the small end. of the instru- ment has passed through it a stout cord with a running noose, to be passed around two feet or other portion of the foetus which it 'may be possible to reach. The cords are then drawn tight and fixed around the handle of the instrument; then by using the cross-handle as a lever the foetus and womb may be rotated in a direction opposite to that causing the obstruction. During this process the hand must be intro- duced to feel when the twist has been undone. This method may be supplemented, if necessary, by rolling the mare as described above. EFFUSION OF BLOOD IN THE VAGINAL WALLS. This is common as a result of difficult parturition, but it may occur from local injury before that act and may seriously interfere with it. This condition is easily recognized by the soft, doughy swelling so characteristic of blood clots, and by the dark-red color of the mucous membrane. I have laid open such swellings with the knife as late as ten days before parturition, evacuated the clots, and dressed the wound daily with an astringent lotion (sulphate of zinc one drachm, car- bolic acid one drachm, water one quart). A similar resort might be had, if necessary, during parturition. CALCULUS (STONE) AND TUMOR IN THE BLADDER. The pressure upon the bladder containing a stone or a tumor may prove so painful that the mare will .voluntarily suppress the labor pains. Examination of the bladder with the finger introduced through the urethra will detect the offending agent. A stone should be extracted with forceps (see "Lithotomy"). The large papillary tumors which I have met with in the mare's bladder have been invariably delicate in texture and could be removed piecemeal by for- ceps. Fortunately mares affected in this way rarely breed. H«M».del afur Flemin J INSTRUMENTS USED IN DIFFICULT LABOR. 372 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. IMPACTION OF THE RECTUM WITH FAECES. In some animals, with more or less paralysis or weakness of the tail and rectum, the rectum may become so impacted with solid faeces that the mare is unable to discharge them, and the accumulation both by reason of the mechanical obstruction and the pain caused by pressure upon it will im- pel the animal to cut short all labor pains. The rounded swelling- surrounding the anus will at once suggest the con- dition, when the obstruction may be removed by the well- oiled or soaped hand. SPASM OF THE NECK OF THE WOMB. This occurs in the mare of specially excitable tempera- ment, or under particular causes of irritation, local or gen- eral. Labor pains, though continuing for some time, produce no dilatation of the neck of the womb, which will be found firmly closed so as to admit but one or two fingers, and this, although the projection at the mouth of the womb may have been entirely effaced, so that a simple round opening is left with rigid margins. The simplest treatment consists in smearing this part with solid extract of belladonna, and after an interval inserting the hand with fingers and thumb drawn into the form of a cone, rupturing the membranes and bringing the foetus into position for extraction, as advised under "Prolonged Reten- tion of the Foetus." Another mode is to insert through the neck of the womb an ovoid caoutchouc bag, empty, and fur- nished with an elastic tube twelve feet long. Carry the free end of this tube upward to a height of eight, ten or twelve feet, insert a filler into it, and proceed to distend the bag with tepid or warm water. FIBROUS BANDS CONSTRICTING OR CROSSING THE NECK OF THE WOMB. These occurring as the result of disease have been several times observed in the mare. They may exist in the cavity of the abdomen and compress and obstruct the neck of the womb, or they may extend from side to side of the vagina across and just behind the neck of the womb. In the latter PLATE DC, NORMAL PRESENTATIONS. 374 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. position they may be felt and quickly remedied by cut- ting them across. In the abdomen they can only be reached by incision, and two alternatives are presented: (1) To per- form embryotomy and extract the foetus piecemeal; and (2) to make an incision into the abdomen and extract by the Caesarian operation, or simply to cut the constricting band and attempt delivery by the usual channel. FIBROUS CONSTRICTION OF VAGINA OR VULVA. This is probably always the result of direct mechanical injury and the formation of rigid cicatrices which fail to di- late with the remainder of the passages at the approach of parturition. The presentation of the foetus in the natural way and the occurrence of successive and active labor pains without any favorable result will direct attention to the rigid and unyielding cicatrices, which may be incised at one, two or more points to a depth of half an inch or more, after which the natural expulsive efforts will usually prove effective. The resulting wounds may be washed frequently with a solution of one part of carbolic acid to 50 parts of water, or of 1 part of mercuric chloride to 500 parts of water. FOETUS ADHERENT TO THE WALLS OF TI1E WOMB. In inflammation of the mucous membrane lining the cavity of the womb and implicating the foetal membranes the re- sulting embryonic tissue sometimes establishes a medium of direct continuity between the womb and foetal membranes; the blood vessels of the one communicate freely with those of the other and the fibers of the one are prolonged into the other. This causes retention of the membranes after birth and a special risk of bleeding from the womb and of septic poisoning. In exceptional cases the adhesion is more exten- sive and binds a portion of the body of the foal firmly to the womb, In such cases it has repeatedly been found impossible to extract the foal until such adhesions were broken down. If they can be reached with the hand and recognized they may be torn through with the tingers or with a blunt hook, after which delivery may be attempted with hope of success. 376 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. EXCESSIVE SIZE OF THE FOETUS. It would seem that a small mare may usually be safely bred to a large stallion, yet this is not always the case, and when the small size is an individual rather than a racial charac- teristic or the result of extreme youth the rule cannot be expected to hold. There is always great danger in breeding the young, small, and undeveloped female, and the dwarfed representative of a larger breed, as the offspring tend to partake of the large race characteristics and to show them even prior to birth. When impregnation has occurred in the very young or in the dwarfed female there are two alter- natives— to induce abortion or to wait until there are at- tempts at parturition and to extract by embryotomy if im- practicable otherwise. CONSTRICTION OF A MEMBER BY THE NAVEL, STRING. In man and animals alike the winding of the umbilical cord round a member of the foetus sometimes leads to the am- putation of the latter. It is also known to get wound around the neck or a limb at birth, but in the mare this does not se- riously impede parturition, as the loosely attached mem- branes are easily separated from the womb and no strangula- tion or retarding occurs. The foal may, however, die from the cessation of the placental circulation unless it is speedily delivered. WATER IN THE HEAD (HYDROCEPHALUS) OF THE FOAL. This consists in the excessive accumulation of liquid in the ventricles of the brain so that the cranial cavity is en- larged and constitutes a great projecting rounded mass occu- pying the space from the eyes upward. (See Plate XIV, Pig. 3.) With an anterior presentation (fore feet and nosa) this presents an insuperable obstacle to progress, as the dis- eased cranium is too large to enter the pelvis at the same time with the fore arms. With a posterior presentation (hind feet) all goes well until the body and shoulders have passed out, when progress is suddenly arrested by the great bulk of the head. In the first case the oiled hand intro- Tfruisverse pres&Uativn-tfpcr view. «rf>«- Fleming Haines. after Fleming. ABNORMAL PRESENTATIONS. 878 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. duced along the face detects the enormous size of the head, which may be diminished by puncturing it with a knife or trocar and canula in the median line, evacuating the water and pressing in the thin bony walls. With a pos- terior presentation the same course must be followed; the hand passed along the neck will detect the cranial swelling, which may be punctured with a knife or trocar. Often- times with an anterior presentation the great size of the head leads to its displacement backward and thus the fore limbs alone engage in the passages. Here the first object is to seek and bring up the missing head and then puncture it as above suggested. DROPSY OF THE ABDOMEN IN THE FOAL— ASCITES. The accumulation of liquid in the abdominal cavity of the foetus is less frequent, but when present it may arrest parturition as completely as will hydrocephalus. With an anterior presentation the foal may pass as far as the shoul- ders, but behind this all efforts fail to secure a further ad- vance. With a posterior presentation the hind legs as far as the thighs may be expelled, but at this point all progress ceases. In either- case the oiled hand passed inward by the side of the foal will detect the enormous distention of the abdomen and its soft, fluctuating contents. The only course is to puncture the cavity and evacuate the liquid. With the anterior presentation this may be done with a long trocar and canula, introduced through the chest and diaphragm; or with a knife an incision may be made between the first two ribs and the lungs and heart cut or torn out, when the diaphragm will be felt projecting strongly forward and may be easily punctured. Should there not be room to introduce the hand through the chest the oiled hand may be passed along beneath the breast bone and the abdomen punctured. With a posterior presentation the abdomen must be punc- tured in the same way, the hand, armed with a knife protected in its palm, being passed along the side of the flank or be- tween the hind limbs. It should be added that moderate dropsy of the abdomen is not incompatible with natural delivery, the liquid being at first crowded back into the FL.ATB Xfi, ABNORMAL, PRESENTATIONS. 380 ' A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. portion of the belly still engaged in the womb and passing slowly from that into the advanced portion as soon as that has cleared the narrow passage of the pelvis and passed out where it can expand. GENERAL DROPSY OP THE FOETUS. In this case the tissues generally are distended with liquid and the skin is found at all points tense and rounded and pit- ting on pressure with the fingers. In some such cases deliv- ery may be effected after the skin has been punctured at narrow intervals to allow the escape of the fluid and then liberally smeared with fresh lard. More commonly, how- ever, it cannot ba reached at all points to be so punctured, nor sufficiently reduced to be extracted whole, and resort must be had to embryotomy. SWELLING OF THE FCETUS WITH GAS— EMPHYSEMA. This has been described as occurring in a living foetus, but I have only met with it in the dead and decomposing foal after futile efforts have been made for several days to effect delivery. These cases are very difficult ones, as the foal is inflated to such an extent that it is impossible to advance it into the passages, and the skin of the foetus and the walls of the womb and vagina have become so dry that it is impracti- cable to cause the one to glide on the other. The hair comes off any part that may be seized, and the case is rendered the more offensive and dangerous by the very feted liquids and gases. The only resort is embryotomy, by which I have suc- ceeded in saving a valuable mare that had carried a colt in this condition for four days. CONTRACTIONS OF MUSCLES. The foal is not always developed symmetrically, but certain groups of muscles are liable to remain short or to shorten because of persistent spasmodic contraction, so that even the bones become distorted and twisted. This is most common in the neck. The bones of this part and even of the face are drawn to one side and shortened, the head being held firmly to the flank and the jaws being twisted to the right or left. PLATE Jtnterior presentation,. ff«ui lurnc. Service of mare, managing the stallion at, 116. Sex, controlling the. 82. Sexual sluggishness, 317 Shales horse, the, 247. Sheath, foul. 318. cancer of the, 312. Shetland ponies, 291. produced by climatic influences, 15. Shire and Clydesdale blended, 269. Shire horses, English, 254. type of the (illustration), 263. Shire Horse Stud Book, 259. Signs of approaching parturition, 156, 174, 363. Signs of heat, or oestrum, 167. pregnancy, 169, 350. Size of sire and dam, relative. 62. Skimmed milk for colts, 160. Sluggishness, sexual, 317. Soundness, importance of, 89. Spain, the horses of, 187. Speed of American trotters, 213. Spencer, Herbert, on In-breeding, 50, 53. Spermatorrhoea, 317. Sports, 28. Spotted horses, 187. Stables, how they should be lighted, 297. Stable management of the stallion, 108. Stallions, accidents and diseases of, 310-335. cancer of the penis and sheath, 312. cryptorchids, or rtdgelings, 321, 343. dourioe, 340. excessive venery, 315. external injuries to, 310. foul sheath, 318, 345. inflammation of tue penis, 311, 345. inflammation of the testicles, 311, 335. mal da colt, 340. masturbation, 319, 340. non-emission, or "proudness," 316. paralysis of the penis, 312, 339. sarcocele, 337. scrotal hernia, 313. sexual sluggishness, 317. spermatic cord, tumors on the, 346. spermatorrhoaa, 319. sterility, causes of, 347. varicocele, 338. vesicular eruption of the penis, 318. waterbag, so-called, 315. Stallions, brood mares and foals, 88. Stallions, controlling, when in use, 114. aversion of to mare, how remedied, 121. bridle for described, 114. condition for the stud, 104. danger from overfeeding, 110. effect of castration on, 138. effect of age, 126. exercise for, 106. fighting. 141. 428 INDEX, Stallions, management of, 104. management of the, after season closes, 135. nostrums not good for, 104. number of mares to be served by, should not be drugged, 104. stalls for, 108. superior to mares and geldings in courage, 138. sureness of not affected by number of mares served, 121. teaching to mount, 114. Starving process condemned, 166. Statistics of breeding, 133. Sterility, causes of, 145, 347. Strangles, or distemper, 306. Suffolk Punch, 288. type of the (illustration), 289. Sugar, effect of on the eye, 298. Super-impregnation, 327. Sure stallion, what is a, 132. Tartary, the horses of, 185. Teaching the foal to drink, 163. Teazing by the stallion, 119. Teeth, effect of on the eye, 298. age Indicated by, 404. Testicles, inflammation of the, 311. Theories of sex production, 82. Thoroughbreds, 188. hardiness of, 57. In America, 202. type of the (illustration), 189. Time of foaling, 154. Trotters and roadsters, 205. Trotters, Orloff, 233. Trotter, type of the (illustration), 207. Trotting blood, foundation for, 215. Trying mares, 118. Tufted-tailed horses, 186. Tumors, vaginal and uterine, 324. Turkey, horses of, 185. Turner, G. T., on Cleveland Bays, 244. Udder, inflamed, 178, 401. the, as a sign of parturition, 156. Umbilical hernia, 300. Unnatural presentation, 386. Uterine tumors, 324. Vaginal and uterine tumors, 324. Variations, accidental, 28, 29. Value of pedigree, 59. Venery, excessive, 315. Violent crosses, effect of, 44. Waterbag in stallions, 315. Weaning the foal, 162. White horses of Persia and Syria, 187. Wild horses, various types of, 184. Wolf teeth, 299. Womb, closure of the, 148. sympathetic excitement of, 150. Working brood mares, 162, 167, 170. stallions, 106. Worms in the Intestines, 305. Wroot's Pretender, 248. Toung mares should not be bred, 177. stallions, number of mares to be served by, 122. JOHN REYNDERS & CO., Superior Veterinary Instruments. LATEST CATALOGUE FREE ON APPLICATION. QUALITY FIRST; THEN PRICE. SPECIALTIES: Slings, Securing Harness, Dental Outfits, Emas- culators, Thermo Cauteries, Thoroughpin and Bog-Spavin Trusses, Etc., Etc. 303 Fourth Ave., New York. New mouth opener, with set screw or ratchet, $5. Legging of elastic ma- terial, *5 to $7.50. CHICAGO VETERINARY COLLEGE. FOUNDED 1883. Chartered by the State of Illinois, TRUSTEES: R. J. WITHERS, President. A. H. BAKER, Treasurer. JOSEPH HUGHES, Secretary. The profession of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery is recog- nized to-day as one of the most important of the age and holds out greater inducements to well-educated young men than any other. The instruction given in this school is Thoroughly Scientific and Practical. THE COLLEGE COURSE COMMENCES YEARLY DURING THE FIRST WEEK IN OCTOBER. For prospectus and further particulars address the Secretaryv JOSEPH HUGHES, M. R. C. V. S., 2537-39 State Street, Chicago, 111. THE STAR COIL SPRING SHAFT SUPPORT And Anti-Rattler. g Fast selling; always gives satisfaction. fZ No weight on horse. Worth twice the cost *" for convenience in hitching up. Agents > wanted. Circulars free. Order sample. PRICE, $1.50. State rights for sale. THE DECATUR SHAFT SUPPORT CO,, DECATUR, IIX. THE BREEDER'S GAZETTE, An Illustrated Weekly of from 20 to 28 Pages, IS CONCEDED TO BE The Foremost Farm \ Stock Journal of the Day, IT MAKES A SPECIALTY OF LIVE-STOCK, CROP AND MARKET REPORTS, AND Its Discussions of Feeding Problems ABE THE MOST VALUABLE NOW APPEARING IN The Entire American Agricultural Press. It treats of beef, pork, and mutton making, the breeding and management of both beef and dairy cattle, sheep and swine, and in all things pertaining to HORSE-BREEDING, whether relating to draft, coach, or trotting stock, it is a recognized authority. Single Subscription, one year, $2,00 Agents wanted everywhere. Sample copies on application. Address J. H. SANDERS PUBLISHING CO., CHICAGO, ILL. ''o I ^Cx^Tl f ; ; . ..-- Ztx^OQ . . Cvl U //£ .\V\.V\--li UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. le: 25 cents on first day overdue 50 cents on fourth day overdue ov Oct? RECEIVED PR28'67-9PM REC'D LD F£B 191957 LIBRARY USE APR 28 1967 REC'D LD LD 21-100m-12,'46(A201'2si6)4120 21197721 BEC.CIR.OCT }7 77 g%o/3i\ %*;••• r;< \LiL'~ ^sliKsS?*:- LIBRARY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED Si7i2A U^ro^jtglitad. -j — 'kL^u -). .^-J^e> -u-ojs"--^.*.— TV— T. ^s^rrtr -. rr=v/ -^^^ m IHff ;