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Show PROFIT IN HORSE RAISING. There are one-idea men who will not listen for a moment to an argument in favor of breeding horses for speed. They point with holy horror at the gangs of cut throats that follow horse-racing as a profession, and "that settles it" with them.<br><br> That breeding horses for speed has added greatly to our agricultural wealth no intelligent and candid man will deny. The breeding of any class of domestic animals may be made respectable or otherwise as the breeder may choose to make it.<br><br> To make a financial success of breeding fast horses, either trotters or runners, one needs to be particularly adapted to it, and have circumstances favorable. Occasionally a farmer happening to own a good mare, by a chance, fortunate nick, produces a colt that proves a winning trotter; but it usually passes through the hands of one or more professionals before it gains any prominence, and even then proves as much of a misfortune as the drawing of a lottery prize, for it frequently turns the heads of many others, and they act about "raising a trotter," and although they spend large sums of money and much valuable time, 99 per cent of them fail.<br><br> One great obstacle in the way of ordinary farmers raising trotters is, very few have the time or ability to develop them, and hence they must be put into the hands of a professional who often either ruins them or keeps them back till the owner, disgusted and discouraged by the expense, sells them for a song.<br><br> If the time and money that has been wasted during the past twenty-five years in attempting to raise trotters by farmers and others entirely unfitted for the business, had been used on developing some other class of horses, their efforts might have been eminently successful.<br><br> There is now, and always will be, a paying demand for large, stylish coach and general purpose horses, weighing from 1,200 to 1,300 pounds, standing from sixteen to sixteen and a half hands high, symmetrical in their proportion, easy and graceful in their motions, full of nerve and ambition, but pleasant in disposition. Such horses will not only be valuable at home and on the farm, but will always command ready sale at remunerative prices. They command from $600 to $2,000 per pair in large cities, according to their size, style and action. The latter qualifications depend much upon the training and fitting.<br><br> Many farmers are capable of handling profitably this class of horses either by breeding or buying up and fitting for market, and at the same time doing all ordinary work on the farm.<br><br> Another class of horses always profitable, and requiring less care and time in fitting for market, is the heavy draft. They may be allowed to run wild until within a few weeks of sale, or they may be taken up at three years, and work moderately for two years, and more than earn their keeping while maturing into hard horses, and then be sold at prices ranging from $300 to $600 per pair at home.<br><br> The general revival of business has increased the demand for draft horses with an advance of from 25 to 50 per cent in price, which promises to increase still more.<br><br> It is to be hoped that farmers will look to their interests, and not allow buyers to coax away a first-class brood mare by offering a large price, nor induced to purchase or use an inferior stallion by a glib-tongued sharp dealer.<br><br> "Like produces like." The strong points of a pure bred sire are sure to be transmitted to his offspring, be they good or bad. Breeders must learn that much of success depends upon the mare, and that the weight of the stallion is only one essential in the production of first class draft horses. He must have weight and also proportions in keeping.<br><br> The claim that a "big horse will sell if he is homely" is a delusion and a snare. A handsome draft-horse will often outsell a homely one by a hundred per cent.<br><br> The science of horse-breeding has been carried to greater perfection in England than in any other country, and one might as well try to buy one of his children of an English breeder as his brood mares, unless he happened to have a surplus; and in the selection of a stallion English breeders are very critical; he must have the requisite weight, possess all the indications of strength and endurance, massive shoulders well supported with muscle, deep chest, rib and flank, short, wide back, and strong loin, long quarters and heavy stifle, the muscles running well down to the hock, the bone heavy, the leg short, flat, wide and clean, joints strong but not rough, feet round, moderately large but not flat, and in texture very tough.<br><br> The production of hair on the legs is a matter of fashion, and varies with the breeder's fancy in different countries, but the surplus hair soon disappears when crossed on other breeds.<br><br> With such a formation, it is no wonder that the English horses have attained a world-wide reputation for indomitable pluck and iron constitutions.<br><br> Their characteristics have been fixed by generations of judicious breeding. They have been imported to the United States from time to time since the early settlements, sometimes as Clydesdales and sometime under the true name, and have been eminently successful in producing lively, strong horses, both for heavy draft and farming purposes.<br><br> A careful consideration of how to improve farm horses, and the relative value of the different breeds will be a profitable subject for the leisure winter hours. |