How To Succeed In Horse Breeding
In the preceding chapter we discussed the subject of breeding from a philosophical
standpoint. We called the reader's attention to the fact that the successful breeding of
any class of animals demands, on the part of the one who attempts it, a most thorough
knowledge of the structure, temperament, and habits of those animals whose species he
would propagate. We reminded him that the horse belongs to an order of animals of high
organization, both nervous and muscular, so high as to be easily marked by those from
which he descended ; and that, in order to breed fine horses successfully, he must become
a student of one of the most intricate and difficult problems in natural history. We now
propose to point out some of the more palpable means of success in detail. At the risk of
reiteration, we would say to every young man in New England who is proposing in his own
mind to raise a certain number of colts. Put yourself in the way of learning something of
the business upon which you are to enter. To your own observation add the observation of
other men. Re-enforce your own knowledge with the wisdom of those who have grown gray in
the business. Above all, become a student of the horse. Obtain such books as you need to
inform your mind of the history, habits, and peculiarities of the animal you admire. Make
yourself familiar with the history of the noted horses of your own country, and also of
other lands. Make yourself acquainted also with their shape, size, peculiarity of going,
character of their temperament, and the ancestry from which they sprang. Study pedigrees,
that you may know by the union of what bloods, and the intermarriage of what families,
great results have been obtained. Study the horse, not only with the eye, but with the
hand and finger. Make yourself familiar with every joint and bone and tendon. Know the
horse in his skeleton, until you know the place of every bone, muscle, and member of his
frame. No one ever knows a horse by merely looking at him : he must look through him as
well.
Learn to distinguish the weak points and good points of a horse at sight as an artist
distinguishes a mere daub from a finished picture at a glance. If you intend to make
breeding a business, it is a good plan to engage yourself to some practical breeder, and
remain with him until you have mastered the minutiae of the business, and become familiar
with the hundred and one points of interest that can be learned only by actual service on
a brood-farm. The reader will see, that, while I demand no more than is universally
admitted to be the condition of success in other branches of business, I do demand this ;
and I lay it down as a law, which executes its own penalty when transgressed, that he who
breeds a horse while ignorant of the correct principles of breeding will breed a failure.
If he ever make a success, it will be based on no broader and surer foundation than mere
luck. The second point, in the way of suggestion, that I make, is this : Whoever wishes
to raise a fine colt must be willing to put himself to a certain amount of trouble and
expense. There is an old saying, " that the gods never drop nuts already cracked into
men's mouths; " and it is the law which runs through the world, and puts its equal
pressure upon all, that the effort put forth shall exactly gauge the degree of success.
Now, the country is full of men who are ambitious to raise a five-hundred-dollar colt,
but who are at the same time unwilling to be at any considerable trouble or expense to do
it. They wish the five-hundred-dollar colt ; but they wish to get it in such a way, that
it shall not cost them over fifty or seventy -five dollars: in other words, they desire
some three or four hundred per cent return for the money invested. It is needless for me
to say that such an expectation is futile. In the very nature of things, it can never be
realized. The law of cause and effect is against it. It is not difficult for an
intelligent breeder to raise a five-hundred-dollar colt ; it is not extravagant for such
a person to expect to raise a colt, which, at five years of age, shall command a thousand
dollars for every year of his age : but it costs time, attention, and considerable money,
to insure such a result. An ordinary dam will not produce such a colt. An ordinary
stallion will not beget such an animal. To raise a handsome and fast-moving colt, you
must have handsome and fast-moving parents to bring him forth, and favorable conditions
of birth and culture such as money and intelligence can alone provide. Like produces like
; and a fine-blooded colt must have fine-blooded parentage. This is a law ; and no 'one
can escape its application. Stallions whose service can be obtained for ten or twenty
dollars, and mares of low blood and negative characters, can never beget or conceive such
a foal. If you are willing to pay for a mare, and for the service of a stallion, of the
needed character, and then are willing to bestow upon the dam, before and after the foal
is cast, the proper management, your expectation can be realized ; otherwise not. Luck
has nothing to do with breeding.
Knowledge, and a wise use of means, can alone secure you what you desire. You can ignore
this rule, and fail ; you can comply with it, and succeed. The election rests with
yourself I will now proceed to suggest certain facts, and items of information, of a
character to assist the breeder in his enterprise. I say, suggest for no statement which
I may make is supposed to be able to take the place of thought on the part of the
breeder. You must use your own mind, reader, say what I or any one may. My object, then,
is to help you think, to stimulate you to thoughtfulness, to make you a student of the
question yourself, rather than impose upon you certain deductions I may have made, and
insist upon your accepting them as the ultimate truth. Indeed, there is much of mystery
hanging around this matter of procreation. What is this power which shapes things yet to
be ? What is it that dictates structure, temperament, destiny, causing the initial germ
to be prophetic of the perfected result ? It is difficult to answer, I know of no one who
has answered these questions ; nor do I expect to solve the problem : I only make my
contribution toward the fuller discussion of the subject. I simply propose to lay before
the reader the conclusions which my mind, in examination of the subject, has already
reached, with the reasons therefore. In addition to knowledge, certain means and
facilities are needed in order to make breeding a success. Some money, and more care,
must be spent in the enterprise. The stall in which the brood-mare is kept should be dry
and roomy. A damp stall, where the mare stands and sleeps on a manure-heap pervaded with
the odor of ammonia and decaying substances, is totally unfit, as any sensible man can
see, for an animal so sensitively organized, and in such a delicate condition.
The brood-mare should have a good-sized stall in which to stand during her pregnancy, and
be well and warmly bedded, and in every way well treated. Not only humane impulse, but
pure selfishness, prompts the owner to this. In a narrow stall, ill kept, the mare is
liable to get " cast," and, in her struggles, so displace the foal from its natural
position, that, when the time of foaling comes, the colt can be delivered only with the
greatest effort and pain, if indeed it can be at all. Many brood-mares are annually lost
from this cause alone. The worst accident that can happen to a brood-mare when in foal is
this getting " cast " in her stall. It should be most carefully guarded against.
Especially tie with a short halter. The man who "ties long," as grooms say, warn once;
and, if he does not heed your warning, discharge. Have no mercy on him : such
carelessness is too gross and fearful in its consequences, often, to be tolerated in the
management of valuable horses. I came near losing one of my finest brood-mares, a
thorough-bred from the South, from this vicious method of tying in the stall. The groom
left the halter so long, that, when she started to get up, she reached one of her
fore-legs over the rope ; and there she was ! In her struggles, the rope cut into the
fore-arm, tearing the hide and flesh away from the muscles, and causing a most ugly
wound. Good treatment and a sound constitution in a state of entire healthfulness brought
her out of the peril in safety; but that groom never " ties long " now ! Near the time of
foaling, say two or three weeks previous, the dam should be put into a " breeding box
" or " foaling-stall." This should be some twelve by twenty feet in size, well strewn with
tan-bark, saw-dust (dry), gravel, or sand ; indeed, with any thing that will make a soft,
warm bottom. Over this the straw-bedding should be strewn a foot deep at least. If the
mare is inclined to eat her bedding, put a muzzle on her (an ordinary wire or splint
ox-basket will answer) ; for it is not wise to have the mare fill her stomach with coarse
feed at this time. The floor should be level, and "banked up" a little round the sides and
in the corners, lest in rolling, or perhaps in the act of foaling itself, the mare should
get over upon her back, or doubled up in a corner in such a way as to embarrass her. Too
much care cannot be exercised by the breeder at this juncture ; for it is the time when
every thing may be lost by inattention and neglect. And I put it down among the
necessities of a breeder's outfit, that he construct a good foaling-box for the mare, and
attend to the matter essentially as I have suggested. Such a box is not necessarily
expensive. I have seen those that cost five hundred dollars, and others that did not
exceed fifteen ; and, for all practical purposes, the one was as good as the other. The
conditions I suggest are not those essential for ornament, but for safety. Another matter
of prime importance to a breeder is this : How far is he from a good stock-horse ?
Transportation costs : it is also perilous. When the writer began to breed, he was
compelled to transport his broodmares two hundred miles to be covered. He has seen half
his stable of choice animals go rushing along through the darkness and fog in a miserable
old freight-car, at the rate of thirty miles an hour ; and the sensation he experienced
was not an agreeable one. A man dislikes to see his property treated in that way,
especially if it is property selected with care and at large expense, and of a character
not easily to be duplicated. The expense, also, is considerable, and eats into the
profits disastrously. I presume my first three colts cost me, when weaned, four hundred
dollars each. Even at that price, it paid ; but it lessened the per cent of profit
decidedly. Among the conditions of success in breeding, therefore, I place this as ağ
prime one, local nearness, and easy access to a desirable stock-horse. The cost of his
service is of less account, because this is generally settled by the reputation of
himself and his get ; and so the breeder shares in the profit of his fame with the owner.
But the distance of his stable from yours, which includes transportation, with its
attendant cost and risks ; the interruption it brings to your business, &c., these
must be carefully considered by the breeder, or he will find that his profit is gone
before the colt is foaled.
A distance that he can drive in two days is of no great moment ; but farther than this I
should advise no breeder who is breeding on business-principles, for financial profit, to
go. To attempt to breed from a stock-horse at a great distance from your stables, is, so
far as my experience and observation go, unwise, and likely to result in loss. Above all,
it is folly to breed inferior stock. Nothing is to be made from it, as mountains of
testimony prove. " The best or none " should be the motto of the Eastern breeder. There
are other conditions of success to be enumerated ; but, as they relate more to the
knowledge derived from the study of the horse himself than in the surroundings and
appointments of the establishment, they more naturally fall into another division of this
work ; to which we now invite the reader's attention. Let us now consider the principles
that underlie successful propagation of the horse, and the elements needed in either
parent.
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