The horse book; a practical treatise on the American horse breeding industry as allied to the farm

Front matter

o

4mm

A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE AMERICAN

PART II.— THE BREEDS. What is a Breed ? 149

DRAFT TYPES.

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

tonnais, Ardennais and Mulassiere 154-165

The Belgian 166

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

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

Morgan, Orloff 186-198

The Coach Breeds. — French Coacher, German Coacher,

Cleveland Bay and Yorkshire Coacher 197-212

Hackney and Hackney Pony 213

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

Saddler, Hunter, Polo Ponies 220-229

The Pony Breeds. — Shetland, Welsh 230-233

Range Horses 234

Three famous Stallions — McQueen, Holland Major and

Brilliant 238

Appendix

Stallion lien laws of all states and territories where such

legislation has been enacted 272

List of stud books recognized by the United States Department of Agriculture 298

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page. ^

Extremes meet Frontispiece

Restored fossil skeleton of Eohippus Facing 8

Asiatic White Ass 9

Prjevalski's Horse 10 /

Burchell Zebra . .- 11

Skeleton of pulling draft horse 27 '

Breeding Hopples 65'

Mares and foals in pasture 93 '

Finished drafters ready to ship Ill

The Armour champion draft geldings 114,

A Mulassiere stallion 155'-

A Percheron type — Imported 160

A Percheron type — Bred on the Western Range 162,,

Type of the Boulonnais 164.

A Nivernais type 165-

An Ardennais type 165,

Type of the Bretonnais drafter 165/

A Belgian type , 166 ■'

A rugged Clydesdale 173 .

A Quality Clydesdale. — Type popular in Scotland 176

A Quality Shire 178

A Shire type popular in England 179.

Shire mare and foal 180

A Suffolk type 183

A typical Thoroughbred 186

Lou Dillon, 1 :58 i/o 190 ,

Dan Patch, 1 :55 191

Famous sire of roadsters and speed 192

Trotting-bred heavy harness horse 193

French Coacher. — Trotting type 202/

French Coacher. — Carrossier type 204 -

A German Coacher 206-

Yorkshire Coach stallion 211 ,

Hackney. — Under 15.2 hands 213

Hackney. — Over 15.2 hands 214/

A small Hackney Pony 218

Hackney Pony. — Medium size 219,

Five-gaited Saddle stallion 220

A five-gaited Saddler on parade 222

Three-gaited saddle horse 226-

Heavy-weight hunter 227

A light-weight hunter 228 .

Colorado-bred polo ponies 229

The Celtic Pony. — An aboriginal type - 230

Group of Shetland Ponies 231

Scotch Highland Garron 232

A champion Welsh Pony 233/

Band of Range Horses 234

Cayuse or Indian pony 235

Brilliant 239

McQueen in his 23d year 240 vi

Part I. Chapter L Origin Of The Horse

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo from American Muscudi of Natural History

OBIGIN OF THE HORSE. 9

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

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

Pliohippus was prevalent in all the great continents. How the horse was extinguished in America we do not know. It was, however, in Asia south of the Altai Mountains in Mongolia, and directly in the line of the supposed migration that what is considered to be the wild type of horse was discovered by Prjevalsky, a Eussian traveler. Since 1881 several specimens of this species have been brought into captivity and its habits studied in the region to which it is indigenous. This species attains a height of from 12 to 13 hands. Between Pliohippus and the Prehistoric horse there is a gap in the line of descent differently filled by various authorities. It was at this period that the genus branched into the three species now represented by the horse, the ass and the zebra.

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

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

ORIGIN OP THE HOESE. 11

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

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

War and the chase having been, beyond that of food for man, the primal uses to which the horse was put, and as improvement would naturally follow domestication, we must look in Asia or North Africa for the first advances toward the strength to carry men and later in speed. The Arabian, now said to be of North African origin, is probably the oldest established type of improved horse, his ancient preeminence being due to the military prowess of the peoples erstwhile inhabiting a wide but illdefined area in Eastern Asia. Westward in Europe horses grew larger and when the Saracenic invasions brought the famous clouds of eastern warriors under the crescent of Islam into France and Spain, the strains interlocked and the foundation for the modern equine superstructure was mortised together. From Spain Cortez brought the first horses ever landed on American soil when he began his romantic conquest of Mexico, on March 24, 1519. Conditions proved ideal for their multiplication and to the mounts of the mere handful of Spanish cavalry which followed the fortunes of the Great Conquistador may be traced the inception of horse breeding on this continent.

CHAPTER II.

HEREDITY AS A FORCE.

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

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

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

HEREDITY AS A FORCE. 15

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

Natural selection is governed by the inexorable law of the survival of the fittest. Matings of improved stock are often ordered at random, without due regard to true fitness, and be it said for the great mass of breeders comparatively seldom with a definite ideal in view. Even the greatest breeders have never collectively directed their efforts along exactly the same line. Therefore we have types and types within the same breed. An inexorable law, always without change, has ordered the selection of parents in the wild races. Crossed this way and that within itself, an improved breed presents sometimes as many types as there are great breeders and the great majority of the animals within the breed can not be called typical at all — they lack the touch of the master hand. There has been continuity of effort only here and there. Environment has been vastly different. Thus must we reach the inevitable conclusion that the personal equation and environment, as directors of the forces of heredity, are the chief factors in domestic animal breeding, while the propagation of the wild animals is governed by an inexorable law which knows no change. The cases are not similar.

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

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

HEREDITY AS A FOECE. 17.

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

Approaching the problem of what heredity will do for us, parents will transmit a measure of their joint individuality to their offspring. Thus if we mate a stallion and a mare both pronouncedly drooping in the rump, the foal will almost to a surety exhibit that faulty conformation. Hence it follows that when either parent has some undesirable characteristic great care should be exercised to select the other very strong in that particular point. These undesirable factors in conformation seem to be transmitted with greater force and certainty than those which we most desire. If we use stallions and mares of low grade we are merely inviting the production of doubly inferior progeny. Heredity is not altogether impartial in this matter. The best stallion will only beget a certain proportion of his offspring good. The inferior stallion will beget jDrogeny, a large majority of which will be bad — this of course presupposing that the mares will average with the horse. If the mares are inferior to the inferior stallion there can be no hope of salvation by his use.

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

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

HEREDITY AS A FORCE. 19

the diversity of directions in wliich it has been employed.

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

I have conceived, as illustrating the relative values of heredity, the personal equation and environment the simile of a telephone system. The wire strung between two poles may represent heredity. If it is struck by lightning it will conduct the undirected force as it always has conducted it and always will — no one knows whither. Environ this same wire with telephone apparatus at each end, direct the electricity in its proper volume and proportion and the result is a marvel of achievement. The conclusion of the whole matter is that heredity of itself will do little for us if we do not direct and environ aright the results accruing from its limited force. The elements of success temporal or moral must proceed from within the man essaying to achieve it. The breeder who succeeds takes the forces and the elements he finds at his hand and directs them and surrounds them to the attainment of a fixed ideal which can be correctly formed only by careful thought lighted by the lamp of experience and reached only by a conquering course over obstacles great and small.

CHAPTER III.

THE STALLION— DESIRABLE POINTS AND FAULTS.

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

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

We have also heard much about hereditary unsoundness. I have never seen a foal unsound at birth, but I have seen hundreds ruined by faulty environment. What we must fight shy of primarily is formation so faulty as to predispose to unsoundness. A blemish which is the result of an accident pure and simple and arising on a normal joint, for instance, will not be transmitted. Narrow round hocks, from their insufficient carrying capacity, are predisposed to bone and bog spavins. Sickle hocks invite curbs. Short straight pasterns and cramped hoof -heads go with sidebones, and so on through a list which need not be farther detailed here. Faulty surroundings in youth are the main cause for most of the unsoundnesses we see in horses.

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

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

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

Quality, even if an intangible attribute, is ingrained in the horse, but it is not always recog-. nized when it is seen. Many a rough looking seemingly qualityless colt in the field exhibits the most beautiful quality in the show ring. Much of it is often the result of proper environment. Quality is a word to conjure with and one, be it said, about which a measureless amount of buncombe has been preached. Too often it has been hidden behind to cover up a degree of ultra refinement which is far more to be shunned than a tendency as much in the other direction. Every undersized runty little fine-boned stallion is bragged up for his quality, as though that was some sort of an excuse for him. Now bear this in mind : if a horse has real quality he has it all over him, not merely in his legs. Quality counts for much in a horse that is big enough, but watch out that it is real quality and not weakness masquerading under that high-sounding title.

Another stock saying, which has been handed down for more than a generation here to the everlasting detriment of the horse, is that his foot should be deeply concave. It is only necessary to consult old papers and catalogues to learn how much stress has been laid on this erroneous teaching. The blacksmith has apparently taken advantage of this belief by invariably thinning the sole and cutting away the frog and so assisting in making the foot concave. Mark this fact well : the foot that is deeply concave — and naturally it is rare — is a thing to be avoided. The blacksmith should never be allowed to put his knife on sole or frog except to trim away ragged portions. What we want is a strong, deep heel, a thick frog, a deep, stout wall and as thick a sole as possible. If the sole is concave it must be thin, for there is only so much space in the foot anyway, and we need as much thickness of sole as we can get. The low, weak heel and meager frog is that which we must avoid.

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

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