The production of light horses

Abstract

Because Virginia has been long regarded as a leading exponent of light horse production, it is particularly fitting that this subject should be included in the course of study for classes of vocational agriculture in the State. Virginia has provided the genesis of selective breeding to produce superior horses; through the efforts of Virginia horsemen has been evolved a type of animal adapted to pleasure, to work, and to general-purpose functions. Although mechanical power is utilized on some farms, the motor has not usurped, and cannot usurp, the place of the light horse for purposes which he is peculiarly adapted.

In spite of the fact that the successful feeding, care, and management of light horses comprises an important aspect of farm business, modern data in teachable form on the subject is not readily available to the teacher of vocational agriculture. Thus the problem of acquiring up-to-date teaching data on light horses for students enrolled in classes of vocational agriculture in the high school is encountered.

The selection of Orange County, Virginia, for the subject of intensive study was motivated by its topography, central location in the State, well-conducted horse breeding farms, experienced horsemen, and by the writer's experience as a teacher of vocational agriculture in the County, in which he noted the predominance of horse power over mechanical power on the home farms of the boys in his classes.

It is hoped that the results of this study, in which practice is correlated with theory, may prove valuable to the teachers of agriculture and others interested in this subject.