JOHNA.SEAVERNS THE HOESE HOIV TO BUEED AND llEAIl HIM. Webster Family Library o*' N/etennai y n/jedione CummingsSchoG . cicnnary Medicine at Tufts University 200 Westboro Road North Grafton. MA 01538 ' A horse ! A horse ! My kingdom for a horse !' Richard III. THE HO E SE HOW TO BREED AND REAR HIM RACE-HORSE HUNTER HACK TROOP-HORSE DRAUGHT-HORSE SHIRE-HORSE CARRIAGE-HORSE PONY BY WILLIAM DAY author op 'the race-hokse in^training,' 'reminiscences op the turf,' etc. SECOND EDITION LONDON RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON publishers in ©vbinaiy \a ^cr ^ijttajcstj) the Qaceu 1890 [All rUjhts reserved'^ 2? \0 PEEFACE TO FIRST EDITION. I HAVE taken it on myself to write the following work in the belief that such a book is really needed at the present time. Perhaps I have also been persuaded to the task by the kind reception accorded to my former volumes. I had something to say of a practical kind, such as only a breeder and trainer of many years' experience could say ; and I have done my best to put the results of that experience into these pages. My treatise on the horse, therefore, should contain much in the way of advice that may — and will, I hope — prove of value and assistance to others. There cannot be many such books recently published, for I do not know of one which is the work of a truly practical and experienced man. I am quite prepared to lind exception taken to some of my views ; for I am well aware that, on PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. several points, I hold opinions of a pronounced kind. It should be remembered, however, that I have formed those opinions after a lifelong acquaintance of the most intimate sort with the subjects of which I treat. I have a good deal to say on the improvement of our thoroughbred stock, undoubtedly the best in the world. My views are fully set forth in the following pages, and it is only necessary to repeat here my firm conviction of the truth of all I have said, and the crying need of measures such as those I have advocated. Nor have I confined myself to the thoroughbred, but have also discussed many things relative to other kinds of horses. To one topic in particular I desire to draw the widest attention. It is that entered upon in the chapter entitled 'The Half-Bred on the Farm,' and discussed at length in that and some following chajDters. I have, in these, endeavoured to point out the relations which the horse bears to the social and political economy of the nation ; and I believe I have demonstrated means by which, through and by the horse, immense benefit may accrue to the agricultural interest throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION, Some delay has occurred in the production of this book, due to circumstances over which I could exercise no personal control. I mention this merety to account for a few dates scattered through my pages, which might, without this ex- planation, be regarded as not sufficiently recent ;. such as concern Appendix II., for example. For the rest, I am abundantly conscious of many defects and imj)erfections in my work. But I leave it, such as it is, to the judgment, and, I hope, the favour, of the readers and critics who have so kindly received my former efforts. And I take this opportunity of thanking both, but especially the latter, for their previous indulgence. W. D. Salisbury, September, 1888. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. PAGB My aim in writing — Need of special qualifications — The question of improving the breed of our horses a national question of the hour — My experience as a breeder — List of Alvediston breeding stud — Absence of authoritative modern teaching — Excellence of theory, but need of prac- tical knowledge- — My reliance for correctness on experi- ence alone — Existing works not entirely satisfactory — Cecil's ' Stud Farm ' — ' Stonehenge.' Needful care of minor details — Value of perseverance -^The method and order of the work set forth in detail 1—11 CHAPTER II. BREEDING AS A NATIONAL QUESTION. Absence of works on breeding horses of useful kinds — Number and value of horses other than thoroughbreds — One class taken as an example — The farmer's interest in breeding the hunter. Hunting in old times — Hunting veterans : Mr. Rad- clyffe, Lord Radnor, Mr. Trelawny, and others — Stag, fox, and hare hunting — The Buckhounds — Lord Pem- broke's harriers — The Prince of Wales in the field — Want of good horses. Wide discussion of possible improvements in breeding — Opinions of Mr. Craven and Mr. Gilbey — Government CONTENTS. views — Testimony to prevalence of injudicious selection, and to certain benefits from greater care — Our present deficiencies — -The show at Newcastle : unsound stallions — Dearth of good horses in the West— Our natural advan- tages — No difficulty to increase numbers — The need is ' quality ' — To be obtained by selection, and how — Prac- tical, not scientific, information wanted . . . 12 — 25 CHAPTER HI. HISTORY or THE HORSE. Numerous authorities on the subject — Prehistoric remains — Zoological classification — General description — Always much valued — Original habitat and gradual extension — Early use in Egypt — Biblical testimony — Claim of Arabia as its origin examined — My own negative opinion con- firmed — Use in Persia and Palestine. The horse in Britain — Records of large animals in a wild state — Used in the invasion by Csesar — Caesar's testi- mony to its previous subjugation in Britain — Already an animal of value — Uf necessity of mixed breed — First trace of distinct crosses ....... 26 — 39 CHAPTER IV. PROGRESS OF RACING AND ITS RESULTS. Decline of cruelty in sport — Corresponding increase in racing — Earliest records — Homer — Racing colts in Greece. Racing in England — In Athelstan's time — Henry II. — Henry VIII. and Elizabeth — Encouragement given to breeding by the Stuarts — James I. imports horses- — ^The Markham Arabian — Cromwell's JVliiie Turk — Charles II. a genuine benefactor — The royal mares — Commencement of the ' Stud-Book ' — Racing at Newmarket — Queen Anne — Importation of noted Eastern sires — George IV. — Anec- dote of the ' Sailor King ' — H.R.H. the Prince of Wales as a breeder and owner — The Hampton Court Stud — Foreign triumphs in breeding only exceptional . . . 40 — 50 CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. ORIGIN OF EXISTING BREEDS. PAGE Sources of information — Earliest crosses — English horse valued in Saxon era — Spanish strain — Horses in the ' Stud- Book ' in 1793 — The Byerhj and Darley Arabians — Curiven's Bay Barb and its produce — Flying Childera' fabled speed — The Godolpliin Arabian ; no pedigree— Description — His first produce — Story of the black cat — Result of the crosses ; three famous sires : Matcheui, Herod, and Eclipse — Performances of the latter — Marske — Highflyer — The successors of the three in our own day . 51 — 62 CHAPTER VI. REAL VALUE OF THE ARAB STRAIN. Alleged superiority of the Arab — Upton's ' Newmarket and Arabia' — Advantage of the cross apparent only in later generations — The Godolphin Arabian as a sire ; not equal to present stallions — Early Arabs not successful on the course or at the stud — Instances of improvement as the cross recedes : the Bald Galloicay ; 1 8 stone to victory ; other examples — Instances to the contrary from earlier horses — Failure of the cross since Eclipse's time — Autho- rities on my side : Buffon, Goldsmith, ' Nimrod,' Admiral Rous, Cecil, the SjM'rting Life — Covering fees of noted Arabs — A contrast — How much ' temper' may be due to the strain — Protest against revival of the practice — Failure of Hampton Court experiments .... 63 — 79 CHAPTER VII. IMPROVEMENT OF THE MODERN HORSE. Existing disbelief- — One cause of this : ' short courses ' — Difficulties of the breeders of judging — ' Gameness ' of our present horses — Admiral Rous's testimony — What horses really did a hundred years ago — ' Sweeping the board ' in xii CONTENTS. PAGB those days ; a ten-guinea prize — Performances of Ecli^pse examined — Eclipse and Toudidune contrasted on the turf and at the stud — The lesson therefrom — Advantageous eflfects of climate ; the Arabian ' a curious exception ' — Our improved fat and lean stock — My Kussian pig; 'Early Porcine Type' — Spread and appreciation of the English horse in other countries ; ' Stonehenge ' thereon ; what ' Weatherby's List ' says ; ' Nimrod's ' testimony — Progress in the colonies — New Zealand. . . 80 — 94 CHAPTER VIII. CLIMATE AND OTHER INFLUENCES. Climate and soil must be suitable — Abundance of eligible farms — Effect of our climate on horses in size and shape — Undesirable localities— Goldsmith on climatic effect on dogs ; on improvement in cattle— The wild herd at Chil- lingham — Progressive advance in breeding^ — -Increased weight and value of sheep — Weight of a modern ox — Contrast of past and present times. Other intlueiices- — Further lequirement in selecting farm — Abundant pasturage — Sufficient room — Effect of exercise on action — Essential need of it — Example from greyhounds 95 — 105 CHAPTER IX. SLIPPING AND STERILITY. Wide extent of loss from this cause — How ewes are treated — My experience shows that it is a disease — Early ex- hibited at the stud — Twins also a loss — Inherited and accidental causes. Nature of malady examined — Examples through three generations — Dead foals lead to barrenness ; examples — • Afflicted mares die early — Slipping leads to barrenness ; examples — Extent of malady shown in 'Stud-Book' — ' - Examples from one hundred representative cases — Must ■ end in loss. Accidental causes — Care needed during pregnancy — CONTENTS. xiii Eemoval of refuse in paddock and yard — Frij^ht — Bad smells — Must separate barren mares — Extraordinary in- stance at Alvediston from eating fallen leaves. Eesult of examination — Slipping and sterility go together — Exemption of Irish mares suggests the question of climate and treatment ..... 106 — 118 CHAPTER X. TEMPER, SIGHT, ROARING, SPLINT. Temper of horses important — Traced through generations — Young Trumpeter and his offspring ; Litile Tom and Bugler, Sigmaphone — Narrow escape of Crucifix; practical loss of her second race ; always started badly ; evil recurrent in Surplice — Examples of complete failures ; Entre Nons and Vittoria — Defects due to temper — Danger in the paddock — Effect of improper punishment — Influence of breaking on temper ; an opinion on the Sledmere process and my own opinion — Mr. Farquharson's ill-success. Faint-heart a source of great loss — Examples in Allie Slacle and others. Defective sight transmitted and accidental — Droghecia and Defence — Cause of accident and expense ; instance with Mr. Sadler — Inherited nature of disease proved by decrease in cataract. Eoaring a transmitted disease ; often dormant ; instance in Ormonde — Supposed remedies — Influence of climate ; Belladrum in South Africa — Lessened by better treatment. Splints, if serious, may be inherited — Need to discern between accidental and inherited mala lies . . 119 — 135 CHAPTER XI. CONSANGUINITY, CROSSING, COLOUR. Difference of opinion on in-and-in breeding — -Purity of blood essential ; value of crossing for the purpose — Tendency of domesticated animals run wild to breed back — Early neglect of the horse — Darwin and Youatt on effect of selection in breeding — Darwin on crossing and fertility — Effect on the human race — The ' daft ' villager — Loss of CONTENTS. gameness in fowls — Greyhounds improved by cross with bull-dog — Effect on the race-horse — Melbourne's produce — The thoroughbred cross in all our horses. Transmission of colour through a century — Marked in- stance in Crab and his offspring — Descent of Chantkleer stock — Grey Friar — Blrdcatcher's grey flanks — Colour not material, but serves as proof of transmitted qualities from ancestors ........ 136 — 148 CHAPTER XII. GENEEAL PRINCIPLES OF SELECTION. Books not much help ; experience and observation the true guides — Transmission of peculiarities ; unsoundness ; lameness — ' Stonehenge ' on the subject- — Pritchard's views — Control of man over hereditary modifications in animals ; Darwin — Confirmation ; necessity for matching sire and dam in this respect — Sir Tatton Sykes' stud, and my opinion of it. Judgment of powers not possible without trial ; instances in point — Pedigree a safeguard in selection — The breeder's difficulties — Stallion and mare must possess like features — Speed and stamina dpsirable on both sides — Diversity of opinion on in-and-out crossing — Why so few mares breed good horses ; a theory as to the reason ; examples. The best age to put mares to the stud — Lord George Bentinck's experiments — Various illustrative instances — The rule, arid exceptions to it — Early breaking-in not a deterrent to long work ; management ; hunters have lasted long — Work of English race-horses compared with that of American trotters. Summary of the principles of selection . . 149 — 169 CHAPTER XIII. SELECTION OF THE MARE, Selection involves complex study — The details to be con- sidered — Examples drawn from thoroughbreds are ap- plicable in the case of any other class. CONTENTS. TAOS Breeding — Choose either distinguished or young mares — Relationship to good horses my great ])oint — Mares of good blood justify their selection on that ground ; ex- amples — Mr. Wreford's experiences — A good performer, if of bad stock, is generally disappointing — Some 'good- looking failures'; no reason assignable — The element of chance— Three lucky purchases : the Cervantes mare, Grace Darling, Octaviana — Three unfortunate purchases : Marie Stuart, Mandragom, Agility — The lessons these cases teach us. Shape and size — My preference — Small mares of strong frame the best — Glee ; other examples. Action — Mares with bad action often failures — Mares with good action produce clever horses — Examples — This point should be studied— Action may be developed, but originates from breeding — Curious instance in a dog. Constitution — Soundness and absence of all disease essential — How to judge of this — Alice Hawthorn and Beesuing — The pedigree a test. Speed and stamina — Fast mares preferable for the stud — Summary of all the points to be considered . 170 — 186 CHAPTER XIV. SELECTION OF THE STALLION. Health a first essential — Difference in cases of mare and stallion — Power of the stallion to transmit diseases ; case from The Veterinary Journal — The best horses, of pure strain and free from defects, should alone be chosen — We keep too many inferior animals. Breeding a point of great importance — Pedigree must be closely scanned — Temperament and capabilities of ancestors to be studied for several generations. Size and shape — Middling-sized horses most successful — Eclipse, Touchstone, and many other examples — Failures of large horses ; Prince Charlie and others — Stochvell unique in this re?pect — Result of comparison — Shape, another essential — Only one good form — Description of my ideal. CONTENTS. PAGE Effect of using inferior stallions — Subsequent offspring by other horses affected — Cecil's opinion — One cross sullies a mare for life — Overwhelming evidence in proof of this — Sir Gore Ouseley's cross between a mare and zebra ; result — Chestnut mare and quagga ; result — Darwin on the sub- ject — Necessity of precaution therefore . . . 187 — 198 CHAPTER XV. THE THOROUGHBRED MARE. Respective influence of sire and dam on their offspring ; dis- cussion — Instances — Suitability essential . Opinions as to respective ages of sire and dam — Some notable first foals — Youth evidently no drawback on either .side. Inequalities of size considered — Large animals have poor progeny — Remedying of defects by suitable selection — Different methods employed by breeders — Opinion of an expert — Experiment of the late Earl of Derby — Size should be improved by gradual selection. Curious fact that mares breed best from particular stallions — Cases in point— Breeding a winner proves the suitability of the cross — Defenceless, Flying Duchess, and Elchcis dam — Innumerable proofs of my contention. The question whether young mares are better than those which have raced long, or the reverse — My view that we must always look to pedigree — Three examples on each side — Solution of the problem .... 199 — 212 CHAPTER XVI. THE THOROUGHBRED STALLION. Former partiality for the strains of HigMi/er, Eclipse, and Matchem — Present likuig for tliose of Touchstone, Foltigeur, and Stockwell — The latter the best horses yet seen — Their pedigree and descendants. Evils of breeding from your own stallion; exception CONTENTS. xvii PACE and proof — Rank fallacy of the practice demonstrated — The experience of various gentlemen — Numerous instances — The unavoidable deduction therefrom. Age of the stallion — Capriciousness of evidence — No rule can be fixed upon — Various opinions. The Queen's Plates — Prohibition of geldings — I demur to this — Many inferior stallions should be cut — En- couragement to geldings might improve our breed — Mr. Craven's opinion — The matter gravely considered — The knife necessary. Anomalies in breeding — Trainers' systems — Public running a farce — A typical trainer — His failure at long distances — Speed versus stamina — The historian's duty 213—226 CHAPTER XVII. MATING. Meeting of the sexes — Time to put mares to the horse — The mare should be hobbled when covered ; reasons. The moment of conception no concern of the breeder's — -Repetitions of service to be avoided — Mr. Sadler's ex- experience in this respect — A case that occurred to me. Virgin mares to be cautiously dealt with — Attention necessary — Bringing them to the stallion — Care to be taken not to exhaust the horse's powers. Thoroughbred mares — Consideration of time of mating with regard to racing rules — The fourteenth of February — Period of gestation of mares — A popular theory — Service of barren mares — Likelihood of procuring preg- nancy—Modes of causing the mare to be stinted. Two systems of covering — My view — Instance in the case of bitches — An expert's opinion. Treatment of mare after service — Turning — Frequency of covering ; when desirable and not — Indications of being at use — Opportunity to be seized — Disadvantages of late- born horses — A year's rest for brood-mares ; ray opinion on that head 227— -237 b CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVIII. TREATMENT UF MARE, FUAL, AND YEARLING. An interesting study — Thorough knowledge of the subject necessary — Causes rendering mares unfit for reproduction — Turning them out too suddenly a chief one — The best system to follow. Treatment after service and during gestation ; of young mares; of mares with foals — A common cause of abortion — The same in sheep — Feeding and housing in summer and winter — Handling the foal — Attention required — Benefit of moisture to the development of the feet — Excessive moisture detrimental — Good feeding essential. Time of foaling — Previous indications — Delivery — Ab- normal presentations — The after-birth ; its retention a peril — The new-born foal— Immediate treatment required by it and by the mare— Food — Suppository. The suckling foal — How to ensure its proper develop- ment — Giving it bruised corn — Dieting the mare — The foal's mid-day meal- Time for weaning — Separation of dam and foal — Variety of food — Articles to be avoided — Condiments a mistake — Physic or no physic — My opinion and Mr. Robmson's. The yearling — Free exercise imperatively necessary- — General principles of treatment — The feet, and how to manage them — Irregular growth to be checked — Paring and rasping — Proper development of the legs depends on careful attention to the growing hoof . . 238 — 252 CHAPTER XIX. TREATMENT OF THE STALLION. Customary neglect of certain points — Common mode of treating the stallion — Pampering ; want of exercise ; neglect of the feet — Evil effects — How the horse ought to be kept — Exercise — Comparison with brood-mares. Disease of the feet — Examples — My experience ; what CONTENTS. I argue from it — Rates of mortality — Causes of death — Primary reasons for such effects — Negligent stud-grooms — Treatment of the country stallion compared with that of the thoroughbred — Comparison of results — Mr. Kobinson's bull— His principle. The bowels — Constipation and diarrhoea — How to meet them — Prevention better than cure — Stallions at first indifferent to the mare ; examples — This fault overcome by perseverance ....... 253 — 262 CHAPTER XX. thp: hunter and troop-horse. Common origin of all kinds of horses— Hunters, hounds, and foxes of the past — Superiority of English troop-horses — Abundance of hunting sires — Thoroughbreds in North Devon ; an article in Th.e Field. Employment of thoroughbred stallions for getting hunters — Modern hunters of good blood — Common-bred hunters too slow — -Hounds faster than any horse. Selection of mare and stallion — The thoroughbred cross — Shape and size — -Summary of the points to be studied — Mares hunted too long ; a more judicious plan — Early breeding — Early working — How the foals should be treated. Weight-carriers — Special selection of sire and dam requisite — The Grand National Steeplechase, past and pre- sent — Nearly thoroughbred hunters the best — Anecdote of Mr. T. Ashton Smith — Inexpediency of putting hunters in harness ........ 263 — 274 CHAPTER XXI. THE HALF-BRED ON THE FARM. Breeding half-bred horses remunerative for farmers — Mares can be worked as well as bred from — The preferable sort — Prices and profits — Depreciation in values of cattle, etc. — Breeding good horses a boon to farmers. 62 CONTENTS. A calculation — Twenty-four mares ; their produce and profit — Working and breeding — The system tried and proved successful — Additional profits. Comparison of the ordinary shire-horse with the thoroughbred and half-bred^ — ^Respective pace — Time of ploughing an acre — Distance travelled — Gain in time, and in amount of work accomplished — Calculation of the saving and profit on a large farm. The two sources of profit ; total^ — Amazing result — Objections answered — Lord Lonsdale's experience ; Mr. Robinson's ; my own — Employment of a stable-keeper ; why — Saving thereby — Have shire-horses deteriorated ? — Comparison with coach-horses — Arguments — The answer. ........ 275 — 289 CHAPTER XXn. THE HALF-BRED V. THE SHIRE-HORSE. Continuation of the argument — How the men would be affected — Working hours — Employers' benefits — Piece- work instead of time-work — Mr. Radcliffe and Mr. Sabin — Opinion of the latter — Differences in labourers' day ; work done always the same — Extraordinary apathy of farmers — Time taken to plough an acre ; instance — The eastern counties and the southern. Waste of time — A calculation^Present system induces men to idle — My plan will stimulate them — Return of the * good old times ' for agriculturists. Faster speed on the road also a source of profit — Calcu- lations and comparisons — Ignorance of farmers concern- ing the capabilities of their horses ; this exemplified — An anecdote — American surprise at our slow cart-horses — American competition ; causes of its success, and the remedy^ — Farmers' notions as to time and work — The dis- tance travelled in ploughing an acre worked out — Deduc- tions from the foregoing ..... 290 — 311 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIII. COMPARISON OF DRAUGHT-HORSES. PAGK Other draught-horses versus the cart-horse — The coach-horse — Eates of speed — Fast and slow — The omnibus-horse ; loads and distances — The post-horse — The van-horse ; work performed — Good comparison — A revelation to farmers. Dr. Johnson's ideas of progress — My r^ply thereto ; pertinent to the question — Improvements evei'yvvhere ; our agriculturists alone unprogressive — Labour and labourers — Systems in fault — Piece-work encourages in- dustry — An example from Mexico— Faults of the British farm-labourer. Apathy of our farmers — Advice given in vain — The secret of depression — Agricultural statistics — Amazing expenditure — Immense saving possible— The means — Utilization of waste lands — Production — Comparative table of draught-horses and their several capabilities — Sorry figure made by the shire-horse — - The largest and strongest drauglit-horse proved to be the most in- efficient 312—325 CHAPTER XXIV. THE CONSEQUENCE OF THE HORSE. Relation of the horse to agriculture — Time an estate — The agricultural labourer ; his needs, powers, and capacities — The best men leave the soil ; why — How to retain them — Our peasantry are literally serfs — Reasons for their laziness — Forced to the workhouse. Means of rescue — The agitator a shameless humbug — Pictures of the possible — The labourer under the new system — ^What has been done can be done again — Effect on the poor laws — Decrease of paupers — ^Lessening of rates — Workhouse expenditure — This digression useful — The horse the basis of reform .... 326 — 335 xxii CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXV. DRAUGHT-HORSES AND TROTTERS. PAGK Farm-horses — -Good thoroughbred sires for hunters — Selec- tion — Pedigree not so essential as shape, etc. — Qualities of ancestors to be studied — Good make very necessary — Mating cart-horses. Various draught-horses — The dray-horse — The Cleve- land Bay — The Suffolk Punch— The Devonshire Pack- horse— New strains — Breeding and use of all these — In- termixture of old local breeds — Gradual improvement. The American trotting-horse — Mr. Hiram Woodruff's book about it — Messenger, the parent sire of the breed — His son Top-gallant ; an extraordinary horse — Anecdote of his speed — A race in the dark — Another ' yarn ' — Ex- traordinary fecundity of Messenger and his offspring — Flora Temple and Dexter; their feats — Mode of rearing trotters — My criticism on Mr. Woodruff's views — Physic and diet 336—349 CHAPTER XXVI. THE GALLOWAY, PONY, AND ASS. Small kinds of horses — Derivation from a common stock — The galloway — The pony — Feats of endurance ; my father's boyish experience ; Sir Teddy — Origin of small breeds — Cold climates and poor living ; this questioned — Other causes may have operated — -Arguments — Natural selection— Giants and dwarfs obtainable from a common source. The ass — Various kinds — Syrian and Spanish asses — Crosses between equine and asinine species ; kinship yet distinction — Swiftness of asses — The onager or kiang — Improvement of the English ass — The ' coster's moke ' — Endurance — Country donkeys — Reasons for poorness of the breed — The English ass the most inferior of his kind — CONTENTS. PAGE Selection and treatment called for — Comparisons — Great improvement possible— A suggestion to landlords and others — What has been done for horses might be done for asses 350— 3G3 CHAPTER XXVII. THE STUD FARM. — THE LAND. Choice of locality and site — Aspect — Rich pasture not essen- tial — Varieties of soil ; examples — Ineligible sites — Cold and damp to be avoided — The land on which the best horses have been bred — Level pastures preferable. Management of the grass — Feeding off' with cattle and sheep — Proper rotation — Size of the enclosures — White- thorn and blackthorn hedges — Superiority of live fences. Shelter-groves around the paddocks — Selection of trees — How and when to plant— Size — Undergrowth — Species to be avoided — Hedges and railings — The wrong sort of post-and-rail, and the right^ — -Illustrations of both — Shape of the paddocks — Trees within them . . . 364 — 37() CHAPTER XXVIII. THE STUD FARM. — THE BUILDINGS. The master's house ; central position — The men's cottages — The stables — Partitioning of the boxes— Cecil on the south aspect — My view of his tlieory — The roof — Col- lection of rain-water — Tanks and troughs — Shooting and guttering — Materials of the walls — Arrangements of in- terior — The manger and racks — Provision against acci- dents—Drains — Ventilation — Flooring — Doors. The central yard — The various boxes — -The roofing ami the loft — Storage of hay, straw, and corn — Sleeping-room for stable-boys — This a necessary precaution — Boxes espe- cially designed for stallions — Various materials — Cost of carriage — The furze hovel ; how made — General arrange- ment of the stallions' boxes — Enclosed yards for exercise — Concluding remarks ...... 377 — 391 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIX. SOME ERRORS AND FALLACIES. PAGE How able writers fall into error — ' Stonehenge ' on training — His mistake exposed — Buffon on interbreeding of goats and sheep — His statements fallacious — Practical experi- ence the only safe guide — Testimony of certain flock- masters — My own observations — The question answered in the negative— Why I have gone into the subject — The thoroughly practical man always the best authority — Obso- lete works on breeding and training are misleading guides — Knowledge is progressive — A mistake of Goldsmith's confuted. ' Stonehenge's ' opinion on the distinctions of brain in diff'erently bred animals — This shown to be of no prac- tical service — A case in point — Does blood indicate quality 1 — Is there variation in the size and number of the bloodvessels? — These views discussed and shown to be erroneous — Does early development induce early decay of horses 1 — Argument and examples — I show this to be a fallacy — Proofs that our present system is a good one 392—411 CHAPTER XXX. SOME FINAL SUGGESTIONS. Too many stallions — Statistics of 1882 — A recommendation — Startling figures — Mares also too numerous — Existing bad qualities — How to better them — Evils propagated — The French system — Bad temper — How to remedy de- fects — Export sales. Statistics of 1884 — Fees — Small proportion of good stallions — A warning to breeders — Mares that should be excluded from ' The Stud-Book ' — Excellence not properly kept up — Injudicious foreign sales — The stallions serving in 1884 — Inferiority of the majority. CONTENTS. Fifteen thoroughbred stallions to be selected annually — Twelve years at the stud — Proportion of mares to stallions — Modes of choice — How to get rid of weeds — Evils of cheap breeding- — Two cases in point — Reform de- sirable and necessary — The probable result . . 412 — 429 APPENDIX I. THE ALVEDISTON STUD IN 1873. 1. Stallions 430 2. Brood mares and foals ....... 430 3. Yearlings 436 APPENDIX II. LIST OF STALLIONS. Thoroughbred sires of 1883, and stalHons serving in 1884, in England 439_442 THE HORSE: HOW TO BREED AND REAR HIM. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. My aim in writing — Need of special qualification — The question 'of improving the breed of our horses a national question of the hour — My experience as a breeder — List of Alvediston breeding stud — Absence of authoritative modern teaching — Excellence of theory, but need of practical knowledge — My reliance for correctness on experience alone — Existing works not entirely satisfactory — Cecil's 'Stud Fc\rm ' — 'Stonehenge.' Needful care of minor details — Value of perseverance — The method and order of the work set forth in detail. In attempting to do anything, there must always be an object in view. With a writer that object should be to entertain, to instruct, or in the highest sense of his callino; to benefit his fellows. Under what category my j)resent effort may rank, I do not pretend to say. But whether I succeed in the project I have formed, or whether I fail in the attempt, others will decide. To do more than add 1 THE HORSE. a mite to the large store of accumulated knowledge is beyond my expectation ; to do less will not be for the want of effort to go beyond that on my part. Dr. Johnson tells us ' no writer pleases all, and every writer may please some.' The world is composed of atoms. As the Arabian proverb has it, ' Drops added to drops constitute the ocean.' My contribution is but a drop added to the store of general knowledge, and as such it must be viewed. It is written without pretension, and if nothing is achieved, I must be content with the knowledge that I have escaj^ed one evil — the blame that the ing-enious author of ' The Court of Augustus ' incurred, who, his critic says, knowing well the opinion of Horace concerning those that dazzle the understanding with magnificent promises, should know likewise that common-sense approves -the direction of the same great authority, ' that no man should promise what he cannot per- form.' This fault I have no intention of com- mitting, I may, therefore, present here with propriety the reason which has induced me to venture to undertake the treatment of a subject of such vast importance as the breeding not only of race-horses, but of those for the chase and other purposes ; a science in which, above all other countries in the world, we so greatly excel. In the first place, for the reasons set forth in the preface, the necessity of such a work is INTRODUCTION. obvious. Indeed, a powerful incentive to my making- the attempt is the regrettable silence of gentlemen many of Avhom are pre-eminently fitted for a work of the kind. ' It is always,' says a well-known author, ' laudable to attempt much, even when the enterprise is above the strength that undertakes it.' Mine, it is true, is not a polished and elegant treatise by a distinguished essayist, nor is this what is wanted so much as the plain practical work of an unpretending expert. And such a work, to be effective for its purpose, should endeavour to embrace not only the more important matters which obvi- ously interest the student, but also the minor incidents which in a hundred ways may teach us something of ills to be prevented or cured. The question of improving the breed of our horses, or perhaps I should say of making the most of our already existing advantages in blood and breeding, is an important one, apart from its in- terest to the breeder of thoroughbred stock. Indeed, I apprehend it is a vital one to the agriculturist generally. It has for some time been clear that only in unusually favourable circumstances can farming be made to pay by growing grain. Stock-raising- is gradually taking the place of arable farming. The extent of pasture is increasing yearly ; we have here, therefore, the area for increasing the number of our horses, whilst that the demand for sound animals is a never-failing one is an incontestable fact. THE HORSE. The conclusion reached by the Royal Commission on the subject was satisfactory in one sense only; viz., that the breeding of horses is not falling off, but rather that the demand is greater than the supply. The unsatisfactory feature is that to meet this demand the right sort of horse is not bred, or is bred under such circumstances of risk as to seriously diminish the profit of the occupation. The demand, however, exists ; and there should be no difficulty in supplying it, and making that supply remune- rative, if the knowledge were attainable as to the best methods to be pursued by the breeders. I have convinced myself by careful inquiry that there is much to be gleaned on this subject, which I hold is of importance to the farmer before all other men, as he it is who will most profit by the information. And to bring this information to his door in a methodical manner is one of the principal aims, if not the great aim, of this book. I have at least some pretension to essay the task T have set myself; for although I had other early employments, I have devoted a considerable portion of my time to the study of breeding horses, at a period when breeding was not thought so much of as it is to-day. And more than this, at one time, in 1873, I was perhaps the largest breeder of thorough- bred stock in England, although, a few years before, my numbers had been surpassed by those got to- gether by the late Mr. Blenkiron in his gigantic stud INTRODUCTION. at Middle Park, Eltham. As it may interest the reader, I give in an appendix a list of the brood- mares, yearlings, and stallions at Alvediston in the year named, from a printed record published at the time. It will be seen it included thirty-three yearlings, fifty-three mares, many of them with foal at foot, and three stallions. As to their quality it does not become me to speak ; but I may quote the opinion of another, himself a breeder and an acknow- ledged judge of racing — the late Lord Ribblesdale. On the dispersion of my stud at Alexandra Park, that nobleman wrote and complimented me on having, as he said, ' the best collection of young well-bred mares he ever saw in the possession of any one man at the same time.' Of the value of such experience as mine has been there can be, I submit, no doubt, always provided that the lesson and its application have beenabsorbed intelligently. I do not for a moment oppose the idea that much and valuable information may be gathered from study of early writers. Yet I think even this will not be altogether satisfactory, lacking as it does the essential part which is practical and modern, and can only be attained by constant watchfulness in the management of a large stud. There are many useful hints on breeding given by excellent men, w^ho may or may not have kept a brood-mare or even owned a stallion, just as there are many who can write fluently and rivet THE HORSE. the attention of their readers in amusingly recount- ing ideal hunting scenes, yet may never have crossed a horse or seen a hound. Still, these hints must fail to attract attention, and for all practical purposes become useless. But this is not my case. At least I can say that all I set forth as of my own knowledge I know to be correct, and that what is given on the authority of others is substantially so. I do not claim to have escaped all errors and inadvertencies. These, desj^ite every care, will be found : ' That all our facts will be authentic, or all our remarks just, we do not venture to promise : we can relate but what we hear ; we can point out but what we see.' But even at this risk I am induced to think that the relation of what has come under my own notice may prove of service to those interested in breeding and rearing horses, from the fact that no previous writer on the subject, so far as I know, has had an equal opj^ortunity of gaining experience by the entire control of such an extensive breeding establishment wholly his own property. With no wish to disparage the usefulness of existing works on breeding, I feel nevertheless compelled to say that noi^e of those that I have seen satisfy me in the matter of being in the true sense thoroughly comprehensive and exhaustive. Too often the subject is mixed up with extraneous matter, such as breaking and training the colt, the INTRODUCTION. treatment of disease, or the cultivation of land for green-food — matters which could better be treated in separate works, or at least only, when necessary, incidentally referred to. Thus Cecil's ' Stud Farm,' an excellent work, and for its size containing much information, also deals with diseases, shoeing, and other matters havinof but little bearino;- on the subject jDroper. Admiral Rous's * Horse-Racing ' gives only a small space to the management of a breeding-stud, and advances nothing new. ' Stone- henge ' deals with the subject in a masterly style. The work is by far the most complete that I have seen, and though written some years ago, it has many claims to the attention of the reader. But even ' Stonehenge ' is not up to the day. ' New- market and Arabia,' a recent work to which I refer elsewhere, is for the reasons there criven not satis- factory. It will be seen, therefore, that I do not consider that existing works meet the requirements for which the age is ripe. To do justice to the subject, its treatment must be exhaustive, and abounding in ^Ji'actical knowledge, recording faithfully every known matter that may be of service in carrying on a breedinof establishment with success. Small things are often of more importance to the success of great undertakings than they are generally sup- posed to be by superficial observers, and therefore the careful study of them should not be omitted. THE HORSE. Such a book as I have here outHned should, I think, prove acceptable and useful, either as sup- plementary to, or as replacing-, existing works on breeding and rearing the various sorts of horses. Having set forth the reasons which justify the attempt, which itself, let us hope, may be justified in the result attained, I may conveniently, in con- clusion, outline the subjects which I propose to treat, and the order in which they will be treated. In a strictly professional sense, it may be, I ought to plunge at the outset into the subject of breeding, without any preliminary introduction whatever. There would, however, be something unfinished in such bald treatment of the matter. It is true, no doubt, that the frame is not necessarily part of the picture. Yet it adds to its attractions, and, indeed, is practically essential to its completeness. Thus, my own delineation of the important subject in hand will, I believe, be rendered only the more complete if introduced by an account of such matters as the history of the horse, and others which, if not absolutely essential, are germane to the chief topic. I must remember, too, that I am not addressing only the experienced, to whom such details may be trite, but a more general public, to whom the subject may prove interesting because novel. I purpose, therefore, after reciting briefly some of the facts which urgently demand attention INTRODUCTION. as matters of national policy, shortly to set forth the history of the horse ; to show in the same brief way the improvement derived from the encouragement of racing, and the influence on our own horses of the introduction of the Arab strain. The ground thus cleared for the treatment of the subject proper, the breeding of the horse of all useful kinds, I propose to deal with the influences of the climate, and the principles applicable to the selection of horses of all descriptions. Descending to special classes, it is natural that I should first deal with the thoroui>hbred. But the reader will not run away with the notion that the interest of this portion will be confined to those engaged in breeding blood-stock only. For, of necessity, much that will be said of the thoroughbred will be ap- plicable to other classes also ; and as space will not allow repetition, this portion should be carefully read by all those who wish to acquaint themselves with my views as to the treatment and selection of sire and dam of any kind. The selection of the mare, the selection of the stallion, and the neces- sary corollary, the meeting of the two, will in turn occupy our attention. Here completeness rather than brevity will be studied. In the same way will then follow the consideration of the points which should o-uide the breeder in the choice of dam and sire likely to give the most useful produce THE HORSE. for the chase, the farm, the road, and other pur- poses. Other important matters must then occupy our attention ; for a knowledge of the general principles of breeding and of the art of selection is not all that is wanted to insure success. The true system of management must also be acquired. I purpose, therefore, to describe in detail the site and the arrangements of the ground, the method of con- struction and the materials used in the necessary buildings of a complete breeding establishment. On this will follow in due order an exposition of the correct system of management — or, I should perhaps saj^, my view of it. For this purpose we shall want a description of the technical details necessary in bringing the sexes together, and the treatment at the time, previously, and subsequently, of both sire and dam, and necessarily of the off- spring, the latter from the time of its birth until its separation from its mother, and thereafter until ready for the sale-ring. Here again the informa- tion, though primarily directed to the treatment of thoroughbred stock, will have a general or extended interest in its application to other horses, and will be supplemented in the following chapters by the detail of the special treatment to be followed with other classes. I shall then be tempted to enter into a wider subject — the possibility of reforming our national INTRODUCTION. system of breeding ; for that reform is needed, and, what perhaps is more to the point, practicable, I am fully convinced. And if space permit, some other cognate subjects may then appropriately be touched upon, and round off my task. CHAPTER II. BREEDING AS A NATIONAL QUESTION. Absence of works on breeding horses of useful kinJs — Number and value of horses other than thoroughbreds — One class taken as an example — The farmer's interest in breeding the hunter. Hunting in old times- — Hunting veterans : Mr. Eadclyffe, Lord Eadnor, Mr. Trelawny, and others — Stag, fox, and hare hunting — The Buckhounds — Lord Pembroke's harriers — The Prince of Wales in the field — Want of good horses. Wide discussion of possible improvements in breeding — Opinions of Mr. Craven and Mr. Gilbey — Government views — Testimony to prevalence of injudicious selection, and to certain benefits from greater care — Our present deficiencies — The show at Newcastle : unsound stallions — Dearth of good horses in the West — Our natural advantages — No difficulty to increase numbers — The need is ' quality ' — To be obtained by selection, and how — Practical, not scientific, information wanted. I HAVE referred to the importance at the present time of the breedinof of horses as an addition to our agricultural employments. Existing popular works on breeding deal chiefly with a very interest- ing subject — the breeding and rearing of thorough- bred stock. And thoug-h this is a matter of o-reat importance, and one that I shall myself deal with at BREEDING AS A NATIONAL QUESTION. 13 length, we must remember that there are other out- door amusements besides racinof, huntinof beinp- one of them ; and yet of greater importance even than these are the industrial occupations of thousands in which the employment of the horse is an essential part. Probably in point of number the English thoroughbred cannot vie with any one of the follow- ing horses that are kept for specific but different purposes. To wit : hunting, carriage and cavalry horses, the shire horse, or even ponies. Therefore to the general public, and to those whose occupa- tion is the breeding of horses, these severally and collectively have a claim on our attention the importance of which cannot be denied. The wide spread, for example, of one popular out- door amusement — hunting — and the occujjation it gives to the many (not the least among whom is the farmer, who breeds a young horse or two suit- able for the chase), cannot be questioned. That this exhilarating sport was known and indulged in at a very early period seems certain, for the first of the Persian Kings hunted. ' The Romans in Britain,' says Strutt in ' Sports and Pastimes,' ' constantly pursued the amusements best suited to the jjro- fession of a soldier, including hunting, running, leaping, swimming, and other exertions requirino- strength and agility of body.' Canute the Dane, when he ascended the English throne, estabhshed laws for the punishment of game-killino- of un- 14 THE HORSE. precedented severity ; ' though he permitted the great thanes, bishojos, and abbots ' to hunt in forests belonging to the Crown, 'yet allunquahfied persons were subjected to very heavy fines, not only for hunting, but even for disturbing the game.' For killing a stag, a husbandman was reduced to slavery, and if a slave committed a like ojffence, death was his irrevocable doom. Yet this Prince, says the same author, prohibited the exercise of hunting or hawking on the Sabbath-day. The Normans had no less love of hunting than their predecessors ; and it was the elder William and his successors who restricted the privileges of indulging in the sport, ' and imposed great penalties on those who presumed to destroy the game in the royal forests without a 23roper license.' Hunting is spoken of and recommended by James I. ' Cer- tainly,' he says, ' bodily exercise and games are very commendable, as well for banishing of idleness, the mother of all vice, as for making the body able and durable for travell, which is very necessarie for a king.' Again, ' I cannot omit heere the hunting, namely, with running houndes, which is the most honourable and noblest sort thereof We read that Elizabeth (the female Nhnrod) partook of the pleasures of the chase at the age of seventy-seven ; and Walter, Bishop of Rochester, who lived in the thirteenth century, made hunting his sole employment, to the neglect of his ecclesiastical BREEDING AS A NATIONAL QUESTION. 15 duties, at the age of eighty. Thomas a Becket himself might have enjoyed the sport of hunting for many years, but for his assassination in his own Cathedral, The sport has strong claims on our attachment ; for beyond the pleasure derived from the excite- ment in following the chase, it does more in recruit- ing the wasted energies and emaciated form than all the science of doctors, the never-failing nos- trums of quacks, or the restorative potions of the apothecary. Of this we have sufficient proof by reference to the longevity of those who have en- gaged in it with more than common ardour, now no longer with us, as well as of those who are still following their favourite amusement with a zeal that partakes of passion. That hunting the various descriptions of game must tend to longevity, no one can doubt. Instances we have in Wiltshire and the bordering county of Dorset — Mr. KadclyfFe, of Hyde, who, when a young man, was aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington; Viscount Portman, of Bryanston, now in his eighty- eighth year ; and amongst other noted veterans I can place Mr. T. A, Smith, of Tedworth, the late Mr. Farquharson, and the present Earl of Radnor, whose cheery heartiness to all who came near him on the hunting-field is proverbial. These gentlemen have all hunted the county, or bordering ones, for a number of years in good style and showing excellent 1 6 THE HORSE. sport. Indeed, their respective huntsmen show no exception to the general rule of the healthy and life-giving nature of the chase ; for, like their masters, Messrs. Dale, Carter, and Tredwell either lived to be, or are now, at a good old age. We have had two or three well-known and extra- ordinary characters amongst veteran followers of the hounds, such as Mr. C. Trelawny, of Coldrenick, and Mr. John Russell, the sporting parson, who, the last time I had the pleasure of seeing him, was on the course of Epsom, being then in his eighty-first year, enjoying the sport in good health. And who that has ever seen him will forget the erect form of Mr. Davis in his hunting costume, riding his favourite grey up the Ascot course, heading the royal procession before the races commenced, when a very old man ? In fact, most of the above were, or are, octogenarians, if the average of their ages were not still greater. For this and many other reasons hunting may well be spoken of in favourable terms by all who can ride a horse, and have the courage to follow the hounds, of whatever description. Some prefer hunting the deer bred and kept in lai-ge parks for the purpose, such as at Windsor. Stag-hunting, I may perhaps be allowed to ob- serve here, is, in its highest form, certainly the most superior kind of sport. When in North Devon or the New Forest the coverts are drawn, and a wild BREEDING AS A NATIONAL QUESTION. 17 stag started, the pleasure of following such noble game is not to be surpassed by that afforded by any other sport that can be had within the four corners of the United Kingdom, or, for all I know, out of it. Hunting the park -bred deer, uncarted in sight of the field, with the hounds laid on the scent after the usual law, has by comparison a certain amount of tameness, akin to that experienced by the frequenter of the shires when put to hunt ' a bag- man ' with fox-hounds. Nevertheless, it has its own merits : it affords sport to those who other- wise could not find it in distant scenes. A good gallop is often the result, and at least it precludes the catastrophe of a blank day. And beyond this, in the special case of her Majesty's Buck- hounds, most excellent sport is to be had ; for under the able guidance of the Earl of Coventry good runs are the rule, rather than the excep- tion. Hare-hunting finds its votaries in localities un- suited to fox-hunting, or where the fox is not to be found, and has a special advantage in affording the pleasures of the chase to those who, from age or other reasons, are not willing or able to ride hard. At times harriers afford excellent sport, as was often witnessed with the pack lately hunted by the Earl of Pembroke, who is likely, I believe, to become an M.F.H. before long ; for which occupa- tion, I need scarcely say, his genial liking for the 9 1 8 THE HORSE. sport, and his qualifications as a bold and judicious rider, eminently fit him. Hunting, indeed, like racing, has been for generations the sport of kings and their august consorts. In our own time, the Heir Apparent to the throne shows no forgetfulness of these splendid traditions, whilst he exhibits every capacity for filling them. The Prince of Wales is fondly attached to fox-liunting, and rides nothing but well- bred horses. He is not only a good horseman, having an elegant seat, but is also an excellent judge of the sport ; and few of the nobility, or, indeed, of any other class, can ride across country with firmer nerve or better judgment, as I have often had occasion to observe when seeing his. Royal Highness out with the hounds. Fox-hunting, which is only equalled in excitement by the chase of the wild stag, is the most popular form of the sport, and is indulged in by all classes of society that can afford the time and the money foi- its pur- suit. It is, in short, one amongst the man}^ causes which have created the demand for a good and capable horse, the supply of which should, I am convinced, remuneratively employ our yeomen and farmers. There has not certainly in my time, or perhaps in the memory of the oldest man living, been so nmch written or said on breeding horses for the cavalry, hunters, and the carriage, as within these BREEDING AS A NATIONAL QUESTION. 19 last few years, raising a discussion much the same as that which took place on the introduc- tion of foreign horses for the improvement of thoroughbred stock, about the j^ear 1750, or rather over a century ago. That this latter ended successfully, no one will pretend to doubt ; nor, I think, will any have misgivings as to the advantage of the present discussion on breeding all descriptions of horses for our present and future use, whether in time of peace or war. Many shrewd men of business have given us the benefit of their practical experience. Learned treatises have been written by able and conscientious men, each holding different views. One gentleman assures us that it is incumbent on us to breed more horses ; and others, seemingly with more likelihood, assert that it is better horses that are required, and not an increase in number. Only a few months ago the matter was discussed in an able and business-like way by Mr. W, G. Craven, in a letter to the Daily Telegrapli. He thinks that the breeding of horses for the cavalry, artillery, and transport service should be taken up b}^ the Government. This is a matter, no doubt, to which he has given much attention, and from his experience in thoroughbreds and other descrijDtions of horses such an opinion is valuable. But these views are diametrically opposed by the Government, In reply to Colonel Hughes-Hallett's question, 2 — 2 THE HORSE. whether the Government would take into serious consideration the advisabihty of checking for a time the export of horses from this country — at ah events, until the requirements of the artillery and cavalry were fully satisfied — Mr. W. H. Smith said in substance, * Her Majesty's Government have no idea of doing such a thing ; for,' he added, ' there is no reason to believe either that the present exportation has assumed serious dimensions, or that the army is short of its authorized establishment of horses.' Whether it is a question that the Government alone ought to grapple with on an extensive scale, or one that would be more favourably carried out by private enterprise, is a matter on which there are different opinions. Mr. Walter Gilbey, who has done much towards the improvement and raising the value of the shire and other horses, says it is not State a,id or Government breeding establishments on a large scale that are wanted, as he thinks private enterprise is sufficient for breeding horses of all descriptions for our own use. This, indeed, I may say, is, in a sense, confirmed by Mr. W. G. Craven, who expresses a further opinion that there is plenty of room for the formation of other studs than for thoroughbred stock. Here, I have no manner of doubt, and for the reason he gives, that he is right. He also wisely deprecates the use of stallions that are not in every way suited for the purpose. No BREEDING AS A NATIONAL QUESTION. 21 one can question the soundness of this pohcy, for the evils of its contravention are unfortunately to be seen every day of one's life, unless indeed we are wilfully blind. This being so with thoroughbred stock, one can hardly see any reason why it should not be so with other descriptions of horses. It is therefore, in my opinion, not that we require more mares to breed from or horses to serve them, but rather a better description of sire and dam through- out the country. If we wish to retain our national character as breeders of the best horses of every description in the world, we must have more regard and pay greater attention to the selection of the stock that we breed from, or we shall soon be passed and beaten in the race for supremacy by the enterprising foreigner, and we shall then have to buy of them instead of, as now, having them come to us for the best horses from which to breed. There should really be as much judgment used in selecting a hunting mare and a thoroughbred stallion to mate her with, or the sire and dam of a good draught-horse, as there should be in choosing the stock from which to breed a race-horse; for, as Mr. Walter Gilbey very properly says, ' The sight of fine teams of them (cart-horses) fills the mind with a notion that there is hardly anything which cannot be done in the way of modifying size and form by careful and prolonged attention to the science of breeding.' THE HORSE. How far we are at present from realizing this desirable condition may be gathered from the following : Commenting upon the Hunter and Stallion Show of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, lately held at Newcastle, which a reviewer describes as ' one of the best collections of thoroughbred stallions, to judge them by appearance, ever seen,' he observes, and I have no doubt with candour and ability, that, ' out of the thirty-six stallions exhibited, no less than twenty-four of the number were more or less disliked ; ten were condemned for having bad feet or legs, or defective hocks ' (which, to my thinking, is the greatest of all evils ; for if horses are not well qualified in these respects, they may possess all other good points and yet be perfectly useless) ; ' two were cast presumably for unsoundness, and two more were hopelessly suffering from the same affliction.' And how many others would have been placed in the same category, if they had all been subjected to a trying ordeal at the hands of the veterinary examiners, no one can tell ; but, I suspect, not a few. Here we have, out of thirty-six picked stallions, supposed to be the best of the sort in England for getting hunters and carriage-horses, no less than fourteen, or nearly half (perhaps more if they had all been examined), con- sidered by judges not fit for the purpose. This is apart from the question of their soundness in i-espect BREEDING AS A NATIONAL QUESTION. 23 to 'roaring;' 'but report does add,' says the reviewer, ' that several moderate-lookinof thorouo;'hbreds have also travelled, and that the half-bred stallions out- number the thoroughbreds.' This certainly cannot be a very flattering prospect for breeders in the North, the supposed cradle of horseflesh ; for, more- over, we read that ' the dearth of good mares was bewailed at the show.' It was but lately a well-known dealer in horses told me that he had discontinued his visits to the West, where formerly he used to procure most of his hunters and carriage-horses, as there were none to be had ; for now only a few are bred there, and these disposed of at an earlier age than his cus- tomers cared to have them. I think the same remarks, if I am not greatly mistaken, will, with as much truth, apply to other localities that formerly were the great centres from which hunters, carriage- horses, and other descriptions of useful animals could be procured. Still, there are many counties that breed horses more abundantly than they did formerly, and in computing the numbers that are now annually bred, this must be taken into con- sideration. Indeed, I hear on good authority that in Devonshire there has been lately a great revival amonof the farmers and others in breedinp- o-ood half-bred stock. This T can understand. There is, in truth, no difficulty in increasing our number of horses — 24 THE HORSE. almost without limit, I might say. Why, therefore, should we not breed our own horses in sufficient number to meet all requirements for every purpose? I am convinced that we have plenty of parent stock in the country — horses and mares — for the pur- pose. And from all the natural advantages of the climate, the cheapness of the land (owing to the low price of corn), and the immense number of acres that have been turned from arable into permanent pasture, horses may be raised at a price that will defy foreign comj^etition. I expect that the reader will agree with me that these facts are of pre-eminent importance at the present time. Undoubtedly what is wanted is to improve the quality of our horses — not in individual instances, which I am happy to think it would scarcely be possible to do, but all along the line. With attention to this essential we could have, I am convinced, a better selection from native produce at a cheaper rate, especially if quality be taken into consideration, as it ought and most assuredly would be. In contemplation of these facts, I think that the conclusion reached by all sensible people w411 be that we should extend the business of breeding horses of all classes, so as to be inde- pendent of extraneous aid. Whether the matter be carried out by public companies, by Government undertakings, or preferably, as I think, by jn'ivate enterprise, is immaterial. What is clear is that BREEDING AS A NATIONAL QUESTION. 25 farmers and others would greatly assist by breed- ing, and breeding with care, horses of different kinds, of which the cavalry horse is one example ; and that, too, for their own benefit, as, taking the particular class alluded to, horses never were dearer, nor in greater demand. All that has been said indicates the absolute necessity, in order to achieve real success, of care- fully selecting both your sire and dam, and seeing that they themselves are descended from a good stock. To help the breeder to this desirable end is the primary object that I have in view. To be serviceable, the description of the kind of horses that should be selected need not be scientific, but given in a manner that may easily be under- stood and followed with the least trouble and expense, even by young beginners. Every man may be his own gardener, or his own lawyer (save us from him !), and anyone may be the breeder of his own horses ; nor need he despair of success, if he will only, in the first instance, pay atten- tion (though it must be careful attention) to the rules of common-sense in selecting his stock. And these pages, I trust, will help him to that desirable end. CHAPTER III. HISTORY OF THE HORSE. ' Numerous autliorities on the subject — Prehistoric remains — Zoological classification — General description — Always much valued — Original habitat and gradual extension — Early use in Egypt — Biblical testimony — Claim of Arabia as its origin examined — My own negative opinion confirmed — Use in Persia and Palestine. The horse in Britain — Records of large animals in a wild state — Used in the invasion by Csesar — -Csesar's testimony to its previous subjugation in Britain — -Already an animal of value — Of necessity of mixed breed — First ti\ace of distinct crosses. The history of the horse, from the very earhest period in which one finds any rehable account of his having been domesticated and made subservient to the use of man, or of his being brought to contribute (as he does) in various ways to man's many pleasures, has been written by numerous writers of great eminence. These histories form a chain of evidence that can leave no doubt on the mind of attentive readers that in the main they are substantially correct, being corroborated in so many ways by different writers at greatly differing distances of time. To HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 27 quote from all, or name more than a few of such chroniclers, would be unnecessary, and to leave these records untouched would be to render my brief account deficient in matters of ancient history. The antiquity of the horse is very great, for it is said he can be traced back to the earliest tertiary age, but we have no cognizance of any mammals of the group to which he belongs before the days of the eocene period. We are told that at that time his diminutive form, or that of an animal resembling a horse, was not bigger than that of a fox. In the miocene period it became as large as a sheep, and in the pliocene time was the size of a modern donkey, but it was not till the pleistocene period that equidse appeared which approached the size of the existing horse. ' When I found in La Plata,' says Mr. Darwin, * the tooth of a horse embedded with the re- mains of a mastodon, a megatherium, a toxodon, and other extinct monsters, I was filled with astonish- ment, but my astonishment was groundless. Pro- fessor Owen soon perceived that the tooth, though so like that of the existing horse, belongs to an extinct species.' If it be added that fossil remains of true horses, differing but very slightly from the smaller and inferior breeds of those now existing, are found abundantly in deposits of the most recent geological age in almost every part of America, we have proof of the existence of some creature akin to the horse of our own time, in some unknown shape, 28 THE HORSE. ill the remotest ages. This is, however, but a matter by the way ; what is of more interest at present is the history and descrij^tion of the animal as he exists and is known to us. Zoologists class the horse with the mammalia, the first grand division of vertebrate animals, which is placed at the head of the animal kingdom. Cuvier considers that one genus only is compre- hended in this group or family, viz. E'luus, which he places in the ' solipedous section of the Pachyder- mafa, quadrupeds which have only a single toe on each limb apparent, incased in a hoof, although there are on each side of the metacarpus and metatarsus stylets which re])resent two lateral toes.' Gray, on the other hand, considers the Equidm to consist of two genera, ' Eqiius and A sinus.' Many modern zoologists have adopted his views. One authority (Colonel H. Smith) separates from Equus and Asinus those species which are striped like the zebra, applying to them the name of Hijjpotigris. Other eminent zoologists consider that ' the horse and its near allies, the several species of ass and zebra which constitute the genus Equus, comprise at the present time six types, suffici- ently distinct to be reckoned as species by all zoologists, and easily distinguished by their external character. ' I do not profess in the above to have done more than give at second-hand facts already known HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 29 to the student. A brief recital of them, however, could not well have been omitted, in order to define the accepted opinion of the genus of the animal. As for the existing varieties of the domesticated horse, I cannot, I think, do better by way of description than once more transcribe that of a well-known authority : 'The horse (Equus cahallus),' says this writer, 'in a state of domestication, varies in size from the massive and gigantic dray-horse to the diminutive Shetland pony. Its colour is also as variable as its size, ranging through white, cream-tint, gray, mottled, iron-gray, dun, bay, chestnut, black, etc. It, moreover, presents us with different strains, how produced originally is not easy to say : cer- tainly the high-blood i-acer and the slight meagre Arab present strong contrast in their contour and capabilities to the heavy Flanders horse and the huge dray-horse, rising from 18 to 20 hands high at the withers. Between these two extremes there are numerous intermediate breeds : some adapted for the chase ; some for cariiage and liofht- wheeled vehicles ; some for the traveller's saddle ; and some for farm-labour. Ponies, again, a small variety of the horse, show differences of a like nature : some are fine-framed, full of mettle and courage, and show high blood ; others are clumsy and ill-formed, though strong and hardy ; and the intermediate gradations are numerous.' 30 THE HORSE. I must be content with this brief allusion to the natural history of the horse as prefatory to more important matters. I cannot, however, refrain from confirming in my own way what has been said, by observing that this noble creature has been spoken of from the earliest date by the ancients with something like affectionate veneration, and to the present day has lost none of his claims to our protection and particular notice. Indeed, he is looked upon with admiration, and held in increased regard, Avhether we take the race-horse, doubtless in symmetry and swiftness, as well as for endurance, the most exalted and beautiful of all his race ; the patient, plodding cart-horse, or others that form continuous links, down even to the most diminutive of the tribe — the hardy Shetland pony. All and each are severally fitted in the most perfect way for the different parts the}^ have to perform. If I have relied on recognised authorities for the natural historv of the horse, I shall, in tracino- its origin and habitat, write independently. For one thing, I shall go for important facts to the Sacred Volume itself, premising that I do so with the most ])rofound reverence, entertaining the utmost veneration for its sublime truths. This may have its disadvantages. Scepticism is accepted by some, but I trust by the unthinking, as an easy proof of superior intelligence. But this is not so, I am happy to believe, with all ; and to many it HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 31 will, I apprehend, be a satisfaction to find that my researches unmistakably prove that the spread of the horse east and west, north and south, from a certain centre, and its non-existence in the New World, only go to confirm the Biblical account. We have evidence of the early existence of the horse in Persia and Armenia, in which countries it would first be j)ropagated after its liberation from the Ark. From this centre it would appear to have found its way to Egypt. Pharaoh appears as the first possessor of this noble creature in large numbers. This is easily seen by reference to early writers both of sacred and profane history. He probably used it for pleasure as well as for war, and for that pompous show which the people in the East indulge in now with as much vanity as in primitive times. The glowing account of the horse as given in Biblical history at a ver}^ early date, in the Book of Job, surpasses in descriptive beauty, jjoetical metaphor, and sublime language, all that has before or since been written on the subject. There can be no doubt that Job lived in patri- archal days in the land of Uz, in Arabia, and that the country was not fai' from Egypt. But in that vivid description of the horse he is not said by the sacred histoi'ian to be a native of Arabia, nor, indeed, is there any other habitat assigned to him. He may, from anything there said to the contrary, have been from Egypt, and most likely 32 THE HORSE. he was ; for it is there he is first mentioned in Holy Scripture as being subjugated, in the time of Joseph. Commentators of great abihty reckon this period to have been prior to the days of Job, who hved, according to their computation of time, soon after Joseph and before, or in, the days of Moses. In corroboration of this we know that 'Joseph sent waggons ' (interpreted by the Rev. Wilham Owens as ' chariots drawn by horses ') for his father, brethren, and their famiUes to Hebron, in the land of Canaan, to convey them to Egypt, when on their arrival in a strange land Joseph, in his chariot, drove to Goshen to meet them. On this point I may perhaps refer to the notes of the Kev. Thos. Scott on Genesis xlv. 19. He remarks: 'No mention has hitherto been made of horses anion ofst the possessions of the patriarchs, or of w^heeled carriages, both of which abounded in Egypt at that time ; it is probable these waggons were drawn by horses.' Here is apparent proof that the Egyptians had horses in those days, and most likely in large numbers ; for soon after we read that Joseph gave the Egyptians food in exchange for their horses. Shortly after this event horses and chariots and a very great company were at Jacob's funeral, when he was taken to the land of Canaan to be buried in the cave of Ephron the Hittite. And in that stupendous miracle, the overthrow of Pharaoh, HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 33 * a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph,' we read that his host, his six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt and horse- men, were overwhelmed in l^he Red Sea. Later, it is said on the same unerring authority that ' King Solomon got his horses from Egypt,' for whose accommodation, we read, he had forty thousand stalls. These facts lead directly to the consideration of the allegation popularly put forward, that Arabia must be reo^arded as the orio-inal habitat of the horse. I have already observed that in the description found in Job, no one locality is fixed upon as its place of origin ; and that the earliest mention of its subjugation shows it to have been domesticated in Egypt. And now we find that Kins: Solomon collected his vast concourse of horses from Egypt. I think it may fairly be asked, why should he not have done so from Arabia, if they existed there in great numbers at the time ? Mr. Bell confirms this opinion in his ' History of British Quadrupeds.' Speaking of the Arabian horse, he says : ' There is no proof that it was indigenous to that arid country, for there is great reason to conclude that it was only at a comparatively late period that it was emj^loyed by that people ' (the Arabians) ; and adds that ' there appears a great probability in the opinion that Egypt or its neighbourhood ' (he does not sav 3 34 THE HORSE. Arabia) ' is its original country, and still more that this extraordinary people first rendered it sub- servient to man, and subsequently distributed it to other countries.' The period that elapsed from the Deluge to the death of Joseph was, according to the calculation of the Kev. Thomas Scott, seven hundred and thirteen years. We can, there- fore, readily believe what we read of the great numbers existing in Egypt at the later date. For instance, a single pair would have propagated thousands and tens of thousands, a number, indeed, beyond computation, if we remember that they were running wild ; for it is not until Joseph's time that we hear of their being domesticated, though probably before that period the Egyptians had horses in subjugation. How, then, can any individual pretend to prescribe limits within which such a vast multitude would range when in search of food, or impelled by climatic circumstances to seek different countries, or by the still more powerful incentive to their roving dispositions, the natural desire of propagating their species ? There may at the time have been horses in Arabia as well as in Egypt, and probably also in many other bordering or distant countries. I have said so much on this point because we find some authors who will undertake to say, and essay to prove, that the horses of Egypt were not mixed with the Arabians, or vice versa, or, indeed. HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 35 with others of their own species, from whatever part, however distant they may have come. Ancient history affords no proof whatever that the horse was indigenous to Arabia prior to the fifth century. That he there existed I do not doubt, l)ut was probably, before captivity, of a mixed herd from many countries. Horses, in fact, were caught wild and domesticated in Arabia as in other countries, and could in no sense have been a pure breed. This is corroborated by the fact that ' Mohammed, during his early career, was badly off for horses, and could not possibl}^ caj^ture them,' from which I infer that he had not the necessary means to do so ; or, what is still more likely, that the}^ were scarce and difficult to find. ' It would appear,' says the latest authority that I have con- sulted, ' that the horse was first domesticated or reclaimed in the East ; that it was brought with the hordes migrating westwards, from Asia, and was thus introduced into Arabia and Egypt, and that we must look to the deserts north of Hin- dostan and Persia as its cradle, or, at least, for the locality in which it first became subject to man.' This view largely confirms my own, and that is, that we must not look to Arabia as the original habitat, but rather to Central Asia, whence the horse passed into Egypt, and there acquired its first importance as the friend and servant of man. That the horse existed in Persia at an early 3 — 2 36 THE HORSE. date I cannot doubt. That King Cyrus kept hunters for his amusement is certain. But this was at a later period, as also was the use of the horse for warlike purposes by the Romans in Palestine. It is recorded in Josej)hus's ' History of the Jewish Wars ' that the Roman Emperor Vespasian sent one thousand horsemen and two thousand footmen to attack Japha, a city that lay near to Jotapata, which was taken and destroyed b}^ Trajan, the commander of the Tenth Legion. I mention this as illustrating the use of the horse for war purposes in the East ; but, as a matter of fact, this incident was later in date than his known use for the purpose, and existence in subjugation, in Britain, to which I must now refer. It is by no means clear whether or not the horse was indigenous to this country. Certainly, he is not alluded to by any naturalist as existing in a wild state. Cattle, bears, pigs, and wolves are the only large animals mentioned by the early writers to whom I have access. Earlier species, no doubt, existed, and have been duly classified from fossil remains. Fitz-Stephen, who wrote in the reign of Edward II., tells us that 'the forest by which London was then surrounded was fre- quented by boars as well as by various other wild animals.' Bewick says the bear (Urstis arctos) was once an inhabitant of this island, and was included in the ancient laws and reofulations HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 37 respecting hunting. Dr. Fleming observes of the indigenous bear of Britain : ' These animals not only prevailed in this country at the period of the Roman invasion, for Plutarch relates that they were transported to Rome, but maintained their existence, in spite of the efforts of the huntsman, to the middle of the eleventh century at least. Cattle in a wild state certainly tenanted the British plains anterior to the earliest known records. Vast herds also remained unreclaimed to a comparatively late period, and several varieties, if not a distinct species, of the Bos taurus formerly existed amongst us in a wild state.' With regard to the existence of the horse itself in Britain, we find conclusive evidence in that earliest authentic history of our country, written by Julius Ca3sar in the fifth book of his ' Gallic Wars.' It is certain he brouo^ht horses with him in his second descent upon our shores, if not on his first invasion ; for he observes of one of the early encounters with the natives that ' his cavalry drove them (the Britons) into the wood in rear of their position.' Nevertheless, though the Romans may have added variety or increase to the number of horses already existing in the island, it is equally certain that they had been introduced into it at an earlier period, though there is nothing to tell us by whom or at what time this was done. This we have on the evidence of Csesar himself, who, in the SS THE HORSE. same account, goes on to relate that soon after he withdrew his troops, and on his subsequent return to his former post, found the native princes had augmented and combined their several forces under the commander-in-chief, Cassivelaunus, to defend themselves from the attack of their common enemy, and for the purpose of expelling him from their native shores ; that after some severe and unsuc- cessful fighting, the British prince was obliged to dismiss the greater part of his forces, retaining about four thousand charioteers. From this it is positively certain that the horse must not only have been here, but plentiful in the island, before and on the arrival of Caesar, B.C. 5 5. The Britons are described by him as a warlike people, fighting on foot, on horseback, and in chariots. From accounts given of, and blades that have been dug up on, ancient battle-fields, the chariots seem to have been armed with scythes attached to the axle-trees ; thus confirming the opinion that horses were in Britain, and the art of horsemanship — though probably in a rude way — had been learnt and practised before the invasion of Caesar. Indeed, it would seem that the animal, as it then existed with us, was already a good specimen of its kind, for we read in Collier's * British Empire ' that ' in the time of the Romans British cattle, horses, and dogs were much prized.' The horse may have been an aboriginal native of the country ; probably he was, in the same way HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 39 as we find that cattle were known in a wild state. The evidence, however, so far as it goes, is nega- tive ; for, as I have observed, the horse is not mentioned by naturalists amongst the wild animals. What we do know is, that at the time of Caesar's invasion he not only existed, but was used in war- fare by the Britons, and was, even at that early aofe, thouDfht to be of considerable value. But, whatever his qualities, the horse was, as in other parts, soon mixed in blood with the horses of different nations. From this point we can begin to trace distinct crosses with other kinds, a subject which will be best examined when we come to con- sider the question of breeding in times gone by. CHAPTER lY. PROGRESS OF RACING, AND ITS RESULTS. Decline of cruelty in sport — Correspondiiig increase in racing — Earliest records — Homer — Racing colts in Greece. Racing in England — In Athelstan's time — Henry H. — Henry VIII. and Elizabeth — Encouragement given to breeding by the Stuarts — James I. imports horses — The Markham Arabian — Cromwell's White Turk — Charles II. a genuine benefactor — The royal mares — Commencement of the Stud-book — Racing at Newmarket — Queen Anne — Importation of noted Eastern sires — George IV. — Anecdote of the 'Sailor King' — H.R.H. the Prince of Wales as a breeder and owner — The Hampton Court Stud — Foreign triumphs in breeding only exceptional. The progress of civilization in this country has been marked in no hajDpier way than by the gradual relinquishment of cruelty in our national sports. The days of prize-tights, bull and badger baiting, and of dog-fighting, are not only at an end, but are hardly in the remembrance of the present generation. Cock-fighting, scarcely known in our days, had at one time a great hold on the aris- tocracy of this country. As a sport, it has the sanction of high antiquity for its practice. It was known at a very early date in Asia and China, and PROGRESS OF RACING, AND ITS RESULTS. 41 was indulged in by both Greeks and Romans, Tradition says that it was introduced into this country by King Charles II., and was eagerly re- sorted to by all ranks of society. But it, too, has had its day, and no longer exists, except covertly, in isolated cases, in defiance of the law. The days are changed indeed since good Queen Bess — as she is styled by her admiring chroniclers — hunted the stag-, which was shot at with arrows durino- this curious chase ; or when, on her sister's visit to her at Hatfield, she was entertained with a grand baiting of the bear. This latter misnamed ' sport ' — the torturing of a helpless purblind bear — was, we are told, exceedingly^ enjoyed by the fine ladies and Court beauties as a Sunday afternoon recreation. Such scenes are ended, whilst another and nobler amusement, properly termed ' the sport of kings ' — racing — has not only held its own from time immemorial, but has increased in favour, and for centuries has been looked on and recoofnised as the national sport of old England, and is now in- dulged in by the inhabitants of the four quarters of the habitable globe. Admirers of the sport may be found in nearly every town, village, and hamlet, through the length and breadth of the land. Moreover, renowned foreigners from nearly all quarters of the earth come to witness its exhibition for pleasure or speculation, or in other ways take an interested part in it. 42 THE HORSE. Horses, no doubt, must have been bred before they could be raced. But though breeding came before racing, the latter will be glanced at first, simj^ly to show briefly how far its practice may have influenced the breed of horses for good. We are told that '■ probably the earliest instance of horse-racing in literature occurs in Homer, when the various incidents of the chariot-races at the funeral games held in honour of Patroclus, which were of a semi-religious character, are related.' That it is of very ancient date will be readily admitted. Racing was practised by the Greeks, as is mentioned by Sophocles, who gives an account of such sport at Elis, when both foot-races and eques- trian trials of swiftness were made and chariot-races held. This was about six hundred years before the Christian era. Grote, in his ' History of Greece,' speaks of races ' between colts of the same nature as full-grown horses.' These I take to be yearlings or two-year-olds. At any rate, they must have been horses very much younger than those that generally raced. This passage was probably in the late Mr. Frail's mind when he first introduced the yearling race at Shrewsbury, and served him as a justification for such an innovation on the English race-course, which, however, was soon very properly prohibited by the Jockey Club. As for racing in England, the earliest record of it that I can light upon is that given by PROGRESS OF RACING, AND ITS RESULTS. 43 Strutt in his ' Sports and Pastimes of the People of England.' ' Racing, or something like it, was set ofoino' in Athelstan's reiofn.' We know further that this king (Athelstan) received as a present from Germany several ' running horses,' evidently race-horses. It no doubt in its earlier stages owed much of its vitality to the countenance sfiven to it by successive monarchs. Probabl}?' most of them took an interest in it in some shape. But so far as any record is concerned, we must pass from the time of the Saxon Kinoes to that of the first Plantagenet. Fitz-Stephen, in his description of London at that time (a.d. 1154), says : ' Smith- field is a field where ever}^ Friday there is a celebrated rendezvous of fine horses brought hither to be sold.' He then speaks of racing, and adds that here it was first known in England. The ' strong and fleet ' apparently were only allowed to contend, as ' the common horses were ordered out of the way ' for the purpose of clearing the course. I presume they raced in those days for honour, and the jockey I'ode for applause, as no mention is made of stipulated fees or gratuities to the riders. But soon after the twelfth century racing was more common, and then they ran for stakes — ' forty pounds of redy goldie ;' the distance is stated as 'three miles,' and the scene in the Metropolis trans- ferred from Smithfield to Hyde Park. This account is fullv confirmed bv later writers, and is sufficient 44 THE HORSE. to show the origin and the place of our first regular races, though it appears from the account of Mr. Cheyne, who jDreceded Messrs. Weatherby as a compiler of turf statistics before and between 1721-2 7, that there were no regular accounts kept of how the horses came in. Coming next to the time of Henry VIII., an account of his horses is given in a paper relating to the household expendi- ture as follows : ' Coursers, young horses, hunting geldings, hobies, Barbary horses, stallions, geldings, bottles, mail, pack, robe, and stalking horses.' That his Majesty ran horses seems certain, for a little later on we find aniono- other items it is thus o recorded ' by way of rewardes ' : A reward also ' to the boye that ranne the horse.' 'His chief outdoor anmsements were shooting at the rounds, hunting, and horse-racing.' Writing of this monarch, the Venetian Ambassa- dor says: 'About the year 1521, when Henry w^as twenty-eight years old, he was an admirable horse- man, uncommonly fond of the chase, and never engaged in it without tiring eight or ten horses.' Such a feat in horsemanship in our days would hardly be considered a test of a good rider, but rather of a hard and heavy one. As regards racing in the time of Elizabeth, I find it recorded in Collier's ' British Empire ' that ' there were horse-races for prizes ; but the modern system of gambling bets was unknown.' It is not PROGRESS OF RACING, AND ITS RESULTS. 45 until we come to the time of the Stuarts that we can find a proof of really steady encouragement of the national pastime, with the distinct view of improving the breed of our horses. To James I., about the year 1603, the early improvement of the English horse is undoubtedly due ; for it was this monarch who, history informs us, introduced horses from the East. And they were the most famous he could find, for he bought of a merchant named Markham an Arabian horse for £5 00, which in those days must have been considered an enormous sum. But he was a failure both as a race-horse and at the stud, as many and most of the Arabians were then and have been since. The Duke of Newcastle, who seemed to dislike Mr. Markham's Arabian in particular and the breed generally, heightened this prejudice by his remarks in his work on horsemanship, in the second volume of which he says, ' But we have of late years run too much into the Barb and Arabian kind.' He admits they have size, but they lack substance to carry weight. How strange it is that the Duke should be the only historian of the time who says the Arabian horses have size ! Most others say he is under 14 hands, or about an inch higher, whilst the Turkish horse is said by Goldsmith to be 16 hands high. Naturally, sport of all kinds suffered during the turbulent and unhappy reign of Charles I., though 46 THE HORSE. races, it appears, were held at several places, and his Majesty attended. Cromwell's interdict afterwards stopped the sport for a time, although he was desirous of improving the breed of horses, owning, as he once did, the celebrated Coffin mare, that was found hid in a cellar, and a stallion, Place s White 2\irk. The importation of foreign horses continued during the reign of Charles I., during the time of the Conmionwealth, and also during the respective reigns of Charles II. and James II. ; and these arrivals, it appears, were mostly from Barbary or Turkey, and supposed to be the lineal descendants of the paragons of the arid deserts of Arabia. We cannot, however, be quite sure of this, for most foreign horses were so described by the wise men of the East, and as such believed in by their less astute brethren of the West. Amongst these horses came Place's White Turk, above mentioned as the property of the Protector, Helmdey Tui-l-, and others of similar descent. The reign of the Merry Monarch is not credited with much good. The lover of the horse must, however, retain some respect for the memory of Charles II., from the fact that on the Restoration he did more genuine benefit perhaps to the breed of the English race-horse than any person who preceded him. For we read that he sent his Master of the Horse abroad to purchase foreign PROGRESS OF RACING, AND ITS RESULTS. 47 mares of the best and purest blood, as well as stallions. The former were called, and are to this day known in the ' Stud-Book ' as royal mares (though it appears little was known of their pedigree then or now), the celebrated Ecli/pse. and High Flyer being bred in a maternal line from one or other of them, as is duly authenticated by the same authority. Beyond doing more than any of his predecessors towards imjjroving the breed of horses, Charles II. pursued the sport itself with keen pleasure. It is of his time that one author says : ' They had in those days nice hacks, and rode in with the race- horses to the finish at Newmarket ;' a practice allowed even in my day, and in which one may have indulged with impunity, but now prohibited, and its transgression punishable with a line. The influence of his example did not die with him ; for Queen Anne, on ascending the throne, gave additional plates to be run for. Her Majesty both kept and ran horses ; but whether she bred any or not, I see no record. A curious circumstance we find connected with her racing was that on the very day before she died she won a plate at York with a horse named Sta)\ It was run in foui' heats. The efiect of the impulse given by Charles II. 's encouragement to breeding is shown in the fact that, in the years just preceding and subsequent to good Queen Anne's reign, viz., between 48 THE HORSE. 1689 and 1730, the most notable of our Eastern sires were imported, viz., the Byerly Turk, the Darley Arabian, the Curiven Barh, and last but best of all, the Godolphin Arabian. To these, and to some of the royal mares, I think we are most indebted for the improvement of our horses. That they were capable of improvement I do not doubt, for they could not have been at that time very good, although, according to a well-informed contemporary historian, they were much better than is generally believed in the present day, if they were not actually better than the Barbs and Arabians themselves. With the accession of the House of Hanover the personal interest in racing as an anmsement declined, although a generous support was accorded to it. George I., though not fond of the sport, instituted the King's Plates. George II. and Georo-e III. showed their interest in the pastime by generously subsidizing it, for the purpose of improving the breed, the increase in the number of the King's Plates being due to them. George IV., however, took a lively interest in racing. When Prince of Wales he ran many horses, and after he came to the throne he was also a breeder of horses and the founder of the Hampton Court Stud, where his brood-mares and stallions were kept till his death, William IV., ' The Sailor King,' was fond of the amusement ; but, like some of his prede- PROGRESS OF RACING, AND ITS RESULTS. 49 cessors, knew nothing about horses, although desirous of patronizing the sport and improving the breed. The followinsf characteristic anecdote is told of him. Shortly after his accession, in the June of 1830, Edwards the trainer approached his Majesty, and inquired what horses were to go to Goodwood. The King replied in nautical terms : ' Take the whole fleet ; some of them, I suppose, will win.' The three horses belonging to his Majesty which were engaged in the Goodwood Cup were accordingly despatched to the scene of action, and finished as follows : Goodwood Cup, August 11, 1830. His Majesty's b. m. Fleur-de-lis, aged, 9 st. 9 lb. . . Geo. Nelson 1 His Majesty's b. h. Zlnganee, 5 yrs. old, 9 st. 10 lb. . J. Day 2 His Majesty's ch. h. The Colonel, 5 yrs. old, 10 st. . Pavis 3 Six other starters not placed. A pretty good proof that the royal trainer knew his business. In concluding this account of royal patronage of racing, it is pleasant to be able to record the fact that the Heir Apparent to the throne, H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, not only races in his own name, but has commenced a small breedino- stud also at Sandringham. It is not improbable that in the end this may be the beginning of a larger undertaking, to be carried on at the royal stud at Hampton Court, which has been renewed and reformed in the pre- 4 50 THE HORSE. sent reign. And if so, it would assist, let us hope, in maintaining that proud supremacy which we have so honourably gained of breeding the best horses in the world. In saying this, I do not forget the few exceptionally good horses we have seen from France, Austria, and America — Gladiateur, Kisber, and Iroquois, to wit, all winners of the Derby ; and specially Foxhall, perhaps the best of the four, and certainly far superior to any horse of his year. These, nevertheless, when all is said, are direct descendants of our own horses, and are but ex- ceptional, almost solitary cases, in comparison with the great number of horses l)red in foreign countries. CHAPTER V. ORIGIN OF EXISTING BREEDS. Sources of information — Earliest crosses — English horse valued in Saxon era — Spanish strain — Horses in 'The Stud-Book' in 1793 — The Bi/erli/ and Darhij Arabians — Curwev's Baij IJurb and its produce — Flying Childers' ia.h]ed speed — The Godolphin Arabian ; no pedigree — Description — His first produce — Storj' of the black cat — Result of the crosses ; three famous sires : Matclwm, Herod, and Ecliptic — Performances of the latter — Marske — Highjiyer — The successors of the three m our own day. In the brief history of the horse we traced it from the earhest record of its origin down to its domiciHation in this country. This was a point at which it was well to leave the matter of history and turn to the question of breeding. So far as I know, we have no ancient treatise on breeding. For we cannot say whether the elaborate work on the horse written about 300 B.C. by Xenophon contained any refer- ence to the subject or not. In fact, as regards the earliest stages of the procedure, much must remain unknown, and perhaps more uncertain. When, however, we get to the period embracing the early part of the last century, we come upon more certain 4 — 2 52 THE HORSE. ground. This period commences with the intro- duction into this country of the Barbs and Ara- bians for the purpose of crossing them with the mares we then possessed. Subsequently we come to more precise information in the epoch in which we derive our knowledge of the breed and capa- bilities of the horses named from the ' Stud-Book ' and * Racing Calendar.' In the last fifty years, or T may say from the year 1830, our knowledge is still more accurate. For in this period we can consider the qualities of horses and mares that have been under contemporary observation, or at least within the memory of livino;- authorities, such in- formation being not only more comprehensive and varied, but of greater importance to the subject of our inquiry. For we are able to trace the pedi- grees and performances of different horses with accuracy ; and we also have the knowledge of many peculiarities of the different animals, both sife and dam, in cases of all descriptions. Their size, whether great or small, is made familiar to many of us — a matter of no little importance ; as well as their par- ticular temperament, action, and capabilities, facts from which alone we can hope to gain real know- ledge and reap substantial benefit in the study of the intricate subject of breeding. The first trace that I can find of the crossing of our horses with smj other strain of blood was after the subjugation of the Britons by the Romans. ORIGIN OF EXISTING BREEDS. 53 The latter, having to keep up their cavalry forces, sent horses from Rome for this purpose : for, says my authority : ' There is no doubt of the fact that by these means our own breed of horses received this early cross in blood, as we have before seen.' Whatever was the nature of our own breed, it was thus early crossed with the Roman strain, in which we cannot doubt the Turkish horse was largely mingled, if its blood did not predominate over all others. During the period that Spain was under the servile yoke of Rome, the breed of horses must have had further infusion of mixed racial qualities by the crossing of the two breeds. The Arabian horse so-called, like the Turkish, had already found its way into Spanish territory. Consequently, we may conclude that, at or before the beginning of the Christian era, our horses were already mixed with the breed of four different nations. In fact, I suspect that they were, like horses in all countries, mixed in blood with nearly all the horses of the different nations upon the face of the earth. Later there was yet another cross, when Athel- stan got ' the running horses ' from Germany, which we may conclude had their special merits, and were ultimately crossed with our own best breeds, with a view of improving or keeping up their excellence. This is the second cross from horses imported for the special purpose, so far as I have been able to .ascertain. Strange to say, no record has been left 54 THE HORSE. as to the effect, good, bad, or indifferent ; but frhm Arabian, himself of a nameless race, of whose successes at the stud I have given a full account from a trust- worthy source in my previous description of him. But even this horse, as a stallion, has been spoken of in a way he hardly deserves perhaps ; for though undoubtedly he was a ' Triton among the minnows,' all that is positively asserted of him is that he was the sire of six good horses already named. It is added ' of many others,' but this, after all, is but a vague term, little to be relied on, to prove he was anything more than a good, fair stallion. We may, indeed, conclude that he was no more nor less, if we remember the fact that he w^as twenty-one years at the stud, during which time he would be the sire of six or seven hundred horses, if he only got thirty foals a year. And from the expectation he raised early in life by his sons Lath and Cade, he would probably have had most of the best inares. To the following stallions he certainly will not bear a favourable comparison : Venison, Stock- w(dl, Touchstone, Orlando, and a dozen others in REAL VALUE OF THE ARAB STRAIN. 67 days gone by ; nor would he to such horses as Galopin, Sterling, Isonomy, or Hermit, whose cover- ing fee is 2 5 guineas each mare ; nor indeed would he to man}?- of the second or third class horses of the present day. The Godolpltin Arahian is often spoken of as the last of the Arabians or Barbs imported into this country. However, that is not the case. Several have been since imported, even up to the present time ; but what can be certainly said is, that he was the last of special note. We have seen what he did, and now may proceed to consider the merits of the other celebrities which preceded Eclipse. In the ' Stud-Book ' before referred to will be found the names of some twenty stallions, with their progeny attached. These include the Byevly Turk, Place's WJiite Turk, Dodsworth, Greyhound, Curiveiis Bay Barb, the Toulouse Barh, the Darley and the Godolphin Arabians. Besides these there are several pure bred Barbs which were foaled in this country, and therefore had all the advantages of acclimatization. Yet, strange to say, not one of them is mentioned as having been a good runner. From this circumstance it is more than probable that they were not first-class even in those early days of racing. We may be sure, had they done anything of note, it would have been duly trumpeted forth to add to their already overrated fame. Evtn as stallions they were by no means uniformly suc- 5 — 2 68 THE HORSE. cessful ; and therefore there is little to be said to uphold the belief that no other horses could equal them. It is only when we come to horses removed one cross or more from the Arabian, Turk, or Barb, on one side or the other, that we discover really satisfac- tory performers. I will give first an account of a celebrated mare. Bald Charlotte, retaining the quaint language of the original record : 'Bald Charlotte was a mare of shape and beauty, also of size, and had a very grand share of both speed and goodness. She was bred by Captain Apple- yard, of Yorkshire ; her sire was Old Royal ; Char- lotte's dam was a daughter of the Bethel Castaway, her grand-dam was a gray mare of Captain Apple- yard's father, got by Brimmer. Bald, Charlotte at five years old, viz., in 1726, beat twenty -three mares for the King's 100 guineas at Black Ham- bleton, in Yorkshire. The same year she beat seven in the Contribution October Stakes at New- market ; and at that place also, on the 1 5th of April, 1726, she won the King's 100 guineas for five-year-old mares, 10 st., one heat. On the 18th, ditto, 18 st., she beat Mr. Ashby's Sivinger, 17 st. 7 lb., 4 miles 300 yards. The same year, at Win- chester, she won the King's 100 guineas for six- year-olds, weight 12 st. On the 20th of April, 1729, she beat, 9 st. 2 lb., Sir R. Fagg's Fanny. She has been the dam of several foals, REAL VALUE OF THE ARAB STRAIN. 69 and became the property of His Grace Charles, Duke of Somerset.' (PubHshed March 10th, 1756.) This description of the performances of a cele- brated mare appears to be rather extraordinary. From her appearance in a print that I have seen of her, in an excellent state of preservation, she seems to have had little of the Eastern blood in her. She has a Roman sort of nose, and stands rather high on her legs, and very light in her back ribs. In beating no less than twenty-three mares for the King's Plate at Black Hambleton (a number I never remember to have seen or heard of running- for such a race before), and carrying 1 8 st. to victory, she per- formed feats which are curious events in the life of any race-horse, and well worthy of record. The weight that she carried is quite beyond modern parallel. I once saw 14 st. 5 lb. carried by the five-year-old Chandos three-quarters of a mile at Stockbridge, when, ridden in a 3 lb. saddle by his noble owner, the then Lord Aylesford, dressed in trousers, he gallantly defeated ' a small field.' This was in 1875, and was thought much of at the time. It was also said of this wonderful mare that she bred several good horses, and was great-grand-dam of Coxcomb and Do)-imant. She was, anyway, an extraordinarily good runner and a successful brood-mare — but she was not an Arab. Indeed, the nearest strain we find in her is in her great grandsire Brimmer, him- self one remove from a Turk. 70 THE HORSE. Amongst other good animals, I find the follow- inof : Bay Bolton, by Grey Hcmtboy, was a good runner and proved himself an excellent stallion. Little Driver, by Beaver s Driver, dam by Childers, was a good runner, having won upwards of thirty £5 Plates. Fox, by Clumsey, bred in 1714, out of Bay Peg, by the Leeds Arabian, was the sire of Captain Appleyard's Conqueror, the best gelding that ever ran at Newmarket, of Merry Andrew and Goliali (good horses). He also got the dam of Sncq). Partner, by Jigg out of sister to Mixhury, by Regidus, was the sire of Sedhury, Tartar, Cato, Traveller, and ten others mentioned by name in the ' Stud-Book,' besides many more that are not. Sloe was by Crab, dam by Childers. He was never beaten, having won five Royal Plates and two other prizes in one year, and he was the sire of Stveeper. I shall refer to him again as a stallion later on. Starling, by Bay Bolton, his dam by a son of the Brownlow Turk, was an excellent runner, and the sire of Skim, Ancaster, Starling, Torrismond, Teazer, Moro, Jason, and the grand-dam of Soldier. Tartar, by Partner out of Meliova, by Fox, was an excellent racer, and not less esteemed as a REAL VALUE OF THE ARAB STRAIN. 71 stallion, being the sire of King Herod, and of Mr. O'Kelly's mare, dam of Mercury, Volunteer, and many other good horses. Traveller, by Partner out of a daughter of Alma7izor, won several Plates and got many good winners. These examples of horses of more than fair merit are all removed • some distance from the original Eastern cross. As we come nearer the Arab strain, in fact, we find the performance less satisfactory, many being failures on the race-course, and some of them equally bad at the stud. Almanzor, by Darleys Arabian, was a public stallion, and covered a great number of mares ; but though he was an extraordinarily fine horse, and very well bred, he got very bad horses. Of his racing merits nothing has been said, so I suppose he possessed none. The Bald Galloway, by St. Victors Barb, got Ca7'touch (a capital galloway at five years, but trained off), and other middling horses, mentioned by name, as well as some galloways. Hartley's Blind Horse, by Holderness Turk, was the sire of the large Hartley mare, dam of Babra- ham, and of the Qfreat-crrand-dam of Priestess Espersyhes. Lastly, I may mention Jigg, by the Byerly Turk, who got Partner, a capital horse. Shock, and Sauce- box, middling horses. He was a common country 72 THE HORSE. stallion in Lincolnshire till Partner was six years old. These facts are taken from the second part of the ' Stud-Book,' which gives the pedigrees and the performances on the turf and at the stud of over two hundred and fifty horses. And from them I think it will be plainly seen that, however advan- tageous to our breed of horses was crossing them with Turks, Barbs, or Arabians in the first instance, the advantage w^as in the cross itself, in supplying some deficiency in our own strain, and not in the actual superiority of the Eastern liorses. In fact, the advantage, whatever it was, only appeared in a decided manner in the second and succeeding generations ; and, in short, the further we recede from the original strain, the better our horses became up to the time of Ecli}>se. Since his time, any experiment in crossing back with Oriental stock has proved a most decided failure. How poorly, indeed, do the earlier specimens, the gallo- ways of 13 hands 2 inches to 14 hands high, con- trast with the thoroughbreds of the present day, many of them standing 16 hands and over ! Horses, too, well proportioned, and able to carry 1 6 stone to hounds, and run any distance, such as Stock- ivell, Springjidd, New Hollantl, Fiddler, and Bendigo. Whether the Arabian or Barb once was, as some think he was, superior to our own breed as a REAL VALUE OF THE ARAB STRAIN. 75 race-horse, or whether, as many good judges have unmistakably pronounced him to be, he was inferior, there can be no doubt of his inferiority to-day. As to his alleged superiority when introduced here, we are not without eminent authority to rebut the assumption. Buffon, in the heyday of the Godol- 2)hi7i Arabian, must have been in the prime of life, and was probably employed in writing his celebrated ' Natural History,' in which he says, ' No horse can equal our own, either in point of swiftness or strength.' In this opinion he is strictly corrobor- ated by Goldsmith, who wrote about the year 1760, at the very time this fierce contest was so hotly raging regarding the degeneracy of our own horses or their want of goodness, and the supe- riority of the Barb, and other foreign horses which were introduced for the improvement of our own breed. After describing the horse most minutely, with the different purposes for which he is used, and his capabilities. Goldsmith sums up the whole in these few but significant words : ' I have hitherto omitted making mention of one particular breed, more excellent than any that either the ancients or moderns have produced ; and that is our owe.' Now I think I may fairly ask who is to contra- vene the evidence of two such painstaking and able writers, one actuallv living' at the date ? And if they are right, which I think none will deny, what is to become of the tenets of later chi'oniclers, 74 THE HORSE. who are always asserting, in a desponding mood, that our horses at the time were good fo^' nothing, or at any rate not better than hacks of the present day, if even as good, and that all imported horses were nonpareils ? It is not a conclusion which I can reach. Rather I am inclined to think that our horses at that time were much better than by many they are supposed to have been. The truth is that the superiority of our horses has been distinctly proved over and over again, both in speed and endurance, whenever the two breeds have met, whether on our own turf or on the sandy desert. Nor do I want supjDort from the most eminent authorities in the view I take. For, in the quotation elsewhere given from 'Nimrod' as to the spread of English blood throughout the world, not a single instance is adduced of any horse deriving its blood from the Arab, but all from the English. ' Indeed,' he concludes, ' the Arab horse is not even mentioned in all these different countries as having contributed to the breed of any.' This was written fifty years ago. And since then, I need scarcely say, the pages of the ' Stud-Book ' prove to what extent the world is indebted to the English horse, and the English horse alone, for the improvement of the breed. I can scarcely quote a better authority than the late Admiral Rous, who, in an important passage that also will be found in another i^age, under the REAL VALUE OF THE ARAB STRAIN. 75 head of ' The Iniprovement of the Modern Horse,' fully confirms my opinion that, highly prized as Eastern blood was 150 years ago, and much as our present breed is indebted to the cross, our horses were then, through earlier crosses, already much better than formerly, and, if ancient writers are to be believed, were better than the Arabians themselves. And what is still more important, his opinion coincides with mine that the Arab horses of that date were in reality much about the same as they are to-day ; that is, little above mediocrity in size, speed, and stamina. These are his words in the passage referred to : ' They are no better now than they were 200 years ago.' And I may add we know what they are now ; simply that the best animal amono-st them would not win a eood selling- plate in the present day. I refer to the passage alluded to, which is given later, for a further ex- position of the gallant Admiral's view. Another admirable authority, ' Cecil,' has the following confirmation of my opinion : ' The idea ' (he says) ' of introducing Arabian blood into the stud for racing purposes would, I feel assured, be treated by every practical and experienced breeder with contempt ; and I only venture to mention the subject in order to point out some of the most ostensible reasons why the attempt would be followed with disappointment. In the first place, the breed of race-horses in this 76 THE HORSE. kingdom is far superior to the Arabians or other foreign horses brought to England at the present period. Tlie casuist may remark that our own blood was originally derived from these sources, the reply to which is obvious. They have taken kindly to the soil, the climate, and the treatment ; hence the j^resent breed of horses is superior.' Lastly, I shall quote from an eminent con- temporary writer, the passage I allude to being taken from an able article on breeding in the columns of the Sporting Life : ' An Arab ' (says the writer) ' is invariably a bad hack on the road, and his legs will not stand the same knockinof about as those belonoing' to his English relative. Take the Arab as he is, there is very little about him that can compare with our own horses. He has nothing like the pace ; he is always a poor performer over a country as compared to an English hunter ; and if his endurance is unquestionable, he has been beaten at that also bv moderate Eno-lish race-horses, and in some instances by hacks.' In short, the Arabian is as seldom seen in the hunting-field as on the race-course, being fit for neither one place nor the other, and worse as a roadster. It will not be uninteresting here just to inquire what was the value set upon the Arab strain at the time it was in most request. Bab)'ahcini, in point of size — 16 hands high — a monster to mqst REAL VALUE OF THE ARAB STRAIN. 77 horses at that date, covered at a fee of two guineas, and two shilhngs for the servant. This seems to have been about the average price ; for although Sloe, who was never beaten, covered at three guineas and half-a-crown forthe groom, we find the one follow- ing Babrahami in the list of stallions described as ' a fine strong bay horse, 14 hands and 8 inches high, covering at fifteen shillings a leap and trial, and one shilling the groom.' I shall mention but one more, that is Trifle : ' He was got by old Fox, son of Clumsey, son of Hautboy, son of the White Uarcy TvtJc. He has won several £50 prizes, and will cover at one of'uinea a mare and one shillino- the man.' Let us for a moment compare these prices with those of our own sires at the present daj^ covering at 200 guineas, and though not all publicly adv^ertized, some at a much higher figure, with the subscription lists generally full. And these, be it remembered, were their best horses. For, in writing of Bahra- ham and his merits, I am reminded of an anecdote related bv Sir Francis Hastinsf Dovle, who tells us that Samuel Johnson interested himself in Atlas, by Bahraham. 'Johnson,' says Sir Francis, 'went his way muttering to himself : " Of all the posses- sions of the Duke of Devonshire I covet A tlas the most." ' Holcroft, in his memoirs, says the trainers at Newmarket thought him the best horse that had run since Flying Child ers. I have not yet mentioned another objection to 78 THE HORSE. Eastern blood. I lately had a conversation with a gentleman in the arm}^ who was in India during the Mutiny, at Cawnpore and other places, and he told me that ' most of the Arabians or horses of Eastern blood are bad tempered, and none but the black attendants dare aj^proach them, for they have been known to seize their owner and kneel on him when down, and many have escaped only with their lives.' Who knows, then, but what we are more in- debted to the Eastern blood than to any other breed for the savage propensities of our horses, which make many an otherwise valuable horse useless at the stud ? — that is, in my view of the matter. Before abandoning the subject, I may allude to the growing disposition to reintroduce the Arabians by giving races in which they alone can com- pete, having for its ultimate aim, I suppose, the crossing of them with our mares. If so, I hope it will be nipped in the bud and condemned by all right - thinking men, so that we may not see another failure such as our fathers before us have seen and reofretted. The five or six Arabian stallions lately sent by the Sultan of Muscat to the Queen are very likely to be put to this purpose, and tried at Hampton Court, with about as much probable success as was witnessed in the time of William IV., when no purchaser could be found that would give £40 each for the best bred Arabian yearlings, or for horses out of Arabian REAL VALUE OF THE ARAB STRAIN. 79 mares, and the attempt to sell them had to be abandoned. I have, perhaps, considered the sub- ject more exhaustively than may be thought neces- sary by some ; but if books, not pages, were written, which would only convince the breeders of thorough- bred stock of the utter uselessness of the Arabians for their purpose, the labour would not be lost. In my next chapter I shall consider the remarks of Captain Upton on the Arabian horse and his breeding. CHAPTER VII. IMPROVEMENT OF THE MODERN HORSE. Existing disbelief — One cause of this : ' short courses ' — Difficulties of the breeders of judging — ' Gameness ' of our present horses — Admiral Rous's testimony — What horses really did a liundred years ago — ' Sweeping the board ' in those daj'S ; a ten-guinea prize — Performances o^ Eclipse examined — Edipseand Touchstone contrasted on the turf and at the stud — The lesson therefrom — -Advantageous effects of climate ; the Arabian ' a curious exception ' — Our improved fat and lean stock — My Eussian pig ; ' Early Porcine Type ' — Spread and appreciation of the English horse in other countries ; ' Stonehenge ' thereon ; what ' Weatherby's List ' says ; ' Nimrod's ' testimony — Progress in the colonies — New Zealand. One of the assertions very easily made, and very readily and widely believed by the inconsiderate on proof that cannot even be C[ualified as ' slender,' is that the English horse of to-day is not the equal, in certain respects, of his predecessors. It is a ques- tion that I may treat, for it is well to know, whilst we are discussing the subject of breeding, whether the process followed has resulted in improvement or failure. I may say at the outset that the sup- posed degeneracy of our thoroughbred horses is IMPROVEMENT OF THE MODERN HORSE. 8i altogether a mistake. It is the manner and the purpose for which they are used that gives them the delusive appearance of non-stayers, in com- parison with horses of an earlier date, when long races and heavy weights were the rule, and not, as now, the exception. If horses of the present day were trained for long races and ran but a few times a year, this important fact would be made manifest. Five or six furlong races are so numerous now that few trainers care to prepare their horses for any other distance, or at most only a little beyond it. In this they have the tacit sanction of their employers, for there is scarcely one nowadays but likes to see his horses big when brought to the post ; a state totally incapacitating them for running a long dis- tance successfully. This is a much more important matter than one might take it to be at first sight. Breeders have many difficulties to contend against ; and this is not, by any means, one of the least of them. Public performance becomes no guide whatever to real merit in that one point, ' gameness.' It is only necessary, in order to make this clear, to notice the sort of horses we get running in our day in short courses. We see Charon, Jester, Hampton, and indeed a host of others that could be named, running in selling races, and mostly over short courses; and if any of these liorses had retired from the turf at the end of their two-year-old 6 Sz THE HORSE. career, from accident, or otherwise (as many horses do), they would have been stamped as non-stayers, and have been looked on at the stud as virtually only fit to get short runners ; whereas, truly, they were all good game horses, and only wanted a distance of ground to show their intrinsic merit in its ^true form. This is really a difficulty ; for how can we be sure, in the present day, that horses are not passed by for stud purposes as ' non-stayers ' which in truth only lacked the opportunity to show their capabilities ? As to the real improvement in the modern horse, I will proceed to quote the passage, alluded to in a former chapter, from the work by Admiral Kous : ' A very ridiculous notion exists,' says the gallant handicapper, ' that because our ancestors were fond of matching their horses four, six, and eight miles, and their great prizes were never less than four miles for ao^ed horses, that the Enolish race-horses of 1700 had more powers of endurance, and were better adapted to run long distances under heavy weights than the horses of the present day ; and. there is another popular notion, that our horses cannot now stay four miles. From 1()00 to 1740 most of the matches at Newmarket were above four miles. The six-mile post in my time stood about 200 yards from the present railroad station, six-mile bottom, and the eight-mile post was due IMPROVEMENT OF THE MODERN HORSE. 83 south from the station on the rismg ground ; but the cruelty of the distance, and interest of the horse-owners, shortened the course in corresponding ration with the civihzation of the country. Two jades may run as fine a race for eight miles as for half a mile — it is no proof of endurance. You may match any animals for what distance you please, but it is no proof of great capacity. We have no reason to suppose that the pure Arabian of the desert has degenerated ; his pedigree is as well kept, his admirers in the East are as numerous, and his value in that market has not been depre- ciated. In 1700 the first cross from these horses were the heroes of the turf. Look at the portraits of FlyiiKj Childers, Lath, Regulus, and other cele- brated horses, including the Godolphhi Arabian. If the artists were correct in their delineations, they had no appearance of race-horses ; they, of course, were good enough to gallop away from the miser- able English garrons of that era, as a good Arab or a Barbary horse, like Vengeance, would run away from a common hackney in the present day. Amongst the blind, a one-eyed man is a king. M}'' belief is that the present English race-horse is as much superior to the race-horse of 1750 as he excelled the first cross from Arabs and Barbs with English mares, and, again, as they surpassed the old English racing hack of 1650. The form of Flying Childers might win now a £30 Plate, 6—2 THE HORSE. winner to be sold for £40 ; High Flyer and Eclipse might pull through in a £50 Plate, winner to be sold for £200. This may be a strong opinion ; it is founded on the fact that, whereas 150 3^ears ago the Eastern horses and their first cross were the best and fastest in Enoland, at this day a second- class race-horse can give five stone to the best Arabian or Barb, and beat him over any course, from one to twenty miles. T presume, therefore, that the superiority of the English horse has improved in that ratio above the original stock.' Merely noticing in passing that the gallant Admiral fully confirms in this passage my testi- mony as to the quality of the Arab as compared with the English thoroughbred, especially as regards his running to-day, when ' one of our second-class horses could give five stone ' to the best of the lot, I will supplement the information he gives by adding an exact account of what the race-horse absolutely did in the year 1750, of which we have accurate information in the ' Kacing Calendar ' for that season. There w^ere then 405 horses running, belonging to no less than 241 owners ; a circumstance from which we may learn that none of the studs could compare in magnitude with the size of many at the present day ; indeed, few could exceed five or six public runners. Instead of being capable of performing feats of endurance, we find that two IMPROVEMENT OF THE MODERN HORSE. 85 horses only ran as many as five races each, in that year. These performances afford a curious contrast. Driver won all his races, which were run for in heats, or in other words ran eleven times ; the last of them reading like a race for galloways at Newmarket : '£50 Plate, 14 hands, to carry 8 st. ; 7 lb. to give or take.' The other, Mr. Greville's Noble, was beaten in all his races but one at Salisbury, the winning of which I should think was an accident, for I find his single opponent was distanced. Mr. Humphrey Sturt, an an- cestor of the present Lord Alington, hailing from Dorsetshire, apjDarently was a shrewd and intellectual person, who raced, and had a well- named horse called Nothing, which was distanced for the £50 Plate at Aylesbury, and ignobly retired from the turf; or, at any rate, took leave of it for the remainder of the season — a decision his lord- ship would most certainly have acquiesced in had he lived in those days, or Imd he such an animal runnino- in these. We must reinember, too, that all races were not in those days run in heats, for I see that at Black Hambleton four days' races consisted of four races, not one of them in heats. Nor, and what is per- haps equally important, were these rich stakes all of the full value of fifty guineas, or about it. For we see Mr. Sparrow's chestnut gelding Cripple was the winner of the annual ten cruineas at Bar- 86 THE HORSE. ham Down, Canterbury, beating all his opponents, and triumphantly retiring with ' all his blushing honours thick upon him.' Long before this date we read of races to be run for of much less value. In 1711 'a plate of six guineas value, three heats, by any horse, mare or geld- ing that hath not won above the value of £5 : the winning horse to be sold for £10, to carry 10 st. weight if 14 hands high : if above, or under, to carry or be allowed weight for inches, and to be entered on Friday the 5th, at the Swan Inn, Coles- hill, by six in the evening. Also a plate of less value, to be run for by asses.' Out of the remain- ing 402 horses, 240 of them followed the good example of the Cripple and only raced once each in public ; but through not all having the same incom- parable powers, many had not the same good fortune of conquering every competitor and retiring without an equal. And when we come to really good horses, there are other matters to be taken into consideration before we can gauge the relative merits of horses now and in Ecli'pses time. Horses may, through accident, after winning, leave the turf; others may win a race and die, and so may be said never to have been beaten, and thus gain a reputation their merits do not entitle them to. I mention this to show that after all Eclipse, High Flyer, and 3Iatchem may nob have been the equine wonders of all time that IMPROVEMENT OF THE MODERN HORSE. 87 people generally repute them to have been. In those days each horse ran but few times, and generally against small numbers, and those most likely of an inferior class. Indeed, everything goes to show that such was the case ; and as we can only find about two or three good horses annually in 2,000, how is it likely they should have found so many of the same quality in about 600, the number running in those days ? Again, if we compare what Eclipse did as a race- horse and at the stud, not with our best horses now, but with them half a centurj'- back, and take 'Touch- stone as an example, we shall find the result very much in favour of the latter. He ran earlier, oftener, and won as much in one or two stakes as Eclipse did in all his races put together. He was lonofer on the turf, and died at a more ad- vanced age. His stock won 771 races, of the collective value of over £-?28,000 ; and to win a race then must have been, as now, much more diffi- cult than it was in the days that preceded, namely, about the time of Eclip>se, when, according to an account taken from the Duke of Tuscany's travels in 1669, ' hacks were as good as race-horses.' '■ For,' he says, ' the English horses, being- accustomed to run, can keep up with the racers without difficulty.' But even in those days Eclipses stock of 134 winners and the amount of £160,000 does not show a favourable contrast to Touchstone ; THE HORSE. and much the same may be said of the best horses that succeeded him. I do not, for a moment, make the comparison for the purpose of tarnishing tlie well-earned fame of great horses. I do not wish to make too much of the fact, set forth on the irrefragable testimony of the 'Racing Calendar' of 1750, as to the turf paragons of the period retiring amidst general accla- mation after winnino- one ten-o-uinea stake. But I do sa}^ that if these things were considered we should hear no more of the cuckoo-cry about ' the degeneracy of our horses.' And more, that these truths are infallible guides to the proper estimation of the merits, or demerits, of different animals at different periods of time. I have no doubt myself that we have seen as many and as good, or better horses, within the present century ; and more, that there are a greater number running at the present day than were ever known at any other period of turf history. I do not wish to lead to the conclusion that, having established the improvement in the horse as a matter of fact, I attribute it entirely to greater knowledofe or to gfreater care in his treatment. That we have learned not a little, and that we have better means of preserving his health, is true. But it does not do to ignore the effect upon suc- cessive generations of the influences of climate, in causing improvement by a simple natural j^rocess. IMPROVEMENT OF THE MODERN HORSE. 89 We see this in other animals besides the horse, and it is no more easy to account for it than for the process of natural selection. If we are to believe Captain Upton and other enthusiasts, there is one animal, indeed, that is above such influences, whether occult or de- monstrable. According" to them the Arabian horse o alone, of all animals in creation under the control of man, is incapable of improvement, either by judicious crossing with his own pure blood or with a better. I will not stay to inquire whether, just as our own race-horse has been improved by breeding from different strains, the Arabian might not pos- sibly be improved by a cross with our stallion. I am not concerned with the improvement of the Arabian. That is a matter I leave to the ability of more ardent admirers of his race than myself The question I have to treat of is the improvement of our own horses. The effect of the influence of the climate and soil of this country, in furthering the improve- ment of cattle of all sorts, is not a matter that should be sliofhted in a work on breedinof. For we are indebted to it not only for the superiority of our breed of horses, but also for the surpassing ex- cellence of every description of stock that we raise, either for our own consumption or for the improve- ment of our own or foreisi'n cattle in the most distant regions of the earth. By this essential and 90 THE HORSE. primary assistance, combined with skill and inde- fatigable perseverance, ^^^e have excelled all other nations in the production of cattle, sheep, and pigs, to an extent that to be appreciated must be seen in the various exhibitions of fat and lean stock in the leading agricultural towns, and at the Christmas shows in London aiid Birmingham. As to the influence of climate, a matter which I shall deal with at length when I come to describe the condition which should guide the breeder in the choice of locality and soil, I am tempted here to mention my own experience with ' my Russian pig.' Shortly after the Crimean War, Mr. Wolfe kindly made me a present of a young Russian pig. This lanky creature, which had been brought over by an officer on his return from the Crimea, w^as in shape more like a greyhound than a pig, and nearly as swift, with bristles longer and stiffer than I ever saw before on any of its species. I kept it for some time ; but as its appetite, though not nice, was voracious, and as it had no tendency what- ever to fatten, I gave it away, and so lost sight of it. Surely, if this were a fair specimen of the ' early porcine type,' we may judge, by comparison of it with what we can produce to-day, of the extent to which climate and treatment may improve any kind of animal. Fancy such a creature at one of our exhibitions, standing in a pen side by side with our best- bred Berkshire pig, or the large white IMPROVEMENT OF THE MODERN HORSE. 91 Yorkshire kind, or other and smaller breeds that are now dispersed throughout the country ! Then, contrast a good fat Southdown sheep with its original stock, the moufflon, and it will be manifest what selection has done for us in effectino- the incomparable excellence of the sheep at home and in our Colonies, So, with our horses, there can be no doubt that they are much im])roved, and better adapted for the various purposes for which they are used, than they were one, two, or three centuries ago. As to the world-wide tacit acknowledo-ment of this fact, shown in the gradual and increasing spread of the English horse in other countries, I may, in concluding my observations on this part of my subject, quote facts from well-known authorities. I find that * Stonehenge,' writing about the year 1830, says that up to about then we had ex- ported to America no less than 392 pedigree horses. But, from the pages of Messrs. Weatherby, I take a still more startling record of the number of horses that have been exported, not only to America, but to nearly ever}^ place upon the face of the earth, to wit — ■ British North America, South America, the United States, Australia, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, South Africa, Ger- many, India, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Bouraania, Bussia, Spain, and Sweden, in about three years. The numbers give a total of 924 mares and horses exported in this period (practically 92 THE HORSE. within this period, that is to say, for in the number are included a few exported before 1877, and a few in 1881, up to June, the date of publication). Of these, 159 were sent to France, and 329 to Germany. The following extract from ' Nimrod ' is much to the same purpose. ' After the example of Englishmen,' he says, ' racing is making consider- able progress in various parts of the world. In the East Indies there are regular meetings, and there is also a Koyal Jockey Club. In the United States, the breeding and running of horses are advancing with rapid strides. In Germany we find there are many regular places of sport. His Serene Highness the Duke of Holstein-Augustenburg and his brother Prince Frederick have each a large stud of horses, from blood imported from England ; and many other German sportsmen have studs under the care of English stud-grooms. Prince Butera's breed- ing-stud on the southern coast of Sicily is the largest in tliose parts. It was founded by a son of Haplicizard from a few English mares, and His Highness is one of the chief supporters of Neapo- litan horse-racing. In Sweden is some of our best blood, and Count Woronzow and others have taken some good blood to Russia ; and as to racing^ in Tasmania, several well-bred English horses are the best of the cattle at Hobart. Pacing in Germany is considerably on the increase, IMPROVEMENT OF THE MODERN HORSE. 93 particularly in Hamburg and Berlin, in Mecklen- burg and ^Holstein, as well as in the whole of Ger- many and Prussia, showing that no expense is spared in purchasing the English blood.' Again he says, ' But it is in the New World, America, that racing, and the consequent improvement of horses, is making the most rapid progress, having twenty-nine thoroughbred English horses propa- gating their stock throughout the various stations.' After giving the names of the stations, and a list of the horses referred to, which I need not repeat, he continues : ' And to these are to be added Glencoe, and, alas ! Priam, at the extraordinary cost of 3,500 guineas.' This was written some time ago, and the argu- ments in favour of the growing demand for Eng- lish stock are only strengthened by later develop- ments. ' Nimrod,' it will be seen, refers to the progress made in Tasmania, and as further illus- trating the appreciation in which the modern Eng- lish horse is held in the colonies, I may mention that, in the seventh volume of the ' Stud -Book ' for New Zealand, published in 1881, I tind great strides have been made there in breeding thorough- bred stock. It includes nearly 1,000 mares and their produce. Many mares have been imported, and most of them are descendants of imported horses from this country. In the obituar}'' of stallions is a list of eighteen, fourteen of which 94 THE HORSE. are either by imported stallions or out of im- ported mares ; three home-bred, and jDne Arab. Under the head of ' Covering Stallions,' I find no less than sixty-one horses that are either imported, or from imported horses, or more than half the number that is advertised to cover in our ' Book Calendar.' Amongst the horses imported from this country I find Musket (perhaps nearly as good as any stallion we have here at the present moment), Leolinns, Feve, by Lord Clifden, and the following that won me several races before I parted with them : Castle Hill, Traducer, and Alail Train. So they have some well-bred horses in the country, and, like all sensible people, have but little to do wdth the Arab blood. Amongst the mares are Pidchra, Diindees Katie, Crinoline^ Forget-me- not, and Sissie, than which we have few if any better bred mares in our own ' Stud-book.' There is, in short, scarcely a place on the face of the earth where races are held in which the successful com- petitors do not trace their purity of blood to our own horses. And I confess I cannot see in what direction any but crotchet-mongers can trace a sign of the degeneracy, and not of the improvement, of the modern horse. CHAPTER VIII. CLIMATE AND OTHER INFLUENCES. Climate and soil must be suitable — Abundance of eligible farms — Efiect of our climate on horses in size and shape — Undesirable localities — Goldsmith on climatic effect on dogs ; on improve- ment in cattle — The wild herd at Chillinghani— Progressive advance in breeding — Increased weight and value of sheep — Weight of a modern ox — Contrast of past and present times. Other influences — Further requirements in selecting farm — Abundant pasturage — -Sufficient room — Effect of exercise on action — Essential need of it — Example from greyhounds. When, in the first chapter, I expressed my con- viction that fanners, large and small ahke, could successfully add to their ordinary employment the breeding of horses, I named one necessary condition of this success — that the climate and soil should be suitable for the purpose. Lest, however, this pro- viso should appear at all discouraging, I may add that, as a rule, farming land throughout the United Kingdom is suitable ; the exception being in the condition or surroundings of certain localities which I shall presently describe. Climate, undoubtedly, has much to do with the 96 THE HORSE. improvement of all animals, so much so that the process in this respect is one of the great mysteries of Nature. Even in our own little island, small as it is, horses could not be bred so good in one part as in another. No one, for example, would think of trying to breed thoroughbred stock on the Welsh or Scotch mountains ; or, for the matter of that, indeed, even on any of the bleak hills in the West of England — Dartmoor, to wit- — -or on marshy, un drained land which is often enveloped in a dense fog, or elsewhere in a damp atmosphere. If tried in such situations, I opine, our horses would degene- rate, and in a few years be no better than they were centuries ago. In Iceland and the cold countries, we are told, the horse is diminutive though strong. In Flanders, on the other hand, and in the South of France and other warm and congenial countries w^here the climate is dry, it is much largfer. The climatic effect on doos is, according to Goldsmith, still more extraordinary, almost surpassing belief, for he says, ' This animal,' speaking of the hound, ' transported into Spain and Barbary, where the hair of all quadrupeds becomes soft and long, will be there converted into land- spaniels and water-spaniels, and these of diflerent sizes,' ' The mastiff,' he continues, ' when trans- ported into Denmark, becomes the little Danish dog ; and this little Danish dog, sent into the tropical and warm climates, becomes the animal CLIMATE AND OTHER INFLUENCES. 97 called the Turkish dog, without hair. All these races, with their varieties, are produced by the influence of climate, joined to the different food, education, and shelter which they have received amongst mankind.' We have the authority of this great student of natural history for the fact that these extraordinary changes are thus produced. Coming nearer to our subject, in writing of cattle and horses he expresses an opinion which confirms my own experience, and says that, ' Like our race-horses, we have indisput- ably the best breed of cattle and sheep in the world, which are eagerly sought for by foreigners, and trans- ported to the Continent at enormous prices. We have undoubtedly the best breed of horned cattle of any in Europe, so it was not without the same assiduity that we came to excel in these as in our horses. The breed of cows has been entirely improved by a foreign mixture properly adapted to supply the im- perfections of our own. Such as are purely British are far inferior in size to those on many parts of the Continent. But those which we have improved by far excel all others ; our Lincolnshire kind derive their size from the Holstein breed, and the large hornless cattle that are bred in some parts of England came originally from Poland. We were once famous for a wild breed of these animals, but these have long since been worn out.' If Goldsmith was able to write in such glowing 7 98 THE HORSE. terms of the breed of cattle existing in his day, what would he not have said, I ann tempted to ask, in praise of such animals as are now produced by the aid of skilful treatment and intelligent crossing ? In respect to the wild breed of cattle for which we were once famous, I need scarcely say that the species has still some representatives in Chilling- ham Park. 'Druid,' writing in 1870, gives a description of them. It is really so interesting that I am sure a little space given to it will not be grudged. ' The herd,' he says, ' is generally kept up to 11 bulls, 17 steers, and 32 females, or three score in all. They are made steers of even up to four years old, and it is found even at that stage to improve the beef It was the practice to do so when they were dropped ; but it was a very dan- gerous one. and spoilt the bull selection as well. They are tempted into a yard with hay, and there snared, and tied by the neck and horn during the process, and returned next day without any cautery. The steers always grow larger horns and weigh from 40 stone to 50 stone of 14 lb. If it is fair weather they go up the hill, and if stormy they remain below. They eat very much at night, and mostly in company, and often scour a good deal in warm weather. The bulls are more of a tawny shade than the cows, as they fling the dirt very much over their shoulders when they kneel to CLIMATE AND OTHER INFLUENCES. 99 challenge. Both sexes have black nostrils, horns tipped with black, and a little red within the ears ; and in their general look they partake of the Charolais and Highlander combined. Their sense of smell is exceedingly acute, and a cow has been seen to run a man's foot like a sleuth-hound, when he had run for his life to a tree. While Sir Edwin Landseer was taking sketches for his celebrated pictures, the herd went into action, and he was glad to fly to the forest as they passed by.' In many cases the improvement noted by Gold- smith now more than a centtiry since (1774) has progressed and is progressing. Fifty years ago the rate of advance in this respect was a subject of congratulation to our forefathers. I may conclude that, in Goldsmith's time, the Shorthorn, Hereford, and other large breeds, as well as the beautiful Devon and Sussex, with many others of a smaller description, were not in fashion, or were unknown, or most likely non-existent, or they would assuredly have been mentioned by him. As a naturalist he would certainly, I think, have noticed and de- scribed their magnificent size, amazing beauty and perfect shape, as well as their extraordinarj' meat- producing qualities ; and he probably would have informed us as to the breed of the stock from which they were originally derived, so that we might have perpetuated one so desirable. The fact of continuous improvement since his 7—2 THE HORSE. time is fully borne out by the independent testi- mony of later writers. ' Druid,' in ' Saddle and Sirloin,' speaking of sheep, says : ' Lord Polvvarth's rams, as well as those of a few other flockmasters, were sold by auction at home for many years. In 1846 the Kelso public sales were established on the second Thursday in September, and 350 rams were entered, but £13 was the highest price. Lord Polwarth's were first brought to Kelso in 1852. In 1820 his lordship's home-average had only been £3 15s. for 35; whereas in 1865 it was £37 18s. lOgd. at Kelso for the same number. His lordship's top sheep went for £95 that year, and for £106 in 1867.' Again, he says: 'Two crosses of Cheviot have increased the Welsh sheep from 40 lb. dead weight {i.e., the carcase without the head or legs from the knee, when the farmers sell by so much per lb.) to 70 lb.' (I may observe that fed on hay and turnips they have reached 90 lb.), 'and havo also doubled the wool, on which the second cross seems to have good effect.' Re- ferring to results in different parts of the Princi- pality, he goes on to say : ' What has been said about upper Padnorshire applies as much to the higher parts of Montgomeryshire and Cardigan, but with this exception, that the Cardigan wethers seldom go to a fair. Many of them are bought for parks, and improve amazingly on the 5 lb. to 6 lb. per quarter which they would weigh on their arrival.' CLIMATE AND OTHER INFLUENCES. So much for sheep. As for the improvement in cattle, what would our forefathers have said to an ox whose living- weiofht was 216 stone of 14 lb. to the stone? If we want to see what the intelligent application of knowledge, in suiting locality and treatment to the nature of an animal, has done, let us compare this weight with that of the wild Chillingham breed, which we learn is usually be- tween 40 and 50 stone ! They had their marvels in those days, too. Comet is spoken of as 'the most symmetrical bull they had ever seen. He was not very larofe, bat with that infallible siofn of constitu- tion — a good wide frontlet, a fine placid eye, a well- filled twist, and an undeniable back. His price caused breeders everywhere to prick up their ears. They had already heard of Fowler refusing 1,000 guineas for a longhorn bull and three cows, as well as for a cow and her produce of eight seasons ; but never of one bull achieving that sum.' But what are these sums, extraordinary as they are, to the fabulous j^rices that we see given now for all sorts of horned cattle '? And so with other animals, horses in particular, not only has the value increased, but the demand for them from all parts of the world. Tempting as it is to follow up this interesting subject, I must not dwell any longer upon it. It is more material to our point to observe that ex- tended knowledge and indomitable perseverance THE HORSE. could not have achieved the improvement, without the advantages of a climate adapted to develop the good, and eradicate the weak points in the indi- vidual animals. It is, therefore, very needful on the part of the intending breeder to make sure that the situation selected has not the disadvantage of being either too bleak on the one hand, or, on the other, a marshy, undrained soil, and consequently damp atmospliere. There are plenty (jf eligible sites in all counties ; and, therefore, it should not be difficult to secure freedom from these conditions ; for the process of breeding horses subject to them must, I am sure, turn out disappointing in its results. There is another point. The reader of my former works needs no telling how essential I consider it to be that any horse, bred for sale for any purpose, should have both good feet and legs. The ground on which young stock is to be reared should, therefore, not be too hard. This, however, is scarcely likely to be the case, for, of necessity, a farm used for the purpose would have plenty of good pasturage, as it would not pay to rear ordinary stock in the expensive way in which thoroughbred stock is supplied with artiiicial food. This is a question that I shall deal with when I come to describe the stud-farm. And on this and other points I may refer to that description. One of these matters, of no little importance, is the fencing off or uprooting of the trees which I shall CLIMATE AND OTHER INFLUENCES. 103 « enumerate, the leaves of which are harmful if eaten. For the rest, the selection of a suitable site may, I think, with these hints, be left to the individual ; for, as I have observed, it is not so much a question of finding a locality — most farms being suitable for the purpose — as of taking the precaution of seeing that this or the other site is not too bleak on the one hand, or too humid on the other. But there is one point that I should not pass by ; and that is the very simple question of room, for there is little use attempting to breed horses unless you can give them sufficient space in which to exercise themselves thoroughly. This question of exercise, I think, is often not sufficiently considered. For one thing, you can hardly overdo a colt with food if he has only liberty and space for exercise. When I come, in its proper place, to the treatment of young horses, I shall have something to say on one grand mistake made in their management, and that is, insufficiency of exercise through being kept in small paddocks. But I might here, whilst I am on the subject, relate an interesting experience of my own in the case of some greyhounds, bearing on the matter and illus- trating it. Good or bad action, it must be remembered, is a very material point in the value for sale or actual use of any horse. Good action, as I shall I04 THE HORSE. presently show, is undoubtedly inherited. But it is also developed to a considerable extent by opportunities of abundant exercise in youth. I lately saw an extraordinary case of this sort in two well-bred five-months-old greyhound puppies, out of Mr. Randoll's bitch Rona. They were generally fed and kept in a loose-box, and allowed to take exercise on the lawn and grass fields close by. In this way, whilst playing, they would chase each other with so much vigour and determination that they soon lay down fairly exhausted, with their tongues out of their mouths, gasping for breath ; in fact, they would tire themselves as much as if they had actually had a short course after a rabbit or leveret. This sort of exercise they took most days when the weather was fine. They grew up to a good size, and had the best of attention, and are now promising saplings. Mr. RandoU had also another bitch puppy of the same litter, which, for want of room, was treated differently. She was, as may be readily supposed, the finest of the three, or such a good judge of greyhounds would not have selected her for himself as he did. She was kept in a small stable at Salisbury, well fed, and in every other respect well cared for, yet she did not thrive. Mr. Randoll thought it must be from confinement, since he could not let her out for exercise as often as he wished, for fear of losing her in a crowded town. One day, seeing mine doing so much better CLIMATE AND OTHER INFLUENCES. 105 than his, he asked me to take the other sister, which I did, and they were all treated alike at Coombe. The new-comer was hearty, and ate as well as the others ; but her action was like that of a high- stepping park-hack, and she galloped as high as a rocking-horse, and was ' as slow as a man in jack- boots,' to use a colloquial term. In fact, when running 50 or 100 yards, a distance they often did as fast as they could back to me, when they found I had turned round unobserved by them (which I often did purposely, for the sake of seeing their relative speed), she was invariably left to perform half the distance by herself. It was not for some months after that any improvement was made in her action ; but with attention and exercise came an increase of speed, and though not nearly so good as the other two, yet her action greatly improved. A few months later she took the distemper, and gave it to the others, from the effects of which she died ; but the others recovered. Does not this suggest, or, properly speaking, teach us the absolute necessity for all young animals to have their freedom and the power of exercising themselves at an early age, as often and to what extent they choose, in large spaces that will enable them to extend them- selves without restraint, for the sake of their action as well as for the benefit of their health, and, I may add, for the saving of the vet.'s fee and the bill for nauseous drues? CHAPTER IX. SLIPPING AND STERILITY. Wide extent of loss from this cause — How ewes are treated — My experience shows that it is a disease — Early exhibited at the stud — Twins also a loss — Inherited and accidental causes. Nature of malady examined — Examples through three genera- tions — -Dead foals lead to barrenness; examples — Afflicted mares die early — Slipping leads to barrenness ; examples — Extent of malady shown in ' Stud-Book ' — Examples from one hundred representative cases — Must end in loss. Accidental causes — Care needed during pregnancy — Removal of refuse in paddock and yard— Fright — Bad smells — Must separate barren mares — Extraordinary instance at Alvediston from eating fallen leaves. Result of examination — Slipping and sterility go together — Exemption of Irish mares suggests the question of climate and treatment. Slipping and sterility are fruitful and never-failing sources of disappointment and loss to all breeders of stock. They are not peculiar to the equine race, for we tied them existinof in flocks and herds in all parts of the country, so that they should be jealously watched by all owners of sheep and cattle, of whatever breed or description. If a ewe casts her lamb she is immediately marked ; and at the SLIPPING AND STERILITY. 107 end of the season, when the surplus stock is sold, she has to go in company with those which have proved barren, or have had bad udders, or any- other defect likely to prevent them from breeding and rearing their stock in good condition. The same strict rules are followed in the case of cattle. Cows which do not give satisfaction in this respect are, like ewes, got rid of without considera- tion of price, by breeders who wish to eradicate the disease of sterility from their herds. Here we have a good and sufficient reason for the application of a similar rule to brood-mares. It is a subject which has always occupied my attention, and I think that an account of my own experience in the matter should be useful to breeders of horses of all kinds. For, although my lesson has been learned chiefly in raising thoroughbred stock, yet I think its teaching applies to mares of all kinds, and especially in the fact that I have been able to trace the causes of the disease to certain sources, and, therefore, am enabled to suggest remedies that, in my own ex- perience, have proved successful. That slipping is a disease cannot be doubted. Nor can it be doubted that, to a great extent, it is liereditary. Like other animals, it may be said of brood-mares that many of them have a predi- lection for doing certain things, and this predilec- tion is generally shown at the commencement of their life at the stud. For instance, if, in her first io8 THE HORSE. year or two, a mare should breed a winner, though only of a little race, it is a good omen. Better things may reasonably be expected of her. So with mares predisposed to sterility, the defect will be discovered in the first year or two, as a rule ; and in the same way, mares disposed to slip their foals will exhibit the tendency at the same early period. There is nothing for it, in my opinion, therefore, but to discard from your stud any animal that commences her career by slipping or having dead foals. The same objection and process, I should add, applies to those that have twins, as these, for racing purposes, or indeed for other purposes, are generally useless. These facts, for facts they are, though they may have been unobserved by some and disregarded by others, should teach us the necessity of seeking the origin of the disease, with a view to its remed}^ ; for if we know the cause of any malady, even the most obstinate may be ' con- sidered half cured.' For my own part, I am convinced that slipping and sterility are grave defects which, like most other diseases, are generally inherited ; although, as in other defects, there are also accidental causes, for it is an ascertained fact, and one accepted by the most attentive and intelligent breeders and veterinary surgeons, that there are many exciting causes which produce abortion. It will therefore be a convenient course to consider first the innate orisfin of the SLIPPING AND STERILITY. 109 complaint ; and secondly, the causes which acci- dentally produce it, so as to guard against the occurrence so far as it may be possible to do so. As to the hereditary nature of the malady, I have found that, when mares slipped a greater number of foals than the generality usually do, their offspring had a greater tendency to do the same thing than others have which have been bred from mares not so afflicted. Of the truth of this, and of the difficulty of overcoming it — and, I may add, the loss resulting from breeding from a stock predisposed to it — the following illustrations will, I think, afford ample proof Uctaviana, the dam of Crucifix, slipped. Crucifix did the same. Chalice, out of Crucifix, in addition to slipping a twin and a single foal, was barren five times and had two dead foals. Faith, by Pelion out of Chalice, had two dead foals, and was barren the next year and for four years subsequently. Reigning Beauty, by King Tom out of Chalice^ had two foals, was barren two years, and was given away. V^erona slipped, and so did her daughter Villafranca. The same was the case with Cerise and her daughter Pinkie. All these mares, in short, were not onl}^ barren, but slipped also. If these instances do not prove that the disease is hereditary, I cannot think what further evidence could do so. Here are three generations clearly THE HORSE. traced, in which the mares were barren or had dead foals. And the tendency is shown, too, in the collateral branches, in the two near relatives which slipped in the first year. The same result follows with mares that breed dead foals, or which give birth to foals that live only a short time, as the following instances show : Tor7)ie?it was barren the first year. Her first foal died as a yearling ; she subsequently had two dead foals, and . was barren in all nine years. F sharp ^ her foal, a twin, was barren the first year, had a foal the second year, and was sent to Bruns- wick. Tormentor, another of her daughters, had a dead foal the first year, was barren the next year, and for four years afterwards, Tisiphone, out of Torment, had four foals, all of which died young, and, like her mother, was barren six years. Monstrosity, dam of The Ugly Buck, slipped twice, and was barren four 3^ears, and died a young mare in 1857. Marigold slipped three times and was barren the like number of years. Her daughter, Blue Hose, was barren the first year, and died very soon afterwards. Legerdemain slipped a filly foal the day after winning the Cesarewitch, wiis trained for two years after, and again slipped twins in 1856, 1860 and 1862, being barren for three years. Miserrinia slipped three times, had dead twins SLIPPING AND STERILITY. twice, one dead foal, and was barren five 3'-ears. Mcestissima, her daughter, had a dead foal, slipped, was barren, and died young. I find, indeed, that most mares have slipped or had dead foals before having twins. It was the case with Device, Caricature, and Advice. Mandragora is another and a striking example of the hereditary character of the disease. She had four dead foals, and produced nothing for seven years. Her daughter was still worse, for she only bred two living foals, was barren twice, and died a young mare. With such examples before me, I should be very chary indeed of breeding from a mare that had either slipped foals or had dead ones, or had been barren during the first two years at the stud. Furthermore, it may be said, and I think with truth, that mares which bring forth their young im maturely seldom live so long as those which go the full time and produce healthy offspring. Be- sides, many mares die young after slipping their foals. Nor is this experience confined to horses ; the same may be said of animals of every descrip- tion. And beyond this danger to life, I have noticed that mares which have slipped are barren twice as often as those which have not been so afflicted, and in most cases have more dead foals. I may mention, as an example, that Handicraft slipped the first year, and was barren the next THE HORSE. four years. Amongst other mares I could name, which were either barren or shpped in the first two years at the stud, and subsequently were either barren, had dead foals, or slipped oftener than most mares, were Happy Wife (barren the second year, five times afterwards, and slipped), Vicar s Daughter, Botany Bay, Silvia, Rapidan, Gift, Marie Stuart, Minna Troll, Isilia, Hampshire Lass, and two I have already mentioned, Verona and Ma.rigold. The importance of the subject must be my ex- cuse for dwelling upon it. It demands, indeed, more than an isolated case to prove the fact to my own and the reader's satisfaction. To show to what extent the injury from slipping and steriUty really afiects the profits on breeding, I may mention that Messrs. Weatherby give the following particulars of the results for 1879 : out of 2,860 thorough- bred mares put to the horse, 906, or nearly one- third, were barren or slipped. In 1882, 2,874 mares put to thoroughbred stallions produced 1,916 foals ; 818 mares were barren, and 140 slipped, or one-third had no foals. To be more fully confirmed in my view, I have, at considerable trouble, gone through the four- teenth volume of the ' Stud-Book ' to ascertain the names of a number of mares that have either slipped, or had foals dead, or that died shortly after, or twins. And the result simply proves that SLIPPING AND STERILITY. 113 my theory — if what has been learned through ex- perience can be called theory — is absolutely correct ; for, except in two or three cases, which go to prove the rule, these mares were barren also, either before or after such misfortunes, and more often so than is the case with the generality of brood mares. Of these, I have taken one hundred cases indiscrimi- nately, in which they are described not only as havinof been barren, but barren much often er in a given number of years than most other mares. Of these hundred cases in which the mares have slipped, I will give a few instances : Tape, I find, slipped three times, and was barren five years. Algerie slipped foals in 1878, had twins in 1879, and died the next year. Red Leaf slipped once, then was barren for three years, having had two living foals before. Raffie slipped three times, and was barren a like number of years. Silvia, a mare I once had, brought forth her first foal dead ; had afterwards two more, likewise dead, and was barren for eight years. Verona slipped twins once, was barren seven years, had two dead foals, and died after foal- ing. Abigail was barren three years before and three years after she bred Ruby, her first foal, and was again barren four years subsequently. 114 THE HORSE. Worthless slipped twins in 1