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TJic Country Gentleman's Magazine 



peated. Let, then, all vice exclude from the 

 harem; also, all tendency to spavin, ring- 

 bone, splint, curb, or navicular disease, 

 whether the effect of hereditary predisposi- 

 tion or of fatigue or work ; likewise, broken 

 wind, bad hocks, and unsound or badly 

 formed and contracted hoofs, although only 

 the result of bad shoeing. Most certainly, by 

 avoiding these blemishes, the breeder adds 

 materially to his chances of ultimate success 

 in an otherwise sufficiently difficult enterprize. 

 These remarks are intended to apply equally 

 to the case of sire or dam ; although vice and 

 temper is more usually perpetuated through 

 the female line, and defective joints or here- 

 ditary disease commonly derived from the 

 sire's agency. 



The general contour, points, and con- 

 formation of good parents, for purposes of 

 breeding, are so entirely matters of common 

 sense, and so universally agreed upon and 

 understood, that it would be quite out of the 

 province of this paper to recommend good 

 oblique quarters and shoulders, a small and 

 light head, a clean, well-arched, and lengthy 

 Beck, small and well pricked ears, not wide 

 set, deep ribs, and middle well coupled up, 

 and with a wide barrel, allowing plenty of 

 room for the lungs to play; and the back 

 should not be too long in proportion to the 

 height of the animal, although this is not ob- 

 jectionable, but otherwise, in the dam. The 

 fore arm should be broad and muscular, and 

 in like manner the thighs and hind hocks 

 should be particularly good in this respect ; 

 for deficiency here is a sure index of want of 

 leaping power, and ability to take a stiff 

 fence without strain and subsequent distress. 

 The bone below the fore knee must be flat, 

 and there must be plenty of it ; the pasterns 

 should not be upright, nor too long and 

 springy, for in the former case, in a year or 

 two, the horse gets ''"groggy" and '■'■ knuckled 

 over" and in the latter, severe work or a 

 hard run produces a sprain, which may fall 

 into inflammatory disease and permanent 

 lameness. Well-made feet and sound hoofs 

 are most essential requisites. These con- 

 stitute the salient characteristics, so far as 

 appearance goes, of a good sire or dam for 



breeding hunters or first-class roadsters ; and 

 the mention of such a long array of essential 

 qualifications calls up the remark of an old 

 horse-dealer, who, when a customer once 

 called upon him, and had stated what he 

 wanted — an animal with this, that, and the 

 other good point — naming in succession, as 

 we have done, all the special components of 

 a thoroughly good and perfect horse — coolly 

 retorted : " That, sir, is the very beast I have 

 myself been all my days trying to find ! " 

 Difficult, indeed, it is to find a first-rate 

 brood mare, and one that will consecutively 

 breed true to her type ; but they are to be 

 found ; and if any of our readers may chance 

 to have such a " picture," all the advice we 

 would give is, simply not to part with her ; 

 and if she be one that repeats in her offspring 

 her own stamp, it would be folly to desist 

 breeding from her; and pains should be 

 taken to procure the services of the best 

 stallion possible. For, year by year, we have 

 observed a mare of this sort will, if restricted 

 to purely thorough-bred stallions, continue to 

 breed finer and finer, and one year omitted 

 may cost her owner much difficulty and 

 trouble to induce nature to resume her 

 functions. 



Purity of blood on one side is, in our 

 opinion, absolutely essential, to ensure a 

 successful cross; for as the old adage that 

 "like produces like" is decidedly true in 

 horse-breeding, and as we wish our hunters 

 and roadsters to shew style and quality, it 

 can only be at the risk of lessening these 

 two essentials in the young stock that we 

 cover a three-parts-bred or half-bred mare 

 with any other than a thorough-bred horse. 

 Indeed, in all breeding, the first-cross fre- 

 quently improves both breeds, but if con- 

 tinued further, and the male offspring of that 

 union be allowed to cross again,- coarseness, 

 deficiency of courage, and impaired powers 

 of endurance must be the result. 



The necessity of having " action" in all 

 horses required for the field or road is so 

 universally known and admitted, that we 

 have hitherto deemed it unnecessary even to 

 mention it amongst the qualifications of all 

 young stock of the two classes under con- 



