THE PERFECT HORSE. 83 



These are fhe horses wanted by all the luxurious and 

 wealthy of the world. The finer and more beautiful the 

 animal, the surer his market. We want a proud, fine- 

 actioned horse, — a lean head, with thin lips, open nostril, 

 full, kindly, lustrous eye, a broad forehead, and quick, play- 

 ful ear ; the crest not too high ; the neck light, well set, and 

 arching ; the throttle large ; the skin thin, and the fine hair 

 blooming with health ; the limbs powerful and perfect ; the 

 hoof round and hard, — the type of horse whose back 

 has been the throne of conquerors, whose neck is clothed 

 with thunder, and the glory of whose nostrils is terrible. 

 Granted that this is the ideal horse, the horse of story and 

 of song, yet it is easier to produce him in his highest possible 

 perfection than it is to get the ideal of the trotting-track. 



An accidental, elegant carriage-horse may be occasionally 

 found in any of our families of horses. Morgans, Hamble- 

 tonians, Clays, Mambrinos, produce them more frequently 

 than they produce low record trotters ; but all these families 

 lack the combination of size, style, courage, and bottom, that 

 are wanted in the horse for which there is a steady, unfail- 

 ing demand. 



It has been urged by writers who have considered this 

 subject before me, that, in order to produce carriage-horses 

 or park-horses of proper quality, we should use the excep- 

 tionally fine ones of the families we have, and find our result 

 in their produce ; but experienced breeders are well aware 

 that accidentally fine animals of races of mongrel blood do 

 not reproduce their own accidental qualities, but commonly 

 throw back to their inferior ancestry. If this is allowed, we 

 must look outside of what we have, if we intend to breed 

 horses for profit. At this point of our investigation we are 

 not compelled to grope in the dark : we are upon ground 

 that has been carefully explored, and we can avail ourselves 

 of the experience of the world. 



The poet says, — 



" From fairest creatures we desire increase, 



That thereby beauty's rose might never die, 

 But, as the riper should by time decease. 

 His tender heir might bear his memory." 



We know that beauty of form, fineness of bone, good statr 



