xviii PREFA CE 



England. The large number of mares bought by 

 them are those which have been accidentally 

 blemished ; but in all cases the shape, and not the 

 pedigree, of the mare guides the purchaser. They 

 also buy sound young mares for work, with the view 

 of breedinor from them afterwards. 



In addition to their annual purchase of many 

 thousand English mares, French and German 

 breeders * have, since about 1830, been England's 

 best customers for hackney stallions. They can 

 now offer for sale from the great horse-rearing 

 districts well-marked types of useful horses which 

 they have gradually produced by judiciously mating 

 the mares they have bought from England. 



For this purpose the hackney was pre-eminently 

 suited. Breeders of the hackney sought to per- 

 petuate the qualities which made the ideal ' ride and 

 drive ' horse, and they have succeeded ; for in the 

 modern hackney we find the qualities which he has 

 inherited from his sire, the Darley Arabian. Sound- 

 ness, staying-power, docility, and handiness are 

 characteristic of the well-bred hackney as they are 

 of the Arab ; and when the hackney has failed to 

 maintain its reputation, it is because inferior sires 

 have been selected and mated with unsuitable mares. 

 The best sire cannot counteract all the defects of a 

 bad mare in their joint produce. 



* ' Horse-Breeding in England and India and Army Horses 

 Abroad.' By Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart. ; published 1901 ; Vinton and 

 Co., London. 



