196 THE ARAB THE HORSE OF THE FUTURE 



any man rightly to affirm, unless he have scientifically 

 tried the experiment, which he never seems to have 

 done. 



Besides, the statement that the cross with the 

 Arab achieved a great and happy result at the time 

 is somewhat apt to mislead. It seems to assume 

 that there was some English breed apart from the 

 Arab, which only needed a little Arab improvement, 

 whereas, as I have shown, the English thorough- 

 bred is greatly Arab, spoiled by cross-breeding with 

 inferior English and Flemish horses. 



Mr. Day's utterances in the face of authority, 

 even in the face of his own admissions, appear to be 

 founded on the prejudice of a racing man in favour 

 of the breed which produces ' long-legged, pampered 

 weeds,' for he himself says that out of thirty-six 

 picked stallions, supposed to be the best of the sort 

 in England, no less than fourteen (perhaps more) 

 were not fit for the purpose. Note ' picked 

 stallions,' and compare this with the statement in 

 the Australian Stud- Book that many stallions in 

 that list are not worthy of entry. 



I think a neutral mind would rise from the 

 perusal of Mr. Day's book impressed with the sure 

 conviction that it was the English thoroughbred that 

 for practical purposes (except for a half-mile sprint 

 with a light weight) was defunct like the dodo, 'and 

 only to be reinvigorated by large crossing with the 

 foundation stock of his breed — i.e., the pure Arab.' 



The inevitable bias of a gentleman in Mr. Day's 



