428 BRITISH AND IRISH HORSES. 



with a linseed mash^ and occasionally a few carrots for a 

 change. I doubt whether this kind of feeding admits of 

 the mare nourishing her foal as she would do if she broused 

 on the natural grasses that spring up in April and May. 

 I do not believe that early foaling occurs naturally among 

 horses running wild, and I maintain that in our endeavours 

 to breed good early foals, we are fighting a battle with 

 Nature and getting the worst of it. In the whole of my 

 experience I doubt whether I have ever known a May foal 

 that was a roarer." In all animals, hereditary predis- 

 position to early maturity obtained by artificial selection 

 is accompanied more or less by constitutional weakness, 

 as we see by the frequency of tuberculosis in Shorthorns. 

 In the large majority of cases, roaring (^Laryngeal paralysis) 

 is transmitted only by thorough-breds, and is practically 

 unknown among pony breeds. Early training for racing 

 is a prolific cause of unsoundness, especially in two-year- 

 olds ; the injuries in question being chiefly sore-shins, and 

 sprains of the ligaments and tendons of the fore legs. 

 Also, the practice of allowing roarers to race is not only 

 cruel, on account of the distress in breathing which it 

 causes them ; but it is also a potent factor in the propa- 

 gation of this serious and incurable disease. 



A Derby winner is of necessity an animal which 

 possesses the " gift " of early maturity, though probably 

 not to as great an extent as a Brocklesby Stakes' winner. 

 An English racehorse does not usually attain his highest 

 state of excellence at a later age than four years, as we 

 may see by the frequent use of the expression, " four and 

 upwards," in the conditions of "All-aged" races. This 

 early maturity is generally followed by early decay, as we 

 learn from the fact (p. 426) that only 221 horses out of the 

 3,830 runners of last year, were over six years of age. 

 Many years' experience of racing in India has shown me 

 that Arabs which are used at racing, rarely become fully 

 developed before they are eight or nine years old, and 

 until they have been raced for two or three seasons. Many 



