154 Cross-Breeding in Horses. 



has a deep chest capable of admitting' the large amount of air 

 which the demands of the system require under severe exertion. 

 By natural conformation and by artificial training all superfluous 

 weight is removed, and thus he is capable of covering more 

 ground in his stride, and of repeating these strides more fre- 

 quently than any other horse, as well as of continuing his extreme 

 efforts for a longer period without tiring. The heart and the 

 brain of such a horse are comparatively larger than in other breeds, 

 the bones, though smaller, are more compact, the skin of a thinner 

 and finer texture, and the blood-vessels more developed. These 

 advantages, however, are not without certain diawbacks. The 

 delicacy of the skin causes the animal to be extremely susceptible 

 of cold, he is consequently less hardy and requires more food to 

 keep up the animal tcm])eraturc, so that it is difficult to keep 

 flesh on a thorough-bred horse unless he is kept warm ; moreover, 

 the carcass being smaller, the stomach and intestines are not so 

 large, and consequently the food must be more concentrated and 

 nutritious to keep up this supply of warmth. 



The difference as respects hardiness is strikingly shown between 

 the foal of the cart-mare and the thorough-bred. Whilst the 

 former is strong, sturdy, and fleshy, the latter is comparatively 

 puny, thin, and susceptible of the least cold ; the former, by 

 means of the dam's milk, can be kept in first-rate order, whilst 

 the latter requires artificial assistance as soon as it can be ren- 

 dered. The fact is that the digestive apparatus is more powerful 

 in the one than in the other — it can assimilate more nutriment 

 from nutritious food, and subsist on rough diet on which the 

 other would starve. This it is which renders it so expensive to 

 rear the blood-colt, and this distinction prevails throughout life, 

 and extends in a lesser degree to the half-bred, as compared with 

 the cart-horse. The thorough-bred has yet other faults ; as a 

 rule, he is slighter and weaker in the fore-legs, he goes closer 

 to the ground, is often a bad walker, and an indifferent trotter, 

 and is more liable to stumble and fall than the coarse-bred horse. 

 How can it he otherwise ? He is bred to win a race, from parents 

 who have been winners ; the elevated and rounded action that 

 makes a good hack or charger, would shorten his stride and 

 impair his chances ; although if he has good^egs^and sufficient 

 size and substance, the very fact of his being too slow for racing 

 ought to be rather a recommendation as a hunting-stallion than 

 otherwise, yet Avho would give him credit for stoutness if he had 

 never been fortunate enough to win a race ; or what chance would 

 he have for a prize at our agricultural shows when judged by 



proportion to their size and -weight, larger bone and sinew than the majority of 

 our thorough-breds, and I have often observed their beneficial inilueuce in the 

 second and third generation both with hunters and other horses. 



