The Horse-hreedlng Industry in Yorkshire. 93 



last hunter he bred was Monarch, a fine grey gelding which 

 won the champion prize at the H. I. Society's show last year 

 for his then owner, Mr. Stephen Furness, M.P. 



Although hunter-breeding on the part of farmers in York- 

 shire may not be what it was thirty-five years or more 

 ago, a considerable number continue to be bred Ijy them, and 

 there seems to be no real cause to take such a pessimistic view 

 of the situation as is held and expressed by sonae. One 

 thing is pretty certain, and that is, that the industry probably 

 enjoys a greater degree of prosperity here than in any other 

 pai't of the country. Nowhere else at any rate is a larger 

 proportion of hunters bred in relation to the total number of 

 foals raised, including both light and heavy breeds, than in 

 Yorkshire. Despite the increasing hold the Shire breed has 

 gained in the countjs which has brought Avitli it the con- 

 version of the originally almost or wholly light-legged stock of 

 farm-horses into a much heavier hairy-heeled cart-horse type, 

 there still remain in the hands of farmers a good many 

 mares, more or less suitable, that will throw a foal 

 of hunter type to a thoroughbred sire — such as, for 

 instance, mares straining back to the old Cleveland blood, 

 or mares with a coach horse cross in them, which sorts are in 

 particular to be met with in the North Riding and along the 

 coast of the East Riding, and also in other parts. These are 

 mares specially suitable to produce big horses of the weight- 

 carrying hunter stamp. Another leading type from which the 

 farmers often breed horses of likely hunter shape, if a blood 

 sire is used, are the nag mares they drive in their carts and 

 use for odd jobs on the farm, which are of nondescript breed in 

 most cases and of a variety of cross-bred types, some big, some 

 small, some of roadster descent, some with a strong strain of 

 cart-blood in them, and so on. The mares used for hunter- 

 breeding by farmers are, no doubt, in the majority of cases, 

 essentially common, but a corrective for this is, of course, supplied 

 by the thoroughbred sire, provided he is sufficiently impressive. 

 Sometimes a hunter is even bred by crossing a cart-mare of a 

 lightish stamp, such as is found, for instance, in the Wold coun- 

 try, with a blood horse. That cross, when successful, however, 

 is more or less of a fluke, and few farmers try this plan in these 

 days when cart-horse breeding is so much in the ascendant. 

 The quantity of well-bred, typical hunter l)rood-mares in the 

 country, owned by hunting-men who breed in a small way, 

 must be very considerable, though it would be manifestly 

 impossible to make any reliable computation of their numbers. 



Yorkshire is unquestionably better supplied with thorough- 

 bred stallions standing or travelling in the district than most 

 other counties, and this must necessarily favour the production of 



