&0 THE HORSE. 
There is also reason to believe that they were not nearly so much or so 
soon stimulated by large feeds of oats, as is now invariably the custom, 
and that they were allowed to remain at grass, with the shelter of a hovel, 
during the first three or four years of their lives. All this is now changed ; 
the foal is filled with corn as soon as he will eat it, and at the end of the 
first year he is furnished as much as the old-fashioned three-year-old. 
One chief difficulty of the trainer now is to keep his horse sound, and, 
unfortunately, as disease is in most cases hereditary, and too many unsound 
stallions are bred from, the difficulty is yearly on the increase. Without 
doubt roaring is far more common than it used to be, and the possession 
of enlarged joints, and back sinews, is the rule instead of the exception. 
During the last ten years, the Derby has five times been won by an un- 
sound animal, which the trainer was almost immediately afterwards obliged 
to put out of work, either from diseased feet or a break-down, and yet few 
breeders think of refusing to use such horses as these. Nevertheless, good 
legs and feet, and a hearty constitution, are no small recommendations, 
and Mr. Merry may thank them for winning him the great prize of the 
year 1860, with Thormanby, a son of that wonderful mare Alice Haw- 
thorne. Thormanby, however, is not an instance of a colt having been 
reserved till he was arrived at his growth, for there are few horses which 
have been more used, having run fourteen times as a two-year-old; but his 
naturally excellent legs and feet, and the fine down on which he is trained, 
have enabled him to pull through unscathed. Now the reliance which 
was placed by his backers on these good qualities, proves that he is an 
exception to the rule; for if they were at all common, they would be of 
comparatively little advantage. The truth really is, that the average race- 
horse of modern times is of such forced growth, that he is unable to bear 
the wear and tear of training as he used to do, and hence a much larger 
per centage of unsound animals is to be met with. He is bred mainly 
for speed, superadded to which is as much stoutness and soundness ot 
constitution as can be procured among the most speedy horses at the 
service of the breeder. By a perseverance in this method of selection, he 
has undoubtedly become more speedy, and less lasting in proportion to his 
speed, that is to say, he cannot be extended for as long a time as he used 
to bear with impunity. But that he cannot cover as much ground ina 
given time as formerly is, I think, an error,—for there is every reason to 
believe that any distance may now be run in as short a time at least, as 
either in the middle of the last century or the beginning of this. 
OBJECT OF ENCOURAGING THE BREED OF HORSES. 
THE GREAT OBJECT of encouraging the breed of racehorses is, however, 
lost sight of, if suitable crosses for hunting, cavalry, and hack-mares cannot 
be obtained from their ranks. In these three kinds, soundness of the feet 
and legs is all important, together with a capacity to bear a continuation 
of severe work. ‘These qualities are highly developed in the Arab, and 
until lately were met with in his descendants.on the English turf. Even 
now a horse with a stain in his pedigree will not bear the amount of train- 
ing which a throughbred will sustain, his health and spirits soon giving 
way if forced to go through the work which the racehorse requires to make 
him “fit.” But the legs and feet of the latter are the drawbacks to his 
use, and the trainer of the present day will generally be sadly taxed to 
make them last through a dry summer. Our modern roads are also much 
harder since the introduction of macadamization, and thus, in proportion to 
