CHAPTER XXI 



THE HORSE THE THOROUGHBRED, ARAB, HACKNEY, 

 CLEVELAND BAY, YORKSHIRE COACH-HORSE, AMERICAN 



TROTTER 



The Thoroughbred Racecourse and other Selection Early Improve- 

 ment Importation of Roman, Spanish, Arabian, and other Horses 

 Failure of Early Crosses Ridgway and Blunt on the origin of 

 Light Horses In-and-in Breeding The Arab Horse Names 

 Strains Colour Points The Royal Commission on Horse Breed- 

 ing The Hunter's Improvement Society The Brood Mare Society 

 The Harness Horse and Pony Society The Hackney Origin 

 and Development The Modern Norfolk Trotter Yorkshire Trotters 

 The Exportation of Hackneys The Cleveland Bay The Yorkshire 

 Coach-Horse The Rule of the Road The Horse's Prayer The 

 American Trotting Horse. 



THE THOROUGHBRED 1 



IS in some respects perhaps the most interesting of our 

 British live stock. It has been bred without admixture 

 of alien blood for more than a hundred years, and during that 

 time it has been subjected to the most rigorous system of 

 selection through individual trials of strength and endurance. 

 No breed has been so effectually tested for the special 

 qualities required of it as the thoroughbred. The shovvyard 

 test of the cart-horse is very different from this test ; the 

 merits in a show competition being determined by external 

 appearance and by inference, not by trial in the work for 

 which the animals ought to be most prized. The endeavour 

 to judge the qualities of a Thoroughbred by external appear- 

 ances only ends in failure and disappointment in most 

 instances, even when this is attempted by the most skilful. 

 An additional selection over and above the process of natural 

 selection is apparently necessary, when we realise that between 



1 See The Horse : How to Breed and Rear Him^ by Wm. Day, of 

 Salisbury (Bentley & Sons, 1888), to which the Author acknowledges 

 indebtedness. 



480 



