82 THE ORANGE COUNTY 



however well bred he may be, has the slightest chance in a 

 race with a horse of fair pretensions, a hand and a half 

 higher, with proportionate power and muscular symmetry. 

 The average race-horses of the present day are far superior, 

 in consequence of the improvements made in their size and 

 power. This has been accomplished by selecting those to 

 breed from which have established a fame on the turf, or near 

 relatives to them; and those which, being well bred, from 

 their power and symmetry present reasonable expectations 

 of producing foals of value. To this may be added good and 

 suitable nourishment, and a climate highly congenial to the 

 constitution of the equine tribe. The partisans of the ancient 

 worthies contend, that although low in stature, they were 

 superior in those proportions which gave them power an 

 inference which cannot be established. Length is an essen- 

 tial auxiliary to racing properties, and an animal only four- 

 teen hands high, with the length and substance of one fifteen 

 hands two inches, would be out of all proportion. 



The most talented and successful breeders of horses 

 during the present century, thoroughly convinced of the impro- 

 priety of breeding from families nearly related, have scrupu- 

 lously avoided it. 



To determine by the external appearance of a horse on the 

 qualifications he may possess, or what he may be able to per- 

 form, is an exercise of judgment with which the most expe- 

 rienced are not endowed. Appearances are so fallacious, that 

 the most skillful will find themselves mistaken; this applies 

 both to racing and breeding, therefore, much must be left to 

 future development. If breeding horses could be reduced to 

 a system like a sum in arithmetic, or an operation in chem- 

 istry, there would be an end to speculation, and the exciting 

 interest with which it is accompanied would be wanting. 

 It is not to be inferred from this that chance presides unre- 

 servedly over its destinies, far from it; there may be and are 

 some extraordinary incidents which occasionally embellish it 

 with something akin to that character, but they are the 

 exceptions, and not the rule. Those who take the most 

 pains to investigate causes and effects will be most successful 

 in the enterprise of breeding horses. Temper is a qualifica- 

 tion of great importance, and this expression must be accepted 

 with a comprehensive meaning; not simply to convey the 

 idea of docility, but the combined attributes of courage, or 

 good-will to exert the physical powers to the utmost extent; 

 and in proportion as a horse is gifted with physical capabil- 

 ities and the will to exert them, so will he maintain a position 



