BOOK. 87 



portion of those who embark in the speculation, and, there- 

 fore, the injury sustained is more the loss of money to the 

 individuals than any deterioration in the national character 

 of the horse. 



There is a mistake into which some of the most extensive, 

 and it may be added, highly experienced breeders have 

 fallen, that of not selecting a suitable partner for each mare. 

 A stud of mares is got together, and they may be unexcep- 

 tionable; a stallion is purchased, and he may be of the very 

 best blood, altogether the most perfect animal of his day, 

 and yet there may be some mares, indeed several out of a 

 number, from which it cannot reasonably be expected that 

 the produce will be highly valuable. Setting aside the con- 

 tingency of consanguinity presenting a rational impediment, 

 there are many circumstances which ought to be considered 

 as a bar to the union. Great disproportion of size may be 

 one. Although it is held as a principle, and no doubt is a 

 good one, to correct any imperfections which are possessed 

 by one parent by the superiority of those particular points 

 in the other, attempts to rectify diminutive stature by the 

 other extreme are generally productive of disappointment. 

 The increased size to which the English thoroughbred-horse 

 has been brought has been accomplished by degrees, and 

 Nature is jealous of having her handiwork outraged by ex- 

 cess Disproportion in some of the limbs is commonly 

 the result when great disparity of size characterizes the pa- 

 rents If either the horse or the mare be defective in the 

 shoulders, it should be determined that the other must be 

 unexceptionable in that respect; the same distinction applies 

 to the back, loins, quarters, thighs, hocks, and legs. There 

 are some breeders who regard with insignificance the perfec- 

 tions of their mares, relying upon the merits of the horse for 

 the perfection of the produce ; but, to say the least of it, it 

 is a most hazardous conception. It has been already re- 

 marked, that mares which have distinguished themselves most 

 successfully on the turf, have, in many instances, failed to 

 produce foals of any value; and it has very frequently oc- 

 curred that mares which have only run a few races have been 

 most successful in the stud. Very high prices have occasion- 

 ally been given for mares to breed from, in consequence of 

 the celebrity they have attained on the turf; but there are 

 scarcely any examples of their having compensated the pur- 

 chasers. The most valuable mares for the purpose are, un- 

 doubtedly, those which have bred runners; and, if their cost 

 price is high, they generally remunerate the enterprising 



