396 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY 



courser. The English racer has therefore been the 

 progressively improved breed, from a commixture of 

 our own horses with those of Asia. The horses of the 

 first blood, or such as are the nearest possible to the 

 Eastern stock, are those immediately produced from 

 the Arabian, or Barb ; any stallion with an English 

 mare, which has been already crossed with a Barb or 

 Arabian steed, in the first degree ; or that which has 

 sprung from two crossings in the same degree. In its 

 action the English race-horse is somewhat like that of 

 the Arabian, but differs from the Spanish horse in 

 carrying the whole of his frame forward with an 

 energetic power, while the motions of the latter are 

 measured with more of a graceful motion and shorter 

 step. 



In breeding, a mare should be chosen with as 

 great a proportion of the blood of King Herod as 

 possible. She should be deep in the girth, long and 

 full in the fore-arm and thigh, short in the leg, stand- 

 ing clean and even upon the feet, and wide and 

 spreading in the hind-quarters. It is a curious fact 

 that the produce of our first-rate mares and an Asiatic 

 horse seldom or never are good racers ; and they must 

 be one remove at least from the foreign stock before 

 they can be depended upon. 



THE HUNTER 



Is a combination of the thoroughbred race-horse and 

 half-bred horses of greater strength, and less lengthy in 

 their carcase. He should be from fifteen to sixteen 

 hands in height. The points most likely to discover a 

 horse of good proportions as a hunter, are a sanguine 

 and healthy colour, with a lofty forehand, a head and 

 neck as light as possible, clear wide jaws and nostrils, 



