68 PURCHASING FROM THE STABLES. 



substantial, well-built stallion of fourteen hands 

 two and a half inches had been put to a rather 

 slight but yet well-formed mare of fifteen hands : 

 these last may, with some little propriety, be termed 

 nearly even-sized horses. The only true method of 

 increasing the size of the Indian horse, and at the 

 same time insuring symmetry, is never to allow 

 more than an inch and a half difference in the 

 height, and only that under the restrictions just 

 mentioned. An indifferent point in the stallion 

 must also always be met by a very superior one 

 in the mare, and vice versa; but the cardinal 

 points of both must be perfect, or there will be 

 no improvement in the breed worth speaking of. 

 This is attended with no difficulty, and very little 

 expense, when choosing half and three parts bred 

 horses. There are hundred to be had : good feed- 

 ing and proper care of the colts and fillies would 

 then in a very short time amply repay an establish- 

 ment. English, Arab, and Kattywar horses and 

 mares, judiciously chosen and crossed, would, in 

 five generations, or thirty years, yield a breed 

 that would pay a hundred per cent. ; but when 

 a huge, faulty stallion, whether thorough-bred, 

 passing for thorough-bred, or half-bred, is put 

 to a coarse, country, drooping -quartered, and 

 perhaps crooked-legged mare, and this mare two 



