ENGLISH BREEDS 109 



that the by no means uncommon, but on the other hand very general 

 practice of bringing up Thoroughbreds as though they were as delicate 

 as hothouse plants, cannot but have the effect of reducing the robustness 

 of their constitution; whilst the insane craze that exists for the blood 

 of " fashionable sires" can only end in such close inbreeding that before 

 another century, or even half a one, has elapsed, it is extremely likely 

 that breeders will tind themselves at their wits' end for a cross. This 

 is a real danger which will have to l)e faced sooner or later, but it is one 

 which the horse raisers of fifty years ago most probably never contemplated. 

 In the first place, a much stronger rivalry then existed between the 

 stables in different parts of the country, and esprit de corps rather forbade 

 the racing public Hocking in the direction of one or two favoured sires; 

 whilst in the second place, in the early days of railways, and liefore their 

 introduction, the conveyance of mares from place to place was not so easy 

 a matter as it is now. The latter circumstance may possibly be utilized 

 as an argument in support of the theory that inbreeding was a greater 

 danger in the past than in the present, as owners experienced greater 

 difficulty in getting their brood-mares away from home; but the fact 

 remains that at no time in the history of the Turf were the services of 

 a limited number of popular sires so greatly in request as now, and 

 consequently, when their offspring come to be bred from, there must in 

 a generation or two be a great deal of inbreeding which cannot fail to 

 cause trouble. Be this as it may, however, the modern Thoroughln-ed 

 as he at ^^resent exists is undoubtedly a bigger animal than his ancestors, 

 and consequently, according to the dictum " a good big one is always 

 better than a good little one", the supporters of the latter-day horse have 

 this on their side when they contend that he is a superior all-round 

 animal to those of a bygone era. A doubt has been expressed above, 

 whether the present race -horses are as sound as their predecessors, and 

 the opinion is entertained by some of the most experienced trainers, that 

 in stamina and constitution the old horses were the superior. It cer- 

 tainly appears that even one generation ago the horses were called upon 

 to accomplish more in public than they are at present, whilst at the period 

 when heat-racing was in vogue, if the number of races in which an animal 

 actually ran were not so many, the miles he galloped were very often 

 more; an illustration being the case of Eclipse, who won thirteen King's 

 plates, in eleven of which he carried 12 stone and in two 10 stone on 

 his back. 



Having attempted to direct attention to a brief comparison between 

 the Thoroughbreds of the past and present, the writer now purposes to 

 devote a portion of the space at his disposal to a reference to the sport 



