to 



ENGLISH BREEDS 123 



The walk of the Hackuey is second in importance only to his trot, for 

 however free a mover a horse of this breed may be when fully extended, he 

 is sure to lose admirers if he is incapable of settling down to his slower 

 paces when required to do so. Moreover, it stands to reason that no 

 horse can be always moving at a trot, and he will soon disgust his owner 

 if, instead of striding out and using his joints and limbs properly at his 

 slower paces, he goes shuffling along in a fashion that partakes somewhat 

 of the nature of a cramped trot, and yet is slower and more exhausting 

 to himself than a good honest walk. Great as is the show made by a 

 good Hackney when he trots, it is doubtful if he is not more majestic- 

 looking when walking — that is to say if he can do so in proper form, 

 for when he strides out with head erect, no nobler -looking horse exists 

 than a good Hackney stallion; and moreover, as remarked above, the 

 possession of a natural gift for walking adds considerably to the value 

 of a sire. 



Before leaving the Hackney, the extraordinary success of Sir Walter 

 Gilbey's Hedon Squire at the Horse Show held in connection with the 

 great International Show at Paris in 1900 must be referred to. Upon 

 the occasion in question Hedon Squire was awarded the champion prize, 

 offered for the best stallion in the show other than an Arab or a 

 Thoroughbred, by a jury of judges representing different foreign countries. 

 Surely no greater tribute to the merits of the breed could be desired, as 

 he met and defeated the best Harness type of horses that the world 

 could produce. 



The Pack-horse. — It is unfortunately rather to the discredit of 

 British horse-breeders that so useful a variety as the Pack-horse, which 

 at one time was so commonly met with in many parts of the country, 

 and particularly in Devonshire and Yorkshire, should have become practi- 

 cally extinct; but the fact remains, that until the occasion of the Crystal 

 Palace Horse Show of 1897 it was popularly Ijelieved that no specimens 

 of the breed could be found. After an infinite amount of trouble, however, 

 had been expended on the search, a stallion and a mare were discovered, 

 and by permission of their owners were included in the Diamond Jubilee 

 parade of British horses, which was arranged in honour of Her Majesty 

 Queen Victoria's long reign. The reproach, therefore, of permitting a 

 breed of horse, to which in all probability more than one modern variety 

 owes its existence, to die out entirely, cannot be applied to the men of 

 Devon, though unhappily there is no denying the fact that instead of 

 increasing in stature and power, the existing Pack-horses are lower at 

 the shoulder and built on smaller lines than their ancestors. This is 

 in all probability a direct result of the inbreeding which followed their 



