ENGLISH BREEDS 143 



The task of breeding; a heavy-weight Hunter is a verv much more 

 difficult one than the production of a liglit-weight animal, and the cross- 

 country men who are not troubled by superfluous flesh or bone can mount 

 themselves, if they please, on Thorough! )reds or cross-bred animals for, 

 comparatively speaking, small amounts. This being the case, it is naturally 

 the ambition of every breeder, whose ulterior object is the sale of his 

 young stock, to produce a weight carrier, and consequently the raising of 

 light-weight horses is seldom seriously attempted, except by amateurs who 

 breed for their own rec[uiremeuts and not for market. Size, in addition to 

 power, stamina, and action, is a great desideratum in any Hunter, for a big- 

 horse possesses the charm of making the fences look smaller than they 

 really are, and vice versa, and therefore a little horse will not command the 

 price that would be given for a bigger one, however clever he may look or 

 be. At the same time it must be noted that the (juality of a weight carrier 

 is usually in inverse ratio to his strength and stature. 



There is no valid reason for preferring a great clumsy mare to a sym- 

 metrically built one for a cross with the Thoroughbred when it is desired 

 to produce a Hunter — in fact, the less coarseness she possesses the better 

 are the chances in the lottery — but still she must have bone and size. If 

 weedy, it would be too much to expect her to throw a weight -carrier; 

 whilst if coarse, the foal will very probably be pronounced too common 

 for a Hunter, and be condemned to a life of slavery between the shafts. 

 A bit of breeding somewhere is, of course, essential to a mare from which 

 it is hoped to breed a foal possessed of quality, and a good-girthed, big- 

 quartered, short -legged one will most commend itself to the practical 

 breeder as the sort to go for. In jjrocess of time the Stud-book of the 

 Hunters' Improvement Society, if it does not degenerate to all intents 

 and purposes into a replica of the General Stud-hook, will be accepted 

 by breeders as an invaluable guide in the selection of their horses, both 

 for work and breeding purposes; but rapid as has been the progress of 

 the volume, it must take many years before it can assume the propor- 

 tions of a reliable guide to Hunter -raisers generally. Only one foal a 

 year at best can be expected from a mare, and therefore the progress 

 of l)uilding up foundation stock must be slow; but meanwhile a work 

 of reference of inestimable value to the Hunter-breeder is being steadily 

 compiled, and this volume, in course of time, must become a most reliable 

 source of information regarding Hunter mares. It is highly probable 

 that a mare which herself has proved a valuable Huntress will produce a 

 foal of merit; but whilst fully accepting the theory of the poet Horace, 

 who mentioned that Fortes creantur fortihus et bonis, it does not invari- 

 ably follow that a clever Huntress will produce a saleable foal, let alone 



