DETERIORATION OF THE HORSE IN ENGLAND 49 



When the Duke of WelHngton, at a Waterloo 

 banquet, said that the French were the best cavalry 

 in the world, Colonel Taylor explained to General 

 Sebastiani that the English were brave, but could 

 not hold their horses ; they passed through, and 

 were then taken in the rear. That cannot be the 

 fault of the men, who are as strong as the French ; 

 it must be the fault of the horses, the temper 

 which the style of breeding and impure crosses 

 have developed. 



This temper is accounted for by Mr. J. H. Sanders, 

 a great American authority on the horse, in a recent 

 book which he has published. He claims various 

 improvements as brought about in the thorough- 

 bred, yet states that, having for generations been 

 bred with especial reference to racing, he has 

 acquired peculiarities of temper that render him 

 undesirable for the more sober, steady uses of 

 every-day life, and that the course of breeding 

 has made him too nervous and excitable for ordinary 

 business uses. Mr. Sanders has before pointed out 

 that infirmities of temper were especially liable to 

 be transmitted. 



This was illustrated at a review at North Baddlesby 

 (September 3, 1904), where a horse of the 8th Hussars 

 broke its leg- and was shot, and the noise induced a 

 panic among 500 horses, which rushed and were 

 badly injured, causing a stampede on the part of 

 500 other horses ; seventy rushed to Winchester, 

 whose streets they traversed, and 200 to South- 



4 



