216 THE HOUSE BOOK. 



many instances higher prices are paid in Eng- 

 land by American dealers than their British 

 brethren can afford. 



Typically the Hackney is not a large horse. 

 Few run to 16 hands and preserve the type re- 

 quired by the best judges. There are still some 

 heavy specimens to be found, but they usually 

 lack in those qualities which have made for the 

 success of the breed. With the lapse of time 

 there have come to be two schools among Hack- 

 ney men generally those who must have action 

 first, last and all the time as the prime essential 

 and those who desire quality and beauty of 

 conformation first and a more moderate degree 

 of action to go with it. Personally I am in- 

 clined to side with those who must have action 

 at all hazards. To me a Hackney is not worth 

 the name unless he can go like the proverbial 

 house afire. Personally, moreover, I know this : 

 You may go to the New York market with a 

 rather plain horse that can take his knees to his 

 chin and his hocks to his dock and you can sell 

 him right off the reel, whereas if you have one 

 that is full of quality and beauty but can not go 

 much you will have to search some time for a 

 buyer. There is no more pleasing sight in all 

 horsedom than a well broken Hackney going 

 around the arena at the end of a long ^hite 

 rope, doing his stunt with his knees and hocks 

 as he should and withal going on with it. I 

 have little patience with the kind that "can go 



