CHOICE OF SIRE AND DAM. 115 



Tartar, and these in addition to the already overflowing quantum 

 of the same blood in Bay Middleton himself. Now I am a great 

 admirer of the blood of Herod, and I believe him to be one of the 

 chief foundations of the high form of our modern horses ; but its 

 peculiar characteristic is speed, not stoutness, and it requires a 

 combination with the stouter blood of Eclipse, or some other horse 

 of that strain, to make the possessor capable of staying a distance. 

 With these fast lines the produce of Barbelle has always been fast, 

 but it can scarcely occasion surprise that her stoutest son, Van 

 Tromp, sho ild be by Lanercost, nor that Orlando, with his double 

 lines of Selim and Castrel blood, should get a mere half-miler like 

 Zuyder Zee. The Flying Dutchman was, no doubt, a grand per- 

 former himself, but his may be regarded as a somewhat exceptional 

 case, and this opinion is supported by the failure of his own bro- 

 ther (Vanderdecken) on the turf, although cast in a mould which 

 would lead one to expect a still greater success. 



IN PAYING ATTENTION TO THE PERFORMANCES of the ancestry 

 of both sire and dam, regard must also be had to their size, as this 

 element is considered of much importance. Neither a large nor a 

 small sire or dam will perpetuate the likeness of himself or herself 

 unless descended from a breed which is either the one or the other. 

 It only leads to disappointment to breed from a tall stallion or 

 mare if either is only accidentally so, and not belonging to a breed 

 generally possessing the same characteristics. Many a small mare 

 or bitch has surprised her owner by producing him animals much 

 larger than herself, but on tracing her pedigree it will almost al- 

 ways be found to contain the names of animals of above the average 

 size. Moderately small mares are generally of a stronger consti- 

 tution than very large ones, and on that account they will often 

 answer the purposes of the stud better than larger animals, pro- 

 vided they are of a sort usually cast in the mould which is desired. 

 This should never be lost sight of by the breeder, and where, as 

 in breeding thorough-breds, the pedigree can be traced far enough 

 for this purpose, there is no excuse for neglecting the circumstance. 



THE ABOVE PRECAUTIONS are sufficient in all those cases where 

 the pedigree is attainable, but there are many brood mares, as I 

 before remarked, in which nothing is known of their antecedents. 

 Here, the breeder can only act upon the general rule that " like 

 produces like/' and cannot take advantage of the addition which 

 I have made to the 12th axiom, at page 101, of the words, "or the 

 likeness of some ancestor." In such cases, for the reason which I 

 have given, disappointment will constantly attend upon the first 

 experiments, and until the mare has produced her first foal, and he 

 has gone on to his third or fourth year, the value of the dam can 

 hardly b ascertained. Breeding is always, more or less, a lottery 



