THE ENGLISH RACE HORSE. 81 



These remarks are repeated here because they are specially per- 

 tinent in this connection. 



It will be conceded by every one who has any knowledge of the 

 horse history of this period that the Duke of Newcastle was the 

 best-informed man of his generation on all subjects connected 

 with the history and breeding of the horse. His preference for 

 blood was in the following order: The Barb, the Turk, the 

 Spaniard, the Neapolitan, and the handsomest of the English 

 stock. It will be observed that in this classification the Arabian 

 has no place. 



From these illustrations, to which other similar ones might be 

 added, it seems to be evident that the native English stock did 

 not lack speed so much as they lacked quality, finish, and beauty. 

 Perhaps size should be included in this enumeration. They had 

 heen bred and trained to run for centuries, and they were as stout 

 and fleet as the exotics, but they lacked the qualifications of 

 beauty and style. The foreigners possessed what the natives 

 lacked, and more than all they furnished both the climatic and 

 the blood outcross that were needed to re-invigorate the native 

 character. It was the custom of the people in the seventeenth 

 century to let their horses of both sexes roam at will through 

 forests and glades, and in this way the average size had been re- 

 duced and the law of Henry VIII. (prohibiting the running at 

 large of stallions under a certain size) had become a nullity. 

 At the time of the restoration of Charles II. (1660) the average 

 size of the traveling stock of England was very small perhaps 

 not over thirteen hands high and then commenced the serious 

 work of increasing the size and improving the speed of the light 

 horse stock, under the direction and influence of the Duke of 

 Newcastle. The introduction of the new blood would give vigor 

 to the stock, but as that blood was the blood of Turks and Barbs, 

 probably but little if any larger than the native stock, the mys- 

 tery still remains unsolved. In about one hundred years from 

 that time the average size of the race horse had been brought up 

 from less than fourteen to about fifteen hands. This increase of 

 size cannot be accounted for on any other grounds than the in- 

 troduction of the blood of some larger breed. We cannot con- 

 ceive of this being the blood of the old Flanders stock that had 

 been brought over centuries before; hence I am strongly of the 

 opinion that the duke knew just what he was doing when he 

 brought in a lot of stallions and mares (the latter called the 



