THE HORSE. 33 



.* penalties \vere inflicted for every deviation from the lawful standirrd. \Vt have 

 often tnought, and elsewhere maintained, that the Legislatures of the several Statea 

 would do well to impose a tax on Stallions ; and, moreover, provide that none should 

 oe allowed to propagate their race, but under license granted by judges, connoisseurs 

 of horses, who should have power to condemn the worthless as the Inspector con- 

 demns a hogshead of rotten tobacco ; leaving a tax of fixed amount upon all s^ch as 

 could pass inspection or the amount should be light or heavy, in proportion to the 

 perfection or defectiveness of the animal. All thick, straight-shouldered, cat-hammed 

 garrans, and all overgrown beasts " sixteen hands or upwards, under the standard," 

 should be condemned to celibacy ! This would go far, in a few years, to diminish 

 the number of ungainly monsters, to be found at every cross-road, propagating their 

 own wretched deformities, and vices of shape and temper. That horses do propagate 

 hysical and moral defects, there can be no doubt were it not invidious, living exam- 

 ples might be given of both as to curbs and sulks.' one of which defects may have 

 endangered, and the other have caused on a recent occasion, the loss of many thou- 

 sands. 



Without having, as we hope, omitted anything material to show the reader how 

 abundant have been the materials, and how judicious the use of them, to secure the 

 excellence of the English Horse up to the period at which we have arrived here we 

 reach the epoch when we are told that public races were established, and horses that 

 had given proof of their superior swiftness became known and celebrated throughout 

 the kingdom. " The breed was cultivated, and their pedigree as well as those of their 

 posterity, (in imitation of the Arabian manner,) was preserved and recorded with 

 exactness." 



Here then, at last, as we contend, in this establishment and patronage of the turf, as 

 an exact and severe test of equestrian power, and in the faithful preservation of pedi- 

 grees, we discover at once the source and the guarantee for preserving all that is 

 excellent in this noble animal, distinguished as we have said, in his rare combination 

 of strength, swiftness, beauty, lastingness, docility, and courage. The prescription 

 of weight to age thf- measurement of the track, and the opening of the Stud-book, 

 have done for English horses, what Magna Charta did for English-men ! 



As with man, " 'tis liberty alone that gives to life its lustre and perfume," so there 

 would seem to be something in his aristocratic blood, that inspires the thorough-bred 

 coarser with an indomitable pride and courage, ^o look at is but to admire him as 

 he walks, " rejoicing in his strength !" b'it both man and horse will degenerate in 

 character and value when in their government there is provided no test for their 

 capacity no stimulus to virtue no reward for their ambition, nor restraint upon its 

 vicious indulgence ! 



Nothing is easier than to declaim against the turf, on account of the abuse which 

 too often attends the use of that, and "other institutions. We might consent to its 

 abatement or suppression, if those who desire it will tell us how, except by its 

 exciting hazards and hopes, and its infallible test as a measure of equestrian power, 

 men can be prevailed upon to breed systematically, to acquire skill in training, and 

 to encounter the expense and trouble of carefully testing the capacities of horses ; 

 dooming the most worthless to the plough, and sending, finally, the very best only into 

 the breeding stud, to perpetuate their fine qualities ! How, except by thus ascertain- 

 : ng and breeding from the most perfect, can he be kept up to the standard he has 

 reached, and finally, how but by such authentic annals, and proofs to refer to, can 

 even the practical farmer employ any given degree of the pure blood, some of which 

 all admit to be advantageous and desirable for every service, even the most humble 

 and laborious to which the Horse can be subjected 1 In respect of the reliance to be 

 placed on the English Stud-Book for pedigrees, and the good effects of sprinkling the 

 horse of all work with more or less of the warm blood of the Eastern Courser, we covet 

 for our own conviction no better support or authority than the views adopted and 

 sanctioned by B. O. TAYLOE, Esq. of Washington, a gentleman and scholar, wno has 

 done more than any writer of whom we have any knowledge, to throw light upon thf> 

 obscure but interesting annals of the American turf, consisting until ther of a con* 

 fused mas of scattered materials rudis indigesta QUC moles arrangirg them ir 



