28 THE HORSE. 



oy tnftse home-bred ones which show the best qualities; and thus the countiy tul* 

 by degrees acquire an excellent breed." 



" That races (says he,) were introduced among the Arabs, very soon after they 

 began to breed horses, appears from the very names of the coursers. Ten horses 

 started together, and from the victor to the last, each has its own proper name 01 

 epithet ; one of their best scholiasts enumerates them in the following manner at 

 they came out in the race : 



Sabek, the foremost the inspirer of joy and banisher of caio because his 



aster can behold the race with delight, and without concern, 1 



Mutgalli because he had his head on the back of the winner, 2 



Musalli because he satisfies his owner, 3 



Tali the pursuer, 4 



Murtach the ardent, or mettlesome, 5 



Jltifthe keen, or well disposed, 6 



Muvaimnal the inspirer of future hopes, 7 



Hadi the lazy, 8 



Latim the belaboured, because taken into the stable with blows, .... 9 

 Lucait or whose name is not to be named, and of whom nothing is said, 



because the case is too bad, 10 



The admitted excellence to which the general stock of English horses has been 

 brought, is then the result, as has been seen, of a good foundation to build upon ; of 

 successive and in most cases judicious crosses, by the use of foreign stallions, most 

 frequently Barbs ; and of superabundant wealth employed in the breeding and train- 

 ing of stud ; those addicted to all the luxurious uses of the horse, having besides 

 jther facilities a wide latitude before them, in the various strains to select and breed 

 from. 



The reason why the Barley Arabian, and after him the celebrated Barb, Godolphin, 

 contributed more decidedly than any Arabians have done since, to the improvement 

 of the race-horse, is, that they were imported at the very juncture when the British 

 stock was in a condition to need a cross that would impart more muscle and harder 

 bone, and give better wind ; while it diminished the size and weight of the carcass, 

 which had been made too heavy by repeated uses of the Flemish and German breed. 

 In our own country we know, and probably in all others, the progress of improve- 

 ment of domestic animals has been much retarded and counteracted, by the vulgar 

 persuasion that the largest males should be selected for the purpose of procreation. 

 Than this common impression no error could be more pernicious. This fallacy is 

 the source of the disappointment and mortification experienced by farmers who give 

 enormous prices for overgrown bulls and rams, and who always give the preference 

 to stallions that measure "full sixteen hands and upwards under the standard." On 

 this point we cannot do better than refer to an able essay of Professor Cline of Lon- 

 don, on the form of animals, published in the third volume of the American Farmer. 

 With the principles laid down in that essay, every farmer should make himself 

 tamiliar. A few passages may be quoted, no less for their appositeness to the point 

 here made, than for their general applicability and value in the study of all animal 

 economy. 



"Muscles. The muscles, and tendons which are their appendages, should be large; 

 by which an animal is enabled to travel with greater facility. 



" The bones. The strength of an animal does not depend on the size of the bones 

 but on that of the muscles. Many animals with large bones are weak, their muscles 

 being small. Animals that were imperfectly nourished during growth, have their bones 

 disproportionably large. If such deficiency of nourishment originated from a consti' 

 nitional defect, which is the most frequent cause, they remain weak curing life 

 Large bones therefore generally indicate an imperfection in the organs of nutrition. 



" On the improvement of the form. When the male is much larger than the female, 

 the offspring is generally of an imperfect form. If the female be proportionably larger, 

 the offspring is of an improved form. For instance, if a well-formed large ram be 

 pit to ewes proportionab y smaller, the lambs will not be so well shaped a* thefc 



