Hunters 47 



profitable use than breeding a hunter. Or, for a weight-carrying 

 hunter the Cleveland Bay makes an excellent foundation; but 

 I shall have more to say on this subject later on. 



The selection of a sire to suit the mare is a very critical task. 

 I am of opinion that in all Hunter breeding the wise policy is 

 to use a Thoroughbred sire. If 1 were mating a well-bred Hunter 

 mare, a mare with two or three crosses, or perhaps more, of 

 Thoroughbred blood, and standing anywhere about 16 hands, or 

 from that to 16 hands i in., I should try to find a horse about 

 the same size, or a trifle shorter — certainly not taller — and built 

 as much on the same lines as possible. Particularly should I try 

 to find one similar in action. Some have a theory that if you mate 

 a mare that has a bad point with a horse that is particularly good 

 where she is weak, he will " correct " it. He may, but it is quite as 

 likely that the produce will have its sire's faults and its dam's as 

 well. It is a difficult subject, but it is in any case the wiser policy 

 to avoid breeding from extremes. 



I am quite sure that in breeding from the light cart mare or 

 the Cleveland Bay it is of importance that the sire should not be 

 tall. If you use a tall, lengthy, split-up sire, your young Hunter may 

 be good-looking enough, but that will be all. The essentials in 

 a sire for the direct cross are compactness, courage — but of course 

 you want that in all sires, and generally get it in the Thoroughbred 

 — and action. As for height, a horse will be quite high enough 

 if he is 15 hands 3 in. I would rather have him under than over. 

 One of the most successful Hunter sires I ever knew was Homoeo- 

 pathist by The Cure, out of Countess of Burlington by Touchstone, 

 her dam Lady Emily by Muley Moloch, out of Caroline by Whisker. 

 Homoeopathist was under 15 hands, indeed very little if at all over 

 14 hands 3 in. He was picked up in a fair, and a more pitiable 

 object than he then was I do not think I ever saw. But his 

 new owner got him into good condition, and he was a handsome 

 little fellow enough then. He cost something between ;i^5 and £10, 

 but he made his new owner a small fortune, and was certainly the 

 best Hunter sire I ever came across, if I except Cape Flyaway, 

 who stood 15 hands 3 in., and was a most successful sire when 

 mated with Hunter mares. 



It must not be supposed, because I advocate a sire of moderate 

 height, that the i6-hands-2-in. horses never sire good Hunters, for 

 they do; but I am satisfied that the more compact and better- 

 balanced a horse is, the more likely is he to prove a successful 

 cross in the majority of cases. 



Then there is the half-bred Hunter sire whom some people 



