54 Breeds of Horses 



The racehorse in the days of Queen Anne, and for many a year 

 after her time, was very different from what he is at present, and 

 when Tregonwell Frampton ruled the Turf, and for long after his 

 time, a horse on the lines of a twentieth -century Derby winner 

 would have been looked upon with astonishment. Perhaps it would 

 not be too hasty a generalization to say that more racehorses in the 

 first three-quarters of the eighteenth century were 14 hands and 

 under than were over that height, and certainly some very famous 

 horses, such as Pacolet, were under 14 hands high. There was 

 a considerable importation of Eastern blood in the eighteenth 

 century, so much, indeed, that a writer in the Gentlevians Magazine 

 had much to say about spoiling our native breed by the admixture 

 of an effeminate race like the Arab, who only had speed to com- 

 mend him. It is not a little curious to compare the Thoroughbred 

 as he has developed with the prophecy of the writer, for the best 

 Arab of these days has not the speed of an ordinary selling plater. 



With the nineteenth century the Thoroughbred horse began to 

 increase in height, and of late years the increase has been rapid. 

 This, no doubt, has been to some extent caused by the " forcing" 

 system, which is caused by the craze for big yearlings. There is 

 little doubt, however, that in this endeavour to "breed them tall" — 

 a successful one, as it proves — some very valuable characteristics of 

 the Thoroughbred, if not lost, are at any rate held in abeyance. 



In the latter part of the eighteenth, and for a considerable part 

 of the nineteenth, centuries, the Thoroughbred, though specialized 

 to a very great extent for racing, was, par excellence, the general- 

 purpose horse. He was a good hunter, he was a fast and excellent 

 hack, and he was also a good light harness horse. Short -legged, 

 compact, and well balanced, he had a considerable amount of 

 weight -carrying power, and there were in those days many men 

 who bred Thoroughbred horses without any idea of racing them. 

 They had the choice of excellent horses on very reasonable terms, 

 for in pre-railway days stallion fees were low, a fact which helped 

 the small breeder considerably. But with the railway system came 

 a development of racing, and in course of time fees rose and the 

 scarcity of good stallions in country districts began to be felt. But 

 not at first, for there was a good steady demand for hunters, and 

 some very good horses were, for a short period, found travelling 

 in districts where good mares were plentiful. They became fewer, 

 however, as time went on. Some enterprising landowners bought 

 horses for the use of their tenants; here and there a wealthy hunt 

 kept a horse for the farmers over whose lands they rode. This, 

 however, was only, as it wete, a drop in the ocean. Then the 



