206 BREEDING 



At the present time a large proportion of our Society carriages are 

 horsed with foreign-bred animals, and whatever adverse criticism they have 

 deserved in the past, the unprejudiced judge will not now fail to recognize 

 the high excellence to which they have in recent years attained. 



In days gone by, the " foreigner " could be identified by his ill-make and 

 shape at a street's length. He was a leggy, cow-hocked, "narrow-gutted", 

 light-chested, heavy-crested brute, with a back that made the most daring 

 fear to put anything on to it; besides which, his pluck and endurance were 

 proverbially of the worst. All that is altered now. The importation of our 

 best mares and most promising sires into the horse-breeding provinces of 

 France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, and other parts of the western conti- 

 nent, which has been going on for over half a century, has now so anglicized 

 the breed in those places as to enable us not only to procure English horses 

 from abroad, but animals of such a uniform and useful type as to compare 

 favourably with the best of our own. 



Bred with the strictest regard to the requirements of our market, in 

 colour, size, action, quality, and soundness, they are now able to compete 

 on equal terms with our home-bred stock, and to fill a void which could 

 not have occurred but for the unreasonable encouragement which has been 

 given to the production of small unmarketable animals by the management 

 of our horse shows and agricultural societies. 



GENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE BREEDING-STUD 



Conditions conducive to health are of the first importance to success in 

 the. breeding and rearing of horses, and however well designed the plans 

 may be in other respects, neglect of this cardinal point is sure to end in 

 failure. 



The man who is willing to invest his money in the purchase of good 

 stock at the outset, should be sure that nothing stands in the way of 

 maintaining and enhancing its high standard of excellence. For the lack 

 of this precaution the writer has witnessed many painful examples of 

 failure and disappointment. 



Site. A good site and aspect, ample and well-designed stabling in the 

 midst of, or in close proximity to, a suitable, well-conditioned farm, con- 

 stitutes the bed-rock on which the foundation should be laid. A high and 

 dry position, sheltered from the east and north by rising ground, is the most 

 desirable site, and where choice is permissible should be selected. 



It is not, however, to be understood that a less elevated position is 

 necessarily objectionable. This would depend a good deal on the nature and 

 porosity of the soil, the extent and efficiency of drainage, and whether the 



