THOROUGHBRED HORSE 



risks incurred by owners who avail themselves of the 

 services of a horse concerning which they practically know 

 nothing beyond the fact that he is a thoroughbred, and the 

 desirability of making some enquiries regarding the ante- 

 cedents of a stallion, and likewise of his parents, before they 

 decide to use him as a sire. 



Any attempt to trace the genealogy of the thoroughbred 

 in the space available for the purposes of these notes would 

 be impossible, and consequently it may be briefly remarked 

 that the history of the blood-horse and that of the turf have 

 been interwoven with each other for many generations. It 

 is, moreover, a fact beyond the limits of contradiction that 

 the pre-eminence of the thoroughbred is largely due to the 

 benefits it has derived from crosses with the Arab and Barb. 

 So far back as the days of King John, who, whatever his 

 failings may have been, was a keen judge and an enthusi- 

 astic breeder of horses, the value of the Eastern blood was 

 recognised. King Henry VIII., Queen Elizabeth, James I., 

 and Charles II. were all of them enthusiastic horse breeders, 

 and the popularity of the Eastern sires increased during their 

 respective reigns. Queen Anne not only was a great breeder, 

 but a very successful owner of running horses, and it may 

 be added that during her reign the Darley Arabian flourished, 

 he being one of the twenty-three Eastern sires which were 

 imported whilst she occupied the throne. The Darley 

 Arabian was the sire of Flying Childers, whose name figures 

 in the pedigree of many a great horse of modern times. 

 Since the days of Flying Childers the General Stud Book 

 provides full particulars of the breeding of all the horses 

 which are recognised as thoroughbreds, and consequently 

 there is no necessity for referring to that subject here. 



The opinion may be expressed, however, that considerable 

 injury is being caused to the British blood-horse by the 

 methods of those owners who pamper their yearlings and 

 ruin their constitutions by injudicious treatment. Whether 

 the modern race-horse is the equal of his predecessors is, of 

 course, a matter of opinion, but he is not called upon to do 



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