326 THE IRISH HORSE-BREEDING INDUSTRY 



THE IRISH HORSE-BREEDING INDUSTRY. 



Irish-bred horses enjoy world-wide celebrity. As " stayers " in the hunt- 

 ing field and as weight carriers in steeplechases, they have won enviable 

 repute, and their great wealth of bone and unquestioned stamina and mettle 

 are to-day, as many years ago, the admiration of equine enthusiasts the 

 world over. To have Ireland as its birthplace is reckoned as one of the 

 best credentials which a hunter can possess, and, all things else being equal, 

 a horse of Irish origin will invariably find a purchaser at a substantially 

 better price than that of any other country. 



To what is this universally acknowledged excellence of the Irish-bred 

 hunter due ? Much has been written upon the subject, and the number of 

 opinions expressed upon the point have been so varied as to be quite per- 

 plexing. Some authorities attribute it to the special suitability of the soil 

 of the greater part of the country for the production of big-boned, light 

 horses ; others claim the credit for the Irishman's inherent love of a good 

 horse, and his consequent good judgment and discernment in the selection 

 and perpetuation of animals possessing the best characteristics of the type 

 which he favours. Others, again, will have no other explanation than that 

 the Irishman is naturally partial to " a bit of blood," and, as a result, 

 depends very largely upon the thoroughbred for imparting the necessary 

 quality, pluck, and endurance to the animals bred by him. 



In none of these views, however, is the correct solution of the question 

 to be found, though it cannot be denied that all three help to play an im- 

 portant part in the evolution of the Irish hunter. More important than 

 any of them — possibly more important than all three put together — is the 

 influence exercised by the mares by which these hunters are produced. 

 There are other countries than Ireland in which the soil is largely cal- 

 careous ; there are others than Irishmen in whom the love of a good horse 

 is not an unknown quantity ; and there are certainly other parts of the 

 kingdom in which thoroughbred sires are much more extensively employed 

 than in Ireland ; yet in none of these countries do we find light horses 

 possessing anything like the grand combination of speed, stamina, and 

 carrying power for which the Irish hunter has always been famous. 



Why this failure elsewhere to breed hunters able to hold their own with 

 those emanating from Ireland? In the opinion of the writer, the explana- 

 tion is to be found in the lack of the mares which form the foundation upon 

 which the structure of Irish hunter-breeding rests. It is customary to 

 accord the credit for much of the admitted excellence of the Irish-bred 

 hunter of the present day to the thoroughbred sire by which he is, in a 

 good many cases, got ; and no one with any knowledge of the subject will 

 for a moment question the beneficial influence exercised by the thorough- 

 bred sire in this connection. But, in considering this matter, it should not 

 be overlooked that long before the thoroughbred had been heard of Irish 

 hunters had acquired an international celebrity, and had been largely 

 exported to different European countries for use in the studs of the noble 



