THE IRISH HORSE-BREEDING INDUSTRY. 327 



and the wealthy there. This shows that the reputation of the Irish hunter 

 is not of to-day or yesterday, and that it has been acquired not altogether 

 so much through the medium of the thoroughbred, as is sometimes sup- 

 posed. 



What manner of mare, it may be asked, is this famous " old Irish " dam 



to which the Irish hunter is said to owe so much? 



The Broadly speaking, she is of medium size, 15.1 to 15.2 



" Old Irish Mare." in height, short in her back, powerfully knit across the 



loin, and well-developed in her hind quarters. In 

 general outline she is of the low and roomy type ; she stands close to the 

 ground, is very muscular in her fore-arm, and clean and flat in her bone 

 below the knee. Though so deep and well balanced in outline as to give 

 the impression of being on the small side, she covers a lot of ground, and 

 her legs are devoid of anything approaching the nature of " feather." As a 

 rule, the head is fine and clean cut in outline, though " coarseness " is more 

 frequently seen in this than in any other part of the body. The neck is 

 long, the shoulder well laid, and, as becomes mares specially adapted for the 

 production of high-class saddle-horses, the withers are high and the ribs well 

 sprung. The brief outline thus given of her general appearance would not 

 go to represent the Irish mare as possessing many special attributes cal- 

 culated ro distinguish her as a hunter-breeder. Thousands of mares pos- 

 sessing the same points in equal perfection are to be met with all over the 

 kingdom, yet they do not possess any claims to special recognition as hunter 

 breeders. But it is not to her looks alone but to a natural hardihood of 

 constitution, begotten of the conditions under which she is kept and the 

 work at which she is engaged, that the progeny of the Irish mare are 

 indebted for many of the good qualities possessed by them. Quite a large 

 percentage of the mares by which Irish hunters are produced are the pro- 

 perty of small farmers, who use them for every class of work on their 

 holdings — for ploughing or harrowing one day, for hauling heavy loads of 

 farm produce the next, and on the third, perhaps, for driving to market at 

 an eight or nine miles an hour trot. The land being for the most part light, 

 the farms small, and the number of purposes for which the horses are 

 required varied, it naturally follows that the type cultivated is of medium 

 size and " handy " at the performance of such work as the animals are called 

 upon to perform. Seldom very generously fed, and usually obliged to 

 " rough it" in all weathers these mares have acquired a hardiness, a staying 

 power, and a physical fitness which stands to them in good stead in their 

 capacity as breeders. The result is the evolution of the clean-limbed, 

 hardy, active, and spirited type of horse which has done so much to help the 

 Irish hunter in establishing its great reputation. 



Unfortunately for the country, the breeding of these " old Irish " mares 

 has not hitherto received the attention which it merited. Numbers of them 

 have a dash of thoroughbred blood in them, but the majority are got by 

 sires of such mixed breeding that from the standpoint of pedigree they are 

 but mere mongrels. This has told very much against the development of 

 the hunter-breeding industry in Ireland, because it has rendered the business 

 so precarious as to deter many from entering upon it. The uncertainty of 

 hunter-breeding as at present carried on is proverbial. But it is only 

 natural. Stockowners of experience do not require to be reminded that, in 

 breeding animals of any kind, no definite results can be counted on unless 

 the materials used — the sires and dams employed — are purely bred. A 



