15 



The Suffolk is also notable for the power of doing well on little 

 food, working long hours without a meal ; and of continuing to 

 work to a greater age than other draught breeds. The latter 

 quality it probably acquired or strengthened by a Thoroughbred 

 connection which it had in Barber's Procter (58), who was " the 

 son of Winter's Storm, a trotting horse of great substance, son of 

 Gooch's Blood-horse, brother to Thunderbolt." Suffolks in the 

 Eastern Counties lie out in yards all through the winter, the only 

 shelter provided being an open shed, and they are only brought into 

 the stables to be baited and harnessed. They keep in excellent 

 condition through the most severe weather, and look almost as well 

 in the coat as other breeds stabled. 



LIGHT HORSES. 

 THE THOROUGHBRED. 



The Thoroughbred or English Race Horse is a breed of mixed 

 origin, and the elements entering into its composition were largely 

 if not entirely foreign. From very early times, horses of Arab, 

 Barb, Turk and Spanish breeding were imported and used to cross 

 with the native mares ; doubtless, even before the Stuart period there 

 were many superior running horses in this country, and in all 

 probability many of the mares of unknown breeding which appear 

 in the pedigrees of the early Thoroughbreds were of this modified 

 native stock. The real foundation of the breed may, however, be 

 said to have been laid by Charles II., who commissioned his Master 

 of Horse to go abroad to purchase the best Eastern mares he 

 could find. Some were secured, but neither the exact number nor 

 any description has been fecorded, though the majority were 

 Barbs, and it is possible that an Arab or a Turk was included 

 too. They were described simply as Royal Mares, as Avere 

 also some of their female offspring, and at the death of Charles II., 

 Avere sold and dispersed to various parts of the country. The 

 importation of stallions continued and no doubt paved the way 

 for the three outstanding sires the Byerley Turk imported in 

 1689, the Darley Arabian 1706, and the Godolphin horse 1724 ; 

 the latter is usually described as the Godolphin Arabian, but most 

 authorities agree in saying that he was really a Barb. These 

 horses respectively founded the three great lines of the Thorough- 

 bred usually associated with the names of their descendants, Herod 

 foaled 1758, Eclipse 1764, and Matchem 1748, with which horses 

 the Thoroughbred as we now know the breed may be said to have 

 begun. There is difference of opinion as to the relative importance 

 of the influence of the different races to which the breed is indebted, 

 but Barb, Arab and Turk have certainly first claim, and in any case 

 there is no doubt that the blending and subsequent rigorous selection 

 on the racecourse have produced a horse far superior in speed to any 

 of the Eastern breeds or to the old native horses. 



Long-distance racing Avith mature horses over courses of three 

 or four miles was once the fashion ; but this in recent years has 

 given place to races over short distances, and the majority of horses 

 in training are under four years. It has been asserted on high 



