34 England's horses, 



from that country, warrant the assertion that great numbers 

 of the mature horses that find their way into tlie stables of 

 the aristocracy direct, or through the medium of the 

 fashionable dealer, have originally come from Ireland into 

 the hands of " horsey " men in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and 

 other localities having the reputation of breeding districts. 

 Therefore I feel that in largely directing my remarks to 

 Ireland, I go to the fountain head of the hunting and 

 cavalry re-mount supply, and it is with these my observa- 

 tions should chiefly be connected. 



Genuine superior horses never rated so high in market 

 quotations as at present ; and it is lamentable to say that 

 this result proceeds as much from the want of supply as 

 from the increased requirements of fashion. There is, un- 

 happily, not only a numerical falling off but a deterioration 

 in power and general soundness of our horses. This is a 

 fact existing and incontrovertible, and no amount of 

 flippant or plausible writing can alter it, although it may 

 mischievously tend to allay public apprehension through 

 that superficial general mistake of taking as correct any- 

 thing written, with a show of authority, about what we do 

 not perfectly understand. "While some deliberate and 

 thinking penman appeals through the medium of widely 

 difi'used columns to the support and sympathy of those 

 classes mainly interested, to take active measures to meet 

 what he knows to be an existing and growing evil, other 

 scribes, whose opportunities do not afford them the same gen- 

 eral means of enquiry, unfortunately glance only at the select 

 specimens of the thoroughbred horse that come under 

 public notice, and point to those examples in a blatant and 

 jubilant strain, as evidences existing to overwhelm any 

 theory that advances a general degeneracy, and an absolute 

 necessity, if the nation desires and requires to keep its 

 horses up to a sound and effective standard, that their 



