Chapter XII. 

 THOROUGHBREDS. 



{Running Horses.} 



We have thought best to commence this chapter by a brief notice 

 of the term " Thoroughbred, " and the confusion which has existed 

 indeed, confusion still exists regarding its use in America. In England, 

 the home of the Thoroughbred, the term is naturally well understood. 

 In America all animals, whether horses, cattle, sheep or swine, if eligible 

 to entry in the register of their peculiar breed, are spoken of as "thor- 

 oughbred," as, for example, thoroughbred Shorthorns, thoroughbred 

 Herefords, thoroughbred Southdowns, thoroughbred Berkshires, and so 

 on through the list of recognized breeds of domestic animals. 



The term "thoroughbred," as thus used, is, it will be noted, an 

 adjective, and is employed merely to express the fact that such an animal 

 is eligible to entry in the Herd Book or Register of the breed to which 

 he belongs. It is convenient and expressive, if not strictly accurate, 

 and, as it will doubtless always be retained by American stock breeders, 

 we may as well acquiesce in its acceptance, and try to thoroughly under- 

 stand the difference between its use as an adjective and as a noun. It 

 must be remembered that at the time the name first came into use as a 

 synonym for the English race horse, it did so by reason of the acknowl- 

 edged purity or "thorough" breeding of the animal in question. No 

 horse without the blood of some celebrated runner of the English turf, 

 or the blood of the Arabian, Turk or Barb in his pedigree, could at that 

 time be even thought of as a horse of any breeding at all. The race 

 horse was the especial horse of the nobility, and was the only animal at 

 that time whose ancestral blood was known and recorded. The runner 

 was commonly spoken of as " thoroughbred, ' ' and the word has naturally 

 been adopted by all breeders as the proper name of the breed of running 

 or racing horses, whose origin is found in Oriental blood transmitted 

 through the veins of the early English race horse. 



Let us understand, then, that the noun "Thoroughbred" is simply 

 the name of a breed of horses, just as Cleveland Bay and Percheron are 

 the names, respectively, of other breeds of horses ; and with this under- 

 standing we may proceed to a brief review of the origin and early history 

 of the breed. 



As already intimated, the English Thoroughbred is the undoubted 

 scion of Eastern blood Turk, Barb and Arabian improved and perfected 



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