OBJECT OF ENCOURAGING THE BREED OF HORSES 95 



the foal is filled with corn as soon as he will eat it, and at the end of the 

 first year he is furnished as much as the old-fashioned three-year-old. 

 One chief difficulty of the trainer now is to keep his horse sound, and, 

 unfortunately, as disease is in most cases hereditary, and too many unsound 

 stallions are bred from, the difficulty is yearly on the increase. Without 

 doubt roaring is far more common than it used to be, and the possession 

 of enlarged joints, and back sinews, is the rule instead of the exception. 

 During ten years the Derby was five times won by an unsound animal, 

 which the trainer was almost immediately afterwards obliged to put out of 

 work, either from diseased feet or a break-down, and yet few breeders think 

 of refusing to use such horses as these. Nevertheless, good legs and feet, 

 and a hearty constitution, are no small recommendations, and Mr. Merry 

 may thank them for winning him the great prize of the year 1860, with 

 Thormanby, a son of that wonderful mare Alice Hawthorne. Thormanby, 

 however, is not an instance of a colt having been reserved till he was 

 arrived at his growth, for there are few horses which have been more used, 

 having run fourteen times as a two-year-old ; but his naturally excellent 

 legs and feet, and the fine down on which he was trained, enabled him to 

 pull through unscathed. Now the reliance which was placed by his backers 

 on these good qualities, proves that he was an exception to the rule ; for if 

 they were at all common, they would be of comparatively little advantage. 

 The truth really is, that the average race-horse of modern times is of such 

 forced growth, that he is unable to bear the wear and tear of training as 

 he used to do, and hence a much larger percentage of unsound animals is 

 to be met with. He is bred mainly for speed, superadded to which is as 

 much stoutness and soundness of constitution as can be procured among the 

 most speedy horses at the service of the breeder. By a perseverance in 

 this method of selection, he has undoubtedly become more speedy, and less 

 lasting in proportion to his speed } that is to say, he cannot be extended for 

 as long a time as he used to bear with impunity. But that he cannot cover 

 as much ground in a given time as formerly is, I think, an error for there 

 is every reason to believe that any distance may now be run in as short a 

 time at least, as either in the middle of the last century or the beginning 

 of this, 



OBJECT OF ENCOURAGING THE BREED OF HORSES 



THE GREAT OBJECT of encouraging the breed of race-horses is, however, 

 lost sight of, if suitable crosses for hunting, cavalry, and hack mares cannot 

 be obtained from their ranks. In these three kinds, soundness of the feet 

 and legs is all important, together with a capacity to bear a continuation 

 of severe work. These qualities are highly developed in the Arab, and 

 until lately were met with in his descendants on the English turf. Even 

 now a horse with a stain in his pedigree will not bear the amount of train- 

 ing which a thoroughbred will sustain, his health and spirits soon giving 

 way if forced to go through the work which the race-horse requires to make 

 him " fit." But the legs and feet of the latter are the drawbacks to hig 

 use, and the trainer of the present day will generally be sadly taxed to 

 make them last through a dry summer. Our modern roads are also much 



