122 THE HORSE 



higher it is, the more likely to occasion inflammation of the legs. These 

 animals are put by, cooled down, and blistered, and are then brought out 

 as showy hacks, for the use of gentlemen who merely require a short 

 constitutional airing every fine day of an hour or an hour and a half ; and, 

 as fine days do not average above four per week, many horses even with 

 the most infirm legs can accomplish that amount of work, if ridden quietly 

 over hard ground. Many such animals are exhibited daily in Hyde Park, 

 where the soft ground of Rotten Row exactly suits them ; but there are 

 others to be seen there of the most perfect description, capable of standing 

 as much work as any butcher's pony. Nevertheless, it must be admitted 

 that the great majority of our park-hacks, even if they are specially bred 

 for the purpose, are incapable of doing as much work over hard ground as 

 the coarser-bred and more common-looking brutes in use among the 

 butchers and general dealers who attend country fairs from long distances. 

 Eastern blood is a great advantage in most respects, and no doubt when 

 the animal possessing it is sound, he will bear the shocks of the road with 

 impunity ; but there is no question in my mind that he fails in the matter 

 of enduring daily concussion on the road, and that a Welsh pony or 

 Norman horse will stand nearly twice the amount of this work without 

 showing its effects. This is the weak point in the breed, partly arising 

 from original want of size in the bone and joints, but chiefly, I imagine, 

 from the constant use of stallions for inferior stock which have themselves 

 suffered from inflammation of the legs and its consequences; hence, in 

 process of time, a breed of horses is formed, which has legs more than 

 usually prone to lameness, in consequence of being the produce of sires 

 and dams that have been turned out of the racing stable for this very 

 infirmity, which is transmitted to the offspring. That Eastern blood is not 

 necessarily prone to inflammation of the legs and feet is tolerably manifest 

 from our experience of modern Arabs and their descendants in this country, 

 as well as abroad. Since the Crimean war, the number imported into 

 Great Britain has greatly increased, and though most of them have been 

 selected almost at random, they are certainly not defective in their legs, 

 though perhaps not coming up to the degree of wiriness which is possessed 

 by the Welsh pony. I have myself owned an Arab as well as a grandson 

 of an Arab, which would bear any fair amount of hammering uninjured, and 

 from these facts, and others not within my own knowledge, I am led to 

 conclude that the cause is not inherent in the breed, but is accidentally 

 introduced by the use of rejected stallions for farmers' purposes. These 

 get good-looking colts, which fetch high prices, and therefore suit the 

 breeder's purpose just as well as the sounder horse, who would perhaps 

 cost twice as much for his services. The farmer seldom tries the legs 

 much, and it is only when put to work that the weakness is discovered, 

 which to the eye is not by any means perceptible. From a long experience 

 in my own case, and in that of others, I am convinced that legs cannot be 

 selected by the appearance or feel. I do not mean to say that out of forty 

 horses the twenty with the best-looking legs will not beat the others, but 

 that it is impossible for any judge, however good, to pronounce with any- 

 thing like certainty whether a certain leg will stand or not, without 

 knowing anything of the possessor of it. In so many instances have I seen 



