132 ^ HOESES AND PJDIXG. 



have good action, and a good moutli, and this re- 

 quisite is common to all classes of hunters, to all 

 sizes, and to all kinds of country. 



Now if the parents of a foal have both of them 

 good shoulders, you may reasonably expect the foal 

 will have them, and if, in addition to that, his grand- 

 parents had, all four of them, good shoulders, you 

 may almost count with certainty on good shoulders 

 in the produce. 



But if instead of both its parents, only one has a 

 good shoulder, you have only one-third of the chances 

 of a good shoulder in the foal, and if neither of the 

 parents have good shoulders, the foal can only have 

 good ones by the merest accident, which would rarely 

 happen. 



It may at first sight be thought, that I have 

 stated the chances erroneously in the case of one 

 parent only having a good shoulder, and that it is an 

 even chance whether the foal has them, instead of, 

 as I have said, a two to one chance against it. The 

 following is the explanation. 



If one of the parents have a good shoulder, and 

 the other one a bad or indifferent one, you may 

 reasonably expect every foal to be one of the three 

 following shapes. 



It will either take after the father, or it will take 

 after the mother, or the characteristics of the two 

 will be blended, and there is no reason for one of 



