BREEDING. 181 



usefulness are concerned, have no distinct existence as 

 a breed, namely, our hunters, our best class of carriage 

 horses, and our hacks that are not trotters or cobs ; 

 and it is, I think, much to be regretted that it has 

 not been attempted to produce a breed of any of 

 these capable of reproducing itself. Whether such 

 a breed could be produced I could not undertake 

 to say. Probably the first efforts would produce a 

 mongrel breed, but if they were persevered in the 

 characteristics and qualities desired might become 

 stamped on the progeny, so that the animal you 

 want might be produced with as much certainty as 

 a foxhound. 



To begin with racehorses, or thoroughbred 

 horses. 



1 may say, I think with truth, that the thorough- 

 bred horse is mostly used either to produce race- 

 horses or to improve some other breed, but by far 

 the most to produce racehorses. What I mean is 

 that nineteen out of twenty thoroughbred foals are 

 bred for the purposes of the turf and intended for 

 racing in the first instance. The natural conse- 

 quence of this is that those animals are bred from 

 and selected, which are best fitted for that purpose, 

 and the shape of the animal becomes modified ac- 

 cordingly. 



Now the object of racing is to carry a compara- 

 tively light weight for a comparatively short distance 

 at the greatest possible speed, and consequently 



