182 HORSES AND RIDING. 



breeders tiy to produce thorouglibred torses with 

 those shapes and qualities which will best enable 

 them to do this. But the same shape which, will 

 carry a light weight for a short distance at great 

 speed is not the one best adapted to carry a much, 

 heavier weight for a mucli longer distance, at a 

 slower rate. 



Again, tbe action best suited for getting over 

 very smooth turf where there is nothing to throw a 

 horse down, is not that best suited to galloping 

 safely at three-quarters speed over rough, uneven, 

 and broken ground. It is true that there are ex- 

 ceptions, and that horses are to be found who can 

 perform well in both capacities, but they are only 

 exceptions and not the rule. Now almost all hunters 

 are bred from a thoroughbred horse, that is, a race- 

 horse, that is, a horse which has been bred for a 

 purpose requiring a different shape and different 

 qualities from a hunter, and can we wonder that 

 under these circumstances so few really good hunters 

 are produced from the foals bred? And when in 

 addition to this the dam of the foal is, as it often is, 

 a mare bred and intended for harness, for which 

 purpose many of the chief points which go to make 

 a good hunter are not required, and are therefore 

 not cultivated, when this, I say, is the case the only 

 cause for surprise is that amj of the stock so bred 

 should be as good as they sometimes are. 



All hunters very nearly, are bred from thorough- 



