h' 



PEEFAOE 



The author has endeavored in the following 

 pages to place on a rational basis a subject that 

 has hitherto been taught dogmatically, if indeed 

 it can be truly said to have ever been taught at 

 aU. 



The vast wealth in horse flesh, so materially 

 affected by selection of breeding stock, that is in- 

 vested in the civilized world, is the author's ex- 

 cuse for bringing out this httle work. 



In the case of the domesticated animals man's 

 protective interference entirely puts aside the 

 great natural law, the survival of the fittest, 

 which obtains with such salutary effects among 

 non-domesticated animals. Were all the horses 

 of the civilized world gathered into a field, and 

 this field placed side by side with one containing 

 all the antelopes of South Africa, the great law 

 we have mentioned would be most strikingly 

 demonstrated; one field would exhibit the per- 

 fect, the halt and the blind, a medley of beauty, 



