OUR SADDLE-HORSES. 3 



arrive it will — a large portion of our dragoons 

 will be dismounted after a single week's real 

 service ; while the increased demand for horses, 

 consequent on a war, will be met with an in- 

 sufficiency in the supply unknown in the pre- 

 vious history of this country. 



For some years past a large portion of our 

 cavalry horses have been purchased in Ireland, 

 but the supply there has greatly declined, 

 owing to the farmers who bred them having 

 emigrated. 



In the report of the last Ballinasloe fair, as 

 given in the Globe newspaper, I find the fol- 

 lowing paragraph : — " The horse fair was held 

 yesterday. Some good horses were exhibited, 

 but the majority were rather inferior. Both 

 breeders and dealers concurred in stating that 

 one-fourth the number of horses are not now 

 produced in this country, as compared with 

 former years" What the writer here calls 

 good horses, were hunters, not calculated for 

 the road, or coming under the head of useful 

 saddle-horses. 



A large portion, too, of the Yorkshire 

 farmers, who till lately bred so many of our 

 best saddle and harness-horses, have now 



is 2 



