OUR SADDLE-HORSES. 43 



One gentleman told me, when I was a boy, 

 that he had often travelled from London to 

 Derby in a day on the same horse, distance 

 140 miles. This person was six feet high, with 

 broad shoulders. Where is now the English 

 horse able to cany a large man such a dis- 

 tance ? Yet, unless we disbelieve what General 

 Daumas tells us, with the express sanction of 

 other French generals, who were long in Africa, 

 this journey to Derby sinks by comparison 

 into nothing. 



Should it ever please the Government of 

 this country to influence the character of our 

 race-horses in the way here recommended, we 

 cannot fail once more to possess a good supply 

 of horses, uniting sufficient speed with much 

 endurance and great physical strength. Then, 

 and then only, in breeding horses intended to 

 carry much weight, we shall not fear to give 

 them much racing blood. 



Our thorough bred horses are now rarely fit 

 for riding on the road. Those which are 

 sufficiently strong are too tall for this work, 

 and their fore-legs are usually too infirm, while 

 few bend their knees enough to be safe. Those 

 which move with straight knees are called 



