IMPORTANCE OF HEALTH AND SOUNDNESS 169 



circumstances, both Melbourne and Touchstone have been sure to re- 

 produce their likenesses in their several sons and daughters. Every 

 racing man who has been on the turf while the Melbournes and Touch- 

 stones were in their glory, was able, in almost all instances, to say at the 

 first glance, " That is a Melbourne or a Touchstone colt or filly." But, in 

 the cases of Orlando and West Australian, the resemblance to their re- 

 spective sires was not apparent ; and, as I before observed, it is still less 

 visible in their stock. In the language of the stud, this is called " going 

 back " to a particular strain ; and it is so constantly observable, that there 

 is uo necessity for dwelling further upon it. 



IMPORTANCE OF HEALTH AND SOUNDNESS IN 

 SIRE AND DAM 



Our present breed of horses is undoubtedly less healthy than that 

 of our ancestors ; and this tendency to unsoundness is not marked in any 

 particular department of the animal economy, but the defect shows itself 

 wherever the strain is the greatest from the nature of the work which the 

 animal has to perform. Thus, the race-horse becomes a roarer, or his legs 

 and feet give way. The hunter fails chiefly in his wind or his hocks, 

 because he is not used much on hard ground, and therefore his fore-legs 

 are not severely tried, as in the case with the racer, who often has to 

 extend himself over a course rendered almost as hard as a turnpike-road 

 by the heat of a July or August sun. The harness-horse often becomes a 

 roarer, from the heavy weights that he has to draw, especially if his wind- 

 pipe is impeded by his head being confined by the bearing-rein. The hack, 

 again, suffers chiefly in his legs, from our hax'd macadamized roads ; while 

 the cart-horse becomes unsound in his hocks or his feet, the former parts 

 being strained by his severe pulls, and the latter being battered and bruised 

 against the ground, from having to bear the enormous weight of his carcass. 

 But it is among our well-bred horses that unsoundness is the most frequent ; 

 and in them, I believe, it may be traced to the constant breeding from 

 sires and dams which have been thrown out of training, in consequence of a 

 break-down, or " making a noise," or from some other form of disease. It 

 is quite true, that roaring is not necessarily transmitted from father to son ; ^ 

 and it is also manifest that there are several causes which produce it, some 

 of which are purely accidental, and are not likely to be handed down to the 

 next generation. The same remarks apply to the eyes ; but in the main, it 

 may be concluded that disease is hereditary, and that a sound horse is far 

 more likely to get healthy stock than an unsound one. In the mare, 

 probably, health is still more essential ; but if the breeder regards his future 

 success, whether he is establishing a stud of race-horses, or of those devoted 

 to any kind of slower work, he will carefully eschew every kind of 



^ With more careful tabulation of hereditary defects on the part of veterinary surgeons 

 and breeders, the principle is now so well established that the Duke of Westminster was 

 well advised in selling "the horse of the century," as Ormonde has been called, and as the 

 editor of the Field remarked, "at four or five times the price of a sound one." It was 

 thought that the dry climate of a South American state would cure him of roaring, and so 

 much did many people regret his leaving the country, that a proposal was set on foot to form 

 a syndicate for his re-pa>v:hase, 



