THE AMERICAN BLOOD-HORSK. 65 



cross iu question is stout ou one side, and flashy on the other, 

 it is not easy to guess to which the young scion may lean ; but 

 in those cases where a horse is bred from sire or dam, both of 

 stout blood, or the reverse, the experienced hand may, in almost 

 ail cases, decide beforehand upon the qualities of the son or 

 daughter, as far as staying qualities are concerned. Again, 

 there are some horses of strong, compact frames, with short 

 backs and strong quarters, who may be expected to climb a hill 

 without difl&culty, especially if of stout blood ; and, again, there 

 are others of lathy frames, with long but weak points, and a 

 great deal of daylight under them, who may win over the flat 

 for a mile, or a mile and a quarter, but can never climb a hill, 

 or get beyond the above distance over a flat. All these points 

 should be carefully studied by the breeder in getting together 

 bis breeding stock, and by the owner in deciding how he will 

 enter his young produce in the race. 



In passing from the consideration of the history of the 

 American Race-IIorse to tlie examination of other races and 

 types of this animal in general use in our country, it must be 

 borne in mind, as before remarked, that the thorough-bred horse 

 of America is the only family of the horse on this continent of 

 pure and unmixed blood. 



In the United States, and British America, the process of 

 absorption, or abolition of all the old special breeds, and of the 

 amalgamation of all into one general race, which may fairly be 

 termed specially "American," possessing a very large admix- 

 ture of thorough blood, has gone on far more rapidly than in 

 England — the rather that, with the one solitary exception of 

 the Norman horse in Canada, no special breeds have ever taken 



