THE HORSE. 2o 



severe penalties were inflicted for every deviation from the lawful standard. We havfe 

 often thought, and elsewhere maintained, that the Legislatures of the several States 

 would do well to impose a tax on Stallions ; and, moreover, provide that none should 

 De allowed to propagate their race, but under license granted by judges, connoisscnrs 

 of horses, who should have power to condemn the worthless as the Inspector con- 

 demns a hogshead of rotten tobacco ; leaving a tax of fixed amount upon all such as 

 could pass inspection — or the amount should be light or heavy, in proportion to the 

 perfection or defectiveness of the animal. All thick, straight-shouldered, cat-hammed 

 garrans, and all overgrown beasts " sixteen hands or upwards, under the standard," 

 should be condemned to celibacy ! This would go far, in a few years, to diminish 

 the number of ungainly monsters, to be found at every cross-road, propagating their 

 own wretched deformities, and vices of shape and temper. That horses do propagate 

 hysical and moral defects, there can be no doubt — were it not invidious, living exam- 

 ples might be given of both as to curbs and sulks ! one of which defects may have 

 endangered, and the other have caused on a recent occasion, the loss of many thou- 

 sands. 



Without having, as we hope, omitted anything material to show the reader how 

 abundant have been the materials, and how judicious the use of them, to secure tlie 

 excellence of the English Horse up to the period at which we have arrived — here Ave 

 teach the epoch when we are told that public races were established, and horses that 

 had given proof of their superior swiftness became known and celebrated throughout 

 the kingdom. " The breed was cultivated, and their pedigree as well as those of their 

 posterity, (in imitation of the Arabian manner,) was preserved and recorded with 

 exactness." 



Here then, at last, as we contend, in this establishment and patronage of the turf, as 

 an exact and severe test of equestrian power, and in the faithful preservation of pedi- 

 grees, we discover at once the source and the guarantee for preserving all that is 

 excellent in this noble animal, distinguished as we have said, in his rare combination 

 of strength, swiftness, beauty, lastingness, docility, and courage. The prescription 

 of weight to age — thf. measurement of the track, and the opening of the Stud-book, 

 have done for English horses, what Magna Charta did for English-men ! 



As with man, " 'tis liberty alone that gives to life its lustre and perfume," so there 

 would seem to be something in his aristocratic blnod, that inspires the thorough-bred 

 courser with an indomitable pride and courage. To look at is but to admire him as 

 he walks, " rejoifing in his strength !" but both man and horse will degenerate in 

 character and value when in their government there is provided no tegt for their 

 capacity — no stimulus to virtue— <io reward for their ambition, nor restraint upon i/s 

 vicious indulgence ! 



Nothing is easier than to declaim against the turf, on account of the abuse which 

 too often attends the use of that, and other institutions. We might consent to its 

 abatement or suppression, if those who desire it will tell us how, except by its 

 exciting hazards and hopes, and its infallible test as a measure of equestrian power, 

 men can be prevailed upon to breed systematically, to acquire skill in training, and 

 to encounter the expense and trouble of carefully testing the capacities of horses ; — • 

 dooming the most worthless to the plough, and sending, finally, the very best only into 

 the breedinfr stud, to perpetuate their fine qualities ! How, except by thus ascertain- 

 ing and breeding from the most perfect, can he be kept up to the standard he has 

 reached, and finally, how but by such authentic annals, and proofs to refer to, can 

 even the practical farmer employ any given degree of the pure blood, some of which 

 all admit to be advantageous and desirable for every service, even the most humhli* 

 and laborious to which the Horse can be subjected 1 In respect of the reliance to be 

 placed on the English Stud-Book for pedigrees, and the good effects of sprinkling the 

 horse <f oil work ivith more or less of the ivarm blood of the Eastern Courser, we covot 

 for our own conviction no better support or authority than the views adopted an! 

 sanctioned by B. 0. Tavloe, Esq. of Washington, a gentleman and scholar, who h;>s 

 done more than any writer of whom we have any knowledge, to throw light upon tho 

 obscure but interesting annals of the American turf, consisting until then of a con- 

 fused mass of scattered materials — rudis indigesta que moles — arranging them in 



