28 THE HORSE. 



by those home-bred ones which show the best qualities; and thus the country will 

 by deirrees acquire an excellent breed." 



"That races (says he.) were introduced among the Arabs, very scon after tiiey 

 began to breed horses, appears from the very names of tlie coursers. Ten horses 

 started together, and from the victor to the last, each has its own proper name or 

 epithet; — one of their best scholiasts enumerates them in the following manner as 

 the}' came out in the race : — 



Sahek, the foremost — the insjurer of joy and hanisher of care — because his 



uiaster can behold the race with delight, and without concern, 1 



Mutgalli — because he had his head on the back cf the vvinner, 2 



Musalli — because he satisfies his owner, 3 



Tali — the pursuer, 4 



Muriach — the ardent, or mettlesome, 5 



Ailf — the keen, or well disposed, G 



Muvaimnal — the inspirer of future hopes, 7 



Hadi — the lazy, 8 



Laiinx — the belaboured, because taken into the stable with blows, .... 9 

 Lucait — or whose name is not to be named, and of whom nothing is said, 



because the case is too bad, 10 



The admitted excellence to which the general stock of English horses has been 

 brought, is then the result, as has been seen, of a good foundation to build upon; of 

 successive and in most cases judicious crosses, by the use of foreign stallions, most 

 frequently Barbs ; and of superabundant wealth employed in the breeding and train- 

 ing of stud ; those addicted to all the luxurious uses of the horse, having besides 

 other facilities a wide latitude before them, in the various strains to select and breed 

 from. 



The reason why theDarley Arabian, and after him the celebrated Barb, Godolphin, 

 contributed more decidedly than any Arabians have done ^ince, to the improvement 

 of the race-horse, is, that they were imported at the very juncture when the liritish 

 stock was in a condition to need a cross that would impart more muscle and harder 

 bone, and give better wind ; while it diminished the size and weight cf the carcass, 

 which had been made too heavy by repeated uses of the Flemish and German breed. 

 In our own country we know, and probably in all others, the progress of improve- 

 ment of domestic animals has been much retarded and counteracted, by the vulgar 

 persuasion that the largest males should be selected for the purpose of procreation. — 

 Than this common impression no error could be more })ernicious. This fallacy is 

 the source of the disappointment and mortification experienced by farmers who give 

 enormous prices for overgrown bulls and rams, and who always give the preference 

 to stallions that measure "full sixteen hands and upwards under the standard.'' — On 

 this point wo cannot do better than refer to an able essay of Professor Cline of Lon- 

 don, on the form r,f animals, published in the third volume of the American Farmer. 

 \Vith the ]>rincii)Tes laid down in that essay, every farmer should nuike himself 

 tamiliar. A few passages may be cpioted, no less for their appositeness to the point 

 here made, than for their general applicability and value in the study of all animal 

 economy. 



" Muscles. — The muscles, and tendons which are their appendages, should be large ; 

 by Vv hich an animal is enabled to travel with greater facility. 



" T/if billies. — '^riie sireiiglli of an animal does not depend on the size of the bones 

 but on that ot"tlie muscles. — Many animals with large bones are weak, their nuiscles 

 being small. Animals that \\ ere imperfectly nourished during growt'.i, have their hones 

 disproportionably large. If such deficiency of nourishment originated from a consti- 

 tutional defect, whicli is the most frequent cause, they remain weak durir.tj life 

 Large hones therefore sienerally indicate an imperfectif.n in llie organs of nutrition. 



" On the irnpnivcmeiit if lite f<irm. — When the male is nuich laruvr tlian the female, 

 the offspring is generally of an imperfect form. If the female be proportionably large). 

 the offspring is of an improved form. — For instance, if a well-forrncd laroe ram be 

 put to ewes proportionably smaller, the lambs will not be so well shaped as their 



