THE PRUSSIA X HORSE. M 



mediate iuaixagement of the noble owner. It contains thirty mares of 

 pure blood, and fifteen or sixteen stallions of the same grade ; and all of 

 them selected with care from the best thorouo-h-bred studs in Engfland, 

 Notwithstanding this selection of jaure blood, or rather in its 23eculiar 

 selection, it has been the object of the duke to produce a horse that shall 

 be useful for the purpose of pleasure, commerce, and agriculture. Some 

 of the stallions are reserved for his own stud ; but with regard to the 

 others, such is the spirit with which this noble estabHshment is conducted, 

 and his desire to improve the race of horses in Sles^vick, that he allows 

 more than 600 mares every year, belonging to the peasants of the isle of 

 Alsen, to be covered gratuitously. He keeps a register of them, and in 

 the majority of cases he examines the mares himself, and chooses the horse 

 which "will best suit her form, her beaixties, her defects, or the purpose for 

 which the progeny is intended. It is not therefore surpiising that there 

 should be so many good hoi-ses in this part of Denmark, and that the im- 

 provement in Sleswick, and in Holstein, and also in Mecklenburg, should 

 be so rapid, and so universally acknowledged. 



There is another circumstance which should not be forgotten — it is 

 that by which alone the preservation of a valuable breed can be secured 

 — it is that to the neglect of which the deterioration of every breed must 

 be partly, at least, and, in many cases, chiefly traced. The duke in his 

 stud, and the peasants in the surrounding country, preserve the good 

 breeding mares, and will not part with one that has not some evident or 

 secret fault about her. 



How much have the breeders of Great Britaiai to answer for in the 

 deterioration of some of our best breeds from this cause alone ! 



There is, however, notliing perfect under the sun. This determination 

 to breed only from horses of pure blood, although care is taken that these 

 horses shall be the stoutest of their kind, has lessened the size and some- 

 what altered the peculiar character of the horse in the immediate districts ; 

 and we must go somewhat more southward for the large and stately 

 animal of which fi^equent mention has been made. The practice of tho 

 country is likewise to a certain degree unfriendly to the full development 

 of the Augustenboui'g horse. The pasturage is sufficiently good to develop 

 the powers of the colt, and few things contribute more to his subsequent 

 hardihood than his living on these pastures, and becoming accustomed to 

 the xacissitudes of the seasons : yet this may be carried too far. The 

 Sleswick colt is left out of doors all the year round, and, except when tho 

 snow renders it impossible for him to graze, he is, day and night, exposed 

 to the cold, and the "^vind, and the rain. We are no advocates for a 

 system of nursing laborious to the owaier and injurious to the animal, but 

 a full development of form and of power can never be acquired amidst 

 outrageous neglect and pi'ivation. 



THE PRUSSIAN HORSE. 

 Prussia has not been backward in the race of improvement — or rather, 

 with her characteristic policy, she has taken the lead, Avhere her influence 

 and her power were concerned. The government has established some- 

 extensive and well-regulated studs in various parts of the kingdom ; and 

 many of the Prussian noblemen have establishments of their own. lu 

 some of the marshy districts, and about the mouth of the Vistula, there i^j 

 a breed of large and strong horses suited to agi'icultural purposes. The 

 studs produce others for pleasure or for war. In the royal studs particular 

 attention has been paid to the improvement of the Prussian cavalry-horse. 

 He has acquired considerably more fire and spirit, and strength and endur- 

 ance, without an}- sacrifice either of form or action. 



