HUNTERS 



are very weedy looking throughout their 

 anatomy, or exactly the reverse of the fore- 

 going. 



Stress has been laid upon freedom from vice, 

 as constituting an essential qualification in a 

 hunter brood mare. On first thought, to some 

 men, this statement will appear rather amusing, 

 but a practical horseman knows well enough that 

 he must be able to produce hunters of good tem- 

 perament, and that, unless he starts with the 

 right material to do so, it is almost like working 

 against the inevitable. A vicious temperament 

 is as assuredly transmitted from parent to pro- 

 geny as any other trouble. The moral is, to 

 buy mares with a good temper. The reader will 

 in all probability ask what are the hereditary 

 troubles that he must endeavour to avoid when 

 purchasing the mares, the answer to which is, 

 roaring, whistling, splint, bone-spavin, curb, ring- 

 bone, side-bone, thoroughpin, shivering, stringhalt, 

 and above all, peculiarities of action, the latter 

 being frequently associated with anomalies of con- 

 formation. Nearly all these defects (excepting 

 roaring, whistling, and shivering) are patent, 

 therefore, there can be very little excuse for any 



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