378 AGRICULTUKE AND THE HORSE. 



Sutton, and Gen. Knox, and Lancet, and Gen. Lyon, 

 and Honest Allen, and Gilbreth Knox. And so the 

 thousands of medium-sized, hardy, enduring horses in 

 the service of the family, in the stage-coach, in livery, 

 on the track, and on the road, go whirling on with their 

 Norman stride and their thorough-bred wind and 

 courage. 



Hence, then, our American horse ; and, taking him 

 as he is, I have an idea that Ave can so direct his breed^ 

 ing as to preserve to ourselves all his best qualities, and 

 even enlarge and improve them. I am aware that the 

 breeding of horses is a difficult and doubtful business. 

 The horse holds a position in the scale of being which 

 makes him peculiarly sensitive, from his embryo life 

 upward, to all surrounding influences. The fact that 

 but a few generations are necessary to change almost 

 his entire structure, in order to conform to a change of 

 climate and soil, is sufficient evidence of the ease with 

 which his race may be modified by the accidents about 

 him, or by the designs of his master. Suffolk pigs, 

 short-horned cattle, terrier pups, can be bred to order. 

 Not so the horse. He is a bundle of forces moral 

 and physical, either class of which may be distorted by 

 influences almost beyond our control. A calm, coura- 

 geous, docile, intelligent mare, beai'ing a colt sired by 

 a stallion equally well balanced with herself, may be 

 subjected to sudden fright ; she may fall into bad 

 hands, and be lashed to madness while pregnant ; she 

 may have her attention fixed on some ignoble compan- 



