CHAPTER XXTII. 



BREEDING. 



G37. — Breeding horses is a very interesting but not often a 

 very profitable occupation. Britons are fond of it, and will 

 practise it whether it pays or not. In the cities of Australia, 

 thousands of well bred light horses have been sold for less than 

 it cost to drive them there, because neither their owners nor 

 their owner's servants, liked to kill them for their hides and 

 tallow, although it would have been far more merciful to have 

 done so. 



The production of such a fine specimen of animal power, 

 usefulness, and beauty, has a fascination about it that influences 

 a great variety of characters. The patriot sees in it a way to 

 benefit his country ; the lover of rural life to multiply and 

 perpetuate his charming pets ; the ambitious to acquire, fame ; 

 the physiologist to establish his theories ; the acquisitive to secure 

 great prices ; the gambler to produce a Flying Childers, an 

 Eclipse, or a Blair Athol. There is an unspeakable charm in 

 breeding and educating your own horse — the horse that under- 

 stands every move of your hand and eye — that never served any 

 one else — in which you never suspect any latent vice or weakness 

 — that is the son of the old mare that served yon so long and so 

 well, or perhaps saved your life by her extraordinary endurance, 

 speed, or sagacity. Who could be so mercenary as. to even ask if 

 such a liorse has cost more than he would fetch at Tattersall's ? 



038. — Breeding such an animal is a subject that has attracted 

 much thought, so that a great deal has been written, and well 

 written about it. We shall not go at much length into it, a? in 

 England it is a business very much confined to a few persons, 



