494- AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 



Another well-known English veterinarian says, in refer- 

 ence to the deterioration of the horse in his own country : 

 " Any one, during the last twenty or twenty-five years, must 

 be struck with the sad falling off there is every-where to 

 be remarked in the quality of one-half and three-parts-bred 

 horses exhibited for sale." Yet this class of animals em- 

 brace the first edition from the racer's stock that pass into 

 the hands of the farmer. This is certainly improvement 

 backwards. 



"If horse-breeders, possessed of good judgment, would 

 pay the same attention to breed and shape that Mr. Bake- 

 well did with his sheep, they would probably attain their 

 wishes in an equal degree." Is not this the work that 

 racers claim to be doing as belonging to their especial de- 

 partment ? and then, in spite of all the stimulus of eques- 

 trian exercise, to be outdone by a sheep-man ! 



" Our running-horses," says Youatt, " still maintain their 

 speed, although their endurance, generally speaking, is greatly 

 diminished." Can not the races keep up their own running- 

 stock? If they can, what mean such expressions as the 

 above? Is it not clear that the whole system of racing, so 

 far as the pretences that it improves stock are concerned, is 

 a miserable failure and a gross imposition on the public — 

 such a sham, in fact, as no man of right feeling and princi- 

 ple would willingly be identified with ? 



One more reference, and we dismiss the subject. Youatt 

 lays it down as an axiom in breeding " that like will pro- 

 duce like," adding that "the progeny will inherit the general 

 or mingled qualities of the parent." The reader is already 

 aware of our qualified dissent from so sweeping a state- 

 ment; but, applying it as we fairly may, in the present argu- 

 ment, what conclusion are we forced to arrive at when we 

 find the same author making such positive assertions as 

 those? "Our running-horses are considerably diminished;" 

 and, " Our hunters and hackneys are not what they used to 

 be ; " and, " Our draught and carriage horses are, perhaps, 

 improved in value." The racers and their offspring degen- 



