86 THE BRIDLE BITS. 



Circumstances of climate and a great maritine nation 

 catered to the equine tastes of the people of the British 

 Isles, for, having had intercourse through trading and 

 perpetual wars with foreign nations, they imported su- 

 perior animals and crossed them with their own, and 

 thus improved the breeds of all kinds of animals to such 

 a degree that not only the formation and size are estab- 

 lished, but the very colors of all the varieties give them 

 character and excellence, so that they can be identified 

 as this or that breed by their flesh or color of their hair. 

 The superior excellence of the English horse has come 

 about in this way. The saddle-horse, which is bred ex- 

 clusively for the purpose of racing, hunting and steeple 

 chasing (in which he excels wherever he goes, and in 

 which we will venture to say he has no superior in any 

 clime), will not be improved as hunters and steeple 

 chasers by a cross with Eastern stock, if deep chests and 

 short legs are to characterize the improvements, or rather 

 the change. Equestrian sports on the British Isles are 

 the consequence of their having the horses to suit the 

 purposes of the wildest ambitions in these respects. As 

 a cavalry horse, to carry heavy weight and endure 

 fatigue on long marches, he might be improved under 

 Eastern treatment, where the horses are out in the open 

 air instead of being housed up in a close stable, standing 

 and lying down in narrow stalls and tied by a short 

 halter so that they cannot lie down and stretch their legs 

 out to rest them after a day's march or hard ride. This 

 alone would shorten any horse's working life. The nar- 

 row stall in which a horse is obliged to tuck his legs in 

 under him, is a torture and the curse of the American 

 horses. With short legs and deep brisket the English 

 hunter would deteriorate as a hunter, for he could not 

 take the leaps he does now. The short-legged, thick-set 

 horse is tough, hardy, durable and strong, but the place 

 to set himself off to advantage is not in taking a five-foot 

 wall or five-barred iron gate. 



