Rom. AX Horses. i ^ - 



advisers about him who thoroughly understand how the native breeds should be improved. 

 I have had the honour of selecting for His Royal Highness several chargers, all of the same 

 stamp, about i6 hands high, well bred, up to weight ; first-class Leicester hunters, in fact, 

 but with rather more knee-action and more showy fore-hand than is required in English 

 hunting. 



The Roman Hunt, patronised by royalty, is breeding up a number of Italian gentlemen 

 and nobleman to this the healthiest and most manly of all sports. 



ROMAN HORSES. 



"When I first knew Rome, in 1838, the only noticeable horses were the large blacks in the 

 cardinals' carriages. They were slow, ill-bred animals, with very high, round action in their 

 lugubrious trot. The best of these were bred by the family of Prince Chigi. The best large 

 riding-horses were of the Santo Spirito breed. My brother Charles (for some j'ears Master 

 of the Roman Fox-hounds) bought a promising grey of this breed, and I rode him hunting 

 for a season. But no horseman in the world could get one of this sort over the top bar of an 

 astaggioiiata (timber bullock-fence of Campagna), although this grey was made to make his 

 way through a good many fences of the kind, on the principle that the impetus is calculated 

 by multiplying the weight into the velocity. 



" The establishment of a pack of fox-hounds by the Earl of Chesterfield was followed 

 by races and steeplechases, and these produced an immediate change in the quality of the 

 horse bred on the Roman Campagna. The first races at Rome, under English auspices, 

 were held about 1842. In that year several of the Roman princes clubbed together to buy 

 an English thoroughbred stallion. Soon afterwards one of the large nicrcante di campagna 

 (graziers), Signor Polverosi, called familiarly by the English ' Dusty Bob,' imported several 

 English stallions, and began to breed thoroughbred horses. His example was imitated, and 

 'crossing with English blood-horses' became an established custom. One farmer told me 

 that he was obliged to cross because all the others did. Signor Polverosi said that his horse- 

 breeding investment paid ; but first he speculated in some iron-works, and was unfortunate ; 

 then he meddled in politics, and was exiled. At present he holds an official appointment 

 under the Government of the King of Italy, as the head of a horse-breeding establishment in 

 one of the Roman provinces, having previously held one in the Neapolitan provinces. 



" Early in the horse-breeding movement, Prince Borghese tried several Arab stallions in 

 his stud. 



"In 1838 I found a few niceish hacks in Rome, bred in Calabria, with a strong cross of 

 Barb blood, but they had not strength or size enough for hunting. In Florence all the vehicles 

 at that time were drawn by good-looking ponies, imported from Corsica and Sardinia." 



This reminds one that the first horse of the Italian poet Alfieri, a passionate lover of 

 horses, was a Sardinian. " My first horse," he says, " which I took with me into the country 

 was a beautiful white Sardinian, of the most elegant form, especially his head, his neck, and 

 his chest. I was madly fond of him ; I could not sleep (Alfieri was then fifteen years old) 

 or eat for thinking of him, if he was the least off his feed, which happened very often, for he 

 was high-couraged and delicate. My affection for him did not, however, prevent me from 

 ill-using him when I rode him, if he did not do exactly what I wished." (I am afraid there 

 are a good many English boys not unlike the rich young Italian nobleman.) "The delicacy 

 of this admirable animal afforded me an excuse for purchasing another saddle-horse, then 

 two for my carriage, then one for my cabriolet, and then two more saddle-horses ; so that in 



