235 



as having a safe passport to satisfy the critical 

 eye of the civilised world, because no men are 

 more difficult to please in the matter of horseflesh, 

 so far as picking" flaws goes, as evidenced in the 

 following anecdote. An Irishman was looking at a 

 stepping cob with a view to purchasing him. The 

 cob was as near perfection as possible, and his price 

 nearer three figures than was suitable to the purse 

 of the son of the Emerald Isle, and after surveying 

 him critically for a few seconds, he exclaimed, — " It's 

 a foine cob he is, -indade, but he lifts so uncom- 

 monly high that he actually misses bits ! " 



THE VALUE OF CARRIAGE HORSES. 



In view of the fact that a very large percentage 

 of the best carriage horses in the country are im- 

 ported from abroad, it should act as a stimulus to 

 British breeders to go in more generally for the 

 breeding of high-class carriage horses. Many horses 

 running in London at the present time have been 

 purchased at as high a price as ;^700 the pair, and 

 ;^450 may be considered as the average value of a 

 pair of the better-class carriage horses. The British 

 climate is as favourable for the breeding of carriage 

 horses as that of other countries, so that there is 

 something manifestly wrong in the increased and 

 increasing importations from abroad. 



