HOW YEARLINGS ARE BRED TO BE SOLD. 129 



stud ; and there only as great failures as they had proved 

 in racing. 



Nor should yearlings out of old mares, hitherto failures at 

 the stud, be totally disregarded, for at times such old mares 

 breed good ones. Of such produce we have examples in the 

 following : Crucifix, who was sold by the side of, and with 

 her dam, for sixty-five guineas ; Caractaais, Hero, and One Act, 

 all good animals, whose dams before had produced nothing — 

 indeed, had figured for many years before at the stud as 

 useless breeders of a more degenerate race than themselves. 



It is now the fashion to have yearl-'ngs sent for sale, 

 walked only from the stable-door to the rostrum, like so many 

 fat beasts at Smithfield or some other cattle-show. Breeders 

 see, and for their own purposes take advantage of, the pre- 

 vailing taste for large animals ; and by having their yearlings 

 well fatted are sure of a market. Let them but be fat, and 

 it does not seem to matter what they may be like in other 

 respects. The kind of feet and legs they have, or how these 

 are set on, the really essential point to a buyer, is not of the 

 slightest consequence ; for if good judges refuse to buy, there 

 are plenty of others eager to take their place. 



Thus it comes about that year after year trainers have 

 sent to them large, heavy-shouldered, slack-loined, little- 

 legged brutes, that would fall over a straw, with instructions 

 to prepare them for their engagements. And whilst it may 

 be taken for granted that if horses cannot walk well they 

 are not perfect in any of their other paces, yet if these in- 

 capablcs are not metamorphosed into good-looking animals 

 by the following year, and do not win many races, the trainer 

 is reproached. The blame is laid upon his unskilful treat- 

 ment or total neglect ; whereas the fault is with the purchaser, 

 in buying great unwieldy brutes, without a single quality to 



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