BREEDERS AND BREEDING 93 



great vitality ; but perhaps if she had been trained 

 as a young mare (she never ran till six years old) 

 she might not have been so regular and prolific a 

 breeder. 



I should not advocate breeding from a very old 

 sire or an old mare, or one that had been hard 

 trained w^hen young ; but we find exceptions to 

 every rule, and The Roe, dam of that good stayer 

 The Cob, who would have won another Cesarewitch 

 for the late Duke of Beaufort had he been ridden 

 with any approach to the orders his jockey received, 

 was twenty-four years old when The Cob was foaled. 

 I think many breeders are too apt to overlook con- 

 formation of the sire in mating their mares, and 

 when the young one arrives much will depend 

 upon the way he is treated. Young horses from 

 their foalhood upwards should be handled with 

 quietness and firmness, and not petted or made too 

 much of. Those that have been petted are almost 

 invariably the hardest to break, and frequently are 

 possessed of a will of their own which leads to much 

 subsequent trouble. It is most probable that after 

 Persimmon had won the Derby his brother 

 Diamond Jubilee was in this way spoilt, which 

 would go a long way to account for his wayward 

 conduct at times, though no doubt he was a brilliant 

 racehorse at his best. It is the old story of 



