140 The Practical Stud Groom. 



were by thoroughbred stallions (in the English or American 

 Stud Books) out of mares with two and three thoroughbred 

 crosses on a native foundation. At four years old the young 

 stock were " rounded up " and broken in for remounts, cow- 

 horses, and general purposes. The outstanding features 

 about them were their extraordinary good legs and feet, 

 cannon bones like bars of steel, and hoofs as tough as whale- 

 bone, while their staying powers and endurance during long 

 journeys with big weights on their backs were simply 

 phenomenal. The average height of these four-year-olds 

 was from 15 hands to 15.2. And yet, at the Newmarket 

 July Sales of bloodstock, a yearling if not 15 hands high is 

 " crabbed " as being "a bit on the small side." The horse 

 reaches his full growth, so far as height at the withers is 

 concerned, in his third year. The height of the British 

 thoroughbred horse of to-day averages 16 hands, and as 

 " fashion " demands that he should be 15 hands high at one 

 year old, it is obvious that his development must be of a very 

 uneven nature. Minoru, a 16-hands horse, was foaled 

 March 16th, 1906 ; on May 1st, 1907, one year and six weeks 

 later, he measured 14 hands 3Jins. ; on August 1st he 

 measured 15 hands IJins. Thus in three months he grew 

 If inches, and took 18 months more to grow the 2| inches 

 necessary to attain his ultimate height of 16 hands. From 

 measurements taken of 120 thoroughbred yearlings during 

 the last five years, I find that their average growth from 

 May 1st to September 1st was a shade over two inches during 

 those four months. I took no measurements of ranche-reared 

 stock till they had reached maturity, but from appearances 

 it is safe to say that a fifteen hand yearling was a " rara 

 avis " ; their growth, to their final height of 15.2 or 15.3, 

 being much more gradually and evenly accomplished, as was 

 only to be expected from the method of their rearing. 



