42 HOW TO BREED A HORSE. 



blood of England, and signally '•' missed" with that of 

 America. On the contrary, the blood of Glencoe " hit" 

 with the most fashionable blood of both co^intries ; and 

 although he has got more fine stock in America, owing to 

 his liaving served here during a much longer period, and 

 of course, covered more fine mares, is scarcely more famous 

 as a stock getter in this than in the mother countrj^ In 

 like manner, Leviathan, Sovereign and Sarpedon have all 

 " hit" more or less decidedly, with the older English blood 

 of America ; and Trustee must not be forgotten, both as 

 the sire of the incomparable Fashion, and as a horse who 

 has been extraordinarily fortunate in getting roadsters of 

 high quality out of common mares. 



Now, although there is no possibility of predicting, 

 absolutely, what bloods will and will not hit, there are at 

 least some facts established which will enable us to ven- 

 ture a conjecture on the subject. It is well known to be 

 the habit of gregarious and polygamous animals, such as 

 horses, oxen, and some others, which are not long-lived — 

 but of which the largest and most powerful males enjoy 

 the company of the females of their own troop or band, 

 of which they are the lords and Sultans, and from which 

 they beat off and banish the younger and inferior animals 

 of their own sex — to copulate, for at least two or three 

 generations, with their own female descendants, while in 

 a state of nature. As they decline in strength, vigor and 

 courage with the increase of years, they are in their turn 

 beaten off, and compelled to give way to some more power- 

 ful rival, in the pride and maturity of equine manhood, 

 perhaps from a different horde of animals, and almost 

 certainly from a distinct strain of blood. Hence we come 

 to the conclusion that horses in a wild state are accustomed 

 to breed into the same family and blood; that is to say, 

 with their own daughters and grand-daughters, for about 



