THE THOROUGHBRED 



Lieutenant N. C. Shiveeick, "Ashantee," Avon, N. Y. 



ARABIAN FOUNDATION 



In speaking of horses one often hears the word " thoroughbred " 

 misused. There can be no such thing as a thoroughbred Perch- 

 erou, a thoroughbred Clyde, Shire or other type; ''pure^bred" 

 is the term which should be used, and this term pure-bred may 

 be applied to any type of horse, each of whose parents is pure 

 bred and of the same type — pure-bred Percheron, pure-bred 

 Clyde, etc. Thoroughbred is the name of a distinct type of horse, 

 developed through centuries of breeding and Tacing. All Thor- 

 oughbred horses" trace their lineage through the records of the 

 American and English Studbook back to one of the three great 

 foundation sires, either the Godolphin Arabian, the Byerly Turk 

 or the D'arley Arabian. The Thoroughbred's foundation was Arab, 

 and it might be said that it practically began where the Arab left 

 off. I mean that the Thoroughbred, resting its foundation on the 

 Arab, thence forward until now, has been developed through the 

 science, care and wealth of the most enlightened, wealthiest and 

 ablest nations of the world. 



TRANSMITS ENDURANCE 



In developing the Thoroughbred, there has always been the one 

 definite object, namely, to breed an individual gamer, stronger, 

 hardier and more intelligent than his forebears. Thus for cen- 

 turies the one object of Thoroughbred breeders has been to inten- 

 sify in the " get " the best of its ancestors, and in each genera- 

 tion to eliminate minor defects and to cull out the undesirable 

 points or characteristics. Since no other breed has been so fa- 

 vored, it is unintelligent to even suggest that any breed can be 

 considered equal to the Thoroughbred in what we might call racial 

 transmission. 



Throughout all nature and all activities of natural things, im- 

 provement occurs in consequence of care and selection. Why 

 breed to a Thoroughbred ? Because he transmits more desirable 

 qualities, physical and mental, than does any other horse. This 



[37] 



