i 7 4 KINGSCLERE 



a horse that was paralysed. (I may remark here, 

 parenthetically, that it was a veterinary opinion, 

 expressed by a high authority, that paralysis of 

 the nerve was the cause of Ormonde's roaring. 

 May not the partial paralysis of that great horse 

 in some measure account for his impaired capacity 

 for service ?) As to stringhalt, we see little of 

 the blemish. It does not seem to affect horses 

 in racing at all ; I mean, it is no detriment to 

 them. I have seen some very good horses with 

 stringhalt, and I should say the fault does not 

 increase with age. To another question put to 

 me I replied that I would a great deal sooner 

 breed from a sound moderate thoroughbred horse 

 than from an infirm Derby winner. A stallion 

 should be limited to thirty mares ; thereby he 

 would beget stronger and better stock than in 

 alliance with a greater number. A horse should 

 not be put to the stud until he is four or five years 

 old. Bony enlargements are hereditary, I think, 

 with the exception of splints. These may be 

 caused by an accident ; but if you have got a mal- 

 formation of hock, or a club foot, or anything of 

 that description, from animals so impaired, we pass 

 them as sound. (I may again interpose with the 

 mention of a case of curious heredity which 

 came under my own notice. I owned a mare called 

 Booty, who was disfigured with a club foot. She 

 had five foals, and of these two had a club foot — 

 the same foot — precisely like the dam.) Although 

 according to my observation transmission of a club 



