HORSES. 201 



nourislimcnt of the fcctus of a male smaller than herself, the 

 growth must be proportionably greater. • The large female has 

 also a greater quantity of milk, and her offspring is more abun- 

 dantly supplied with nourishment after birth." 



Youatt says: " It may, perhaps, be justly affirmed, that there 

 is more difficulty in selectiiig a good mare to breed from than a 

 good horse. Her carcass should be long, in order to give room 

 for the growth of the foetus ; and yet with this there should be 

 compactness of form and shortness of leg." 



Linsley, in his prize essay, says : " The stallion should be 

 selected partly with reference to the form and characteristics 

 of the mare, and he should possess in a high degree those 

 qualities in which the mare is most deficient. In all cases he 

 should be compact and possessed of a vigorous constitution, 

 have a bold, resolute style of action, high spirit, and a great 

 deal of that nervous or vital energy which gives life to the 

 whole." 



Again Linsley says : " All experience shows that the horse 

 of medium size is far the most capable of performing great feats 

 upon either the turf or road in carrying weight at lon^ dis- 

 tances. The Arabian, universally admitted, to possess aston- 

 ishing powers of endurance under light weight at high speed, 

 is rarely fifteen hands high. Of those horses that have distin- 

 guished themselves as trotters, a very large majority of them 

 have been under fifteen and a half hands high. ' Fanny 

 Jenks,' who trotted one hundred miles in nine hours, forty-two 

 minutes, was only fourteen and one-half hands high, and 

 weighed only nine hundred and thirty-five pounds. Tom 

 Thumb, who performed one hundred miles upon Sunbury 

 xjommon, England, in ten hours, seven minutes, in February, 

 1829, was only fourteen and one-half hands high, and his driver 

 and sulky weighed two hundred and fifty pounds ; and we think 

 more instances can be adduced of great feats at long distances, 

 performed by horses under fifteen than over sixteen hands 

 high." 



The great improvement of the breeds of horses in England, 

 which took place many years ago, is said to have arisen 

 from crossing with those diminutive stallions, the P>arbs and 

 Arabians. 



26 



