952 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part III. 



breeds the moans of continuing their species, is observed with equal care and jealousy by the breeders of 



820 



the English race, as by the Arabians ; and turf jockeys 

 assert they can discover a taint or departure from this 

 purity to the sixteenth remove. 



6232. The hunter (Jig. 820.) is derived from horses 

 of entire blood, or such as are but little removed from 

 it, uniting with mares of substance, correct form, and 

 good action. In some instances hunters are derived 

 from large mares of the pure breed, propagating with 

 powerful stallions of the old English road horse. 

 This favourite and valuable breed is a happy com- 

 bination of the speed of the Arabian, with the dura, 

 bility of the native horse. More extended in form, 

 but framed on the same principles, he is able to carry 

 a considerable weight through heavy grounds, with a 

 swiftness equalled only by the animal he pursues, and 

 with a perseverance astonishing to the natives of every 

 other country. Hence the extreme demand for this 

 breed of horses in every European country ; our 

 racing stallions being now sent to propagate in the 

 eastern climes, whence they were some of them origi- 

 nally brought. 



<j233. The tmproved hackney {fig. 821.) is derived, like the former, from a judicious mixture of the 

 blood breed with the native horse, but exhibiting a greater proportion of the latter. Hackneys are now, 



however, mostly bred from stallions possessing nearly 

 the same proportion of bloo<i with the hunter ; but with 

 a form and qualities somewhat different. In the hack- 

 ney, as safety is as requisite as speed, we look particu- 

 larly to the fore parts to see that they are high and well 

 placed ; that the head is not heavy, nor the neck dis- 

 proportionately long or short ; that the legs stand straight 

 (that is, that a perpendicular line drawn from the point 

 of the shoulder should meet the toe) ; and that the 

 elbows turn out : and although a perfect conformation 

 in the hinder parts is necessary to the hackney, it is in 

 some measure subordinate to the same perfection in the 

 fore parts ; whereas in the racer and hunter, but par- 

 ticularly in the former, the form of the hinder is even 

 of more consequence than that of the fore parts. 



6234. The old English road horse. I'his most useful 

 breed is now nearly extinct, although some northern 

 agriculturists appear to be making efforts to revive the 

 race. It has so long been known in this country that it 

 might almost be reckoned among its indigcn.p . although it is probable that it originally sprang from a 

 judicious culture from horses of Norman, German, or Flemish extraction, which horses were very early im- 

 ported to enlarge our small breeds, and to render 

 QQQ them equal to the heavy loads they were accus- 



"^^ tomed to carry as pack-horses ; and of which kind 



the old English road horse unquestionably is, 

 (^g.822.) Neither is it at all impossible, that.in the 

 more fertile parts of the island, an original breed 

 existed of considerable power and bulk. Athel- 

 stan expressly prohibited the exportation of En- 

 glish horses, and the " scythed chariots drawn by 

 fiery steeds " of the ancient Britons struck terror 

 even into Cfesar's legions. These accounts of the 

 antiquity of the English horse, receive additional 

 strength from the notices we obtain of the fossil 

 bones of horses having been found, according to 

 Parkinson, in various parts of the island. The 

 old English road horse possessed great power, 

 with short joints, a moderate shoulder, elevated 

 crest, with legs and feet almost invariably good. 

 The heights varied from fifteen hands to fifteen 

 hands two inches ; and the colours were fre- 

 quently mixetl. 



6235. Ihe objection, however, to English horses, both of the original and of the more early improved 

 breeds, and which is even still seen among them, is, that they want grace or expression in their figure and 

 carriage ; that they are somewhat obstinate and sullen ; and that a certain stiflHicss in their shoulders, and 

 want of suppleness and elasticity in their limbs, render them unfit for the manege. As this is an im- 

 portant charge against the excellence of our breeds, it may be worth consideration how far it is founded 

 in truth. Commerce requires despatch, and England as a great cx)mmercial country makes every thing 

 subservient to an economical use of time. Conformably to these principles, many of the qualities of our 

 horses, but principally those of flexibility and safety in progression, are certainly sacrificed to speed, in 

 which they undoubtedly excel all horses in the world. It is well known that all animals intended by 

 nature for quick progression, aie formed low in their fore parts, and have usually narrow upright 

 shoulders ; which defects are too common in English horses in general. On the contrary, in most of the 

 improved breeds of continental horses, the fore hands are elevated, and the shoulders wide and oblique ; 

 by which, flexibility and safety in progression are gained at some expense of celerity ; for the strong 

 lumbar muscles of horses so formed, operating on the lengthened spinous processes of the dorsal vertebras 

 with increased advantage, elevate the fore parts higher; and even in default of this form in the fore parts, 

 yet a corresponding effect is produced in foreign horses by the great strength and expansion of their 

 haunches and croups, and by the greater inclination in their hinder extremities towards the common 

 centre of gravity of the botiy : for as speed depends first on the extent to which the angles of the limbs 

 can be opened, and secondly, on the efforts of the body in its transit to counteract the tendency to the 

 common centre of gravity, the earth ; so it is evident that the form which is the most favourable to speed, 

 is less so to safety or flexibility in progression. 



6236. The Irish road horse, or hunter, coeval with, or probably in some measure subsequent to, the 

 culture of the old English road horse, was a still more excellent breed. With similar properties, but 

 an improved form, with a great acquired aptitude for leaping, it gained the name of the Irish hunter ; 

 and when the dogs of the chace were less speedy than they now are, this horse was equal to every 

 thing required of him as a hunter ; even now the possessors of the few which remain find, parti- 

 cularly in an enclosed and deep country, that what others gain by speed these accomplish by strength to 



