ii2 LIGHT HORSES: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



Clydesdale and Shire horses were introduced, to take the place 

 of the native mares, which had been sold to go abroad, and it 

 may be stated with confidence that since that time Irish 

 hunters have not been what they were. 



What we require in theory, at least is an upstanding, big- 

 boned, roomy mare, got by a thoroughbred horse, and with as 

 few mixtures in her pedigree as possible. Such a mare is hard 

 to find, and when found will not always throw the sort of foal 

 we want. A few years ago, " G. S. L.," an acknowledged 

 authority upon breeding matters, ventured the opinion that 

 every hunter brood mare should have some pony blood in her, 

 on at least one side of her head, and there certainly seems to 

 be a great deal in this theory, when one calls to mind the 

 mares one has known which have been descended from New 

 Forest, or what are now regarded as Exmoor, ponies. 



At the best, however, the writer regards the most eligible 

 stamp of weight-carrying hunter as, under existing condi- 

 tions, a purely chance-bred animal, and no rules can be 

 laid down which will give a breeder a reasonable chance of 

 thinking that he can breed two in succession from the same 

 parent. We are speaking now of horses equal to 15 stone at 

 the most ; but there is still more chance about breeding those 

 elephantine animals which can be ridden by men who walk 

 from 15 stone to 17 stone. These must give up all hope of 

 quality, for the man who rides 17 or 18 stone to hounds must be 

 thankful to be carried at all, and must be grateful for the assis- 

 tance of an active cart-horse. On the other hand, however, one 

 has seen some wonderful heavy-weight horses. When Lord 

 Macclesfield used to hunt the South Oxfordshire country, he 

 must have ridden 16 or 17 stone; yet what horses he had ! The 

 writer well remembers two of them in particular, a chestnut and 

 a brown. Both had the quarters and middle piece of a dray- 

 horse, but they could gallop at a great pace, and jump any- 

 thing, and were by no means " carty." Then again, Mr. 

 Merthyr Guest, Master of the Blackmore Vale Hounds, and 

 Mr. Hey wood Lonsdale, Master of the Shropshire, ride horses 



