THE HUNTER. 113 



showing a wonderful amount of quality for the weight they 

 have to carry; but all these horses we believe to be chance- 

 bred ones. 



We have only to go to horse shows to find out how rare are 

 weight-carriers with quality. Out of about a couple of dozen 

 entries, at least one quarter will be voted not up to the mini- 

 mum weight ; about the same number will be common, and 

 only fit to follow harriers in a sticky, slow country ; it will 

 be possible to find faults more or less serious with some of the 

 remainder, and when the judges come to make up their minds 

 how the prizes shall be awarded, their choice will probably be 

 limited to three or four. It will be observed, too, that as the 

 limitations as to weight decrease, the classes grow very much 

 larger. This has been less observable lately than it was a few 

 years ago, for latterly, the tendency at horse shows has been 

 to diminish the number of classes assigned to horses capable 

 of carrying various weights. In connection with this question, 

 the following extract from an Irish newspaper of 1886 may 

 not be without interest : " That our horse-breeding has 

 changed within the last twenty-five years is evident by the 

 great present scarcity of horses to carry over 14 stone, and the 

 increase of those who can carry 12 stone. In last year's show 

 (1885), although most substantial prizes were offered by the 

 Royal Dublin Society, the proportion of classes were as fol- 

 lows : For weight-carrying hunters up to 15 stone, five years' 

 old, 64 entries ; hunters from 13 stone 7 Ibs. to 15 stone, five 

 years' old, 97 entries ; while for the class for hunters up to 

 from 12 stone to 13 stone 7 Ibs., five years old, there were 143 

 competitors. Now, comparing this with the show held in 

 1876, exactly ten years since, the entries in the then respective 

 classes were, 15 stone class, 25 ; 13 stone 7 Ibs. class, 46 ; 

 12 stone class, 30." 



Reference to the catalogues of our English horse shows 



give very similar results. For example, when the Royal was 



held at Nottingham in 1888, there were a dozen heavy weight 



hunters and seventeen 12 stone horses ; at Hull, in 1889, 



8 



