T 



THE HUNTER. IIQ 



Anne (1702), when a public-spirited gentleman (observing 

 inconvenience arising from this exclusiveness) left thirteen 

 plates, or purses, to be run for at such places as the Crown 

 should appoint.* Hence they are called the King's or Queen's 

 Plates, or guineas. They were given upon the condition that 

 each horse, mare, or gelding, should carry 12 stone weight : 

 the best of three heats over a four-mile course. By this 

 method, a stronger and more useful breed were soon raised, 

 and if the horse did not win the guineas, he was yet strong 

 enough to make a good hunter. By these crossings as the 

 jockeys term it we have horses of full blood, three-quarters 

 blood, or half-bred, suitable to carry any burthens ; by which 

 means the English breed of horses is allowed to be the best, 

 and is greatly esteemed by foreigners.' 



" In the face of all that may now be seen and read, no 

 one can deny the importance of this subject to the nation. 

 Indeed, the question has for more than fifty years occupied 

 at intervals the attention of Parliament, of the press, and of 

 a large percentage of the horse-loving people of the country. 

 In no age has the idea of perfection been placed higher than 

 it is in this. It is admitted that the object of all should be 

 to combine usefulness with beauty, and that there is, or 

 should be, some visible standard of what is being aimed at. 

 In the breeding of general -purpose horses, men should have 

 before them some type or model of what they are seeking to 

 obtain. Now, it will be found that there are in existence 

 to guide us many old pictures of celebrated sires other than 

 thoroughbred, who, in the early and middle part of this 

 century, did good service by begetting progeny of the desired 

 character, and who were freely used for breeding horses 

 suitable for carrying heavy weights and coaching horses. 

 And, what is more, there exist (in the old Sporting Magazine 

 and other contemporary publications), the written records 



* If this be a true statement it may be seen from what source the money 

 came which originally supplied what from Queen Anne being on the throne 

 were termed the Queen's Plates. 



