CHAP. I. 



HUNTER MARES. 



371 



" She should be a good huntress herself, with constitution, limbs, and 

 breeding. Her height should be between 15*3 and 16 1, and below 

 knee she should tape not less than 8| inches in the smallest part. Any 

 fault or defect she has must be expected to show itself in her stock, 

 because her influence is certainly not less than that of the sire. My 

 own experience is that the mare has the greater influence, but I do not 

 wish to press this view upon others. This mare is assumed to be well- 

 bred, but not thoroughbred, and though carrying 14 stone in a quick 

 run with hounds she can hold her own against all comers. A long, 

 slow hunting run is no test of a horse ; any underbred mare can stay 



Fig. 78. Hunter Mare, "Princess" (247). 



out all day without galloping, and go home a long journey cheerfully, 

 but she cannot gallop even twenty minutes in dirt at the pace of the 

 modern foxhound on a good scent. 



" Breed from the marer that gallops in dirt, stays through the run, 

 goes home cheerfully, takes her turn regularly, and finishes the 

 season a happy, healthy, robust, and practically sound huntress ; then 

 you will rarely suffer disappointment, and you may often get very 

 valuable young cattle. 



" During their hunting career big mares should not be summered at 

 grass, as they are liable to take cold and make a noise, but smaller 

 animals may go to grass without that danger." 



Fig. 78 is an illustration of " Princess " (247), a brown mare foaled 

 in 1886, standing 15'3 hands high. She was bred by Mr. Charles 

 Miles, and is by " Pero Gomez," by " Beadsman " out of " Lavinia " 

 (74). The Hunter's Improvement Society's Volume III., 1889, 

 states : " She is a big, wide, deep-bodied good mare, on short legs, 



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