EAELY BEITTSH HORSES. 75 



turf, or has ever been the winner of any important race ; and 

 yet, within a few years, the last quarter of a century at the 

 utmost, a considerable number have been introduced to this 

 country, many of them gifts from sovereign potentates to dif- 

 ferent Presidents of the United States, reputed to be of the 

 noblest breed, and surely, as regal gifts, presumable to have 

 been of true blood. 



The theory and presumed cause of the worthlessness of 

 Arab Sires at the present day, will be discussed hereafter, when 

 we come to treat of breeding and the influence of lineal descent 

 on the production and transmission of hereditary qualities in the 

 horse. 



It suffices, at present, to observe that the English race horse 

 is now on all hands admitted to be an animal of superior hered- 

 itary qualities to the pure-bred horse of the desert; and that 

 the race horse in America — the only country wherein he does 

 not appear to have degenerated from his ancestry — is identical 

 in breed and qualities with the progenitors, to whom he traces 

 his pedigree. 



In a work of the character to which this volume aspires 

 only, absolute originality is not to be looked for ; nor, indeed, is 

 it either desirable, or attainable. It must consist of informa- 

 tion obtained at second hand, or even more remotely, from the 

 most intelligent sources, whether travellers, breeders, sporting- 

 men, or veterinary surgeons, and of statistics carefully compiled 

 from authentic registers and records. Of these, therefore, I 

 propose to avail myself largely, giving credit invariably to the 

 sources to which I am indebted; and, in pursuance of this 

 method, I proceed to quote, from an excellent little work, by 

 William Youatt, reprinted from Knight's Store of Knowledge, 

 re-edited and revised by Cecil, and printed in London during 

 the past year, the following close and accurate account of the 

 early history and gradual improvement of the English horse. 



" That horses were introduced into Britain long before the 

 Christian era, we have abundant evidence, and that the inhabi- 

 tants had acquired great experience in their use is equally cer- 

 tain. In the ancient British language Ehediad is the word for 

 a race — rheder, to run — and rhedecfa, a race. All these spring 

 from the Gaulish rheda, a chariot^ Here, then, is direct evi- 



