GAifE OF ENGLISH HORSES. 373 



good great horse would improye, other things alike, on his 

 American time. 



Again, I am decidedly of opinion that the use of heavy 

 weights, as on the British Turf, is of as much profit as loss to the 

 horses ridden, in allowing the riders to be men^ who can control 

 the animals, restrain or call out their powers to the utmost, and 

 who in head, heart, seat and liand, are horsemen to perfection, 

 instead of children^ who, half the time, have as much as they 

 can do to hang on by the reins, and are run away with from the 

 score to the winning-post, utterly unable either to judge of the 

 pace they are going, or to regulate it if they were. 



But in regard to the bottom of English horses, I desire to 

 point out first, that it has already been shown, sujyra^ p. 359, that 

 a number of extremely indifferent race-horses did make, under 

 enormous weight, as we regard it here — 154 lbs. — very respect- 

 able time ; and one horse* — by no means above a third-rate 

 according to his previous character, or unusually powerful or 

 like a weight carrier — made very excellent time in the Osbal- 

 deston match, as admitted by the Americans who purchased 

 him after the I*fewmarket Houghton meeting of 1831. 



Again, I quote from the American Sporting Magazine, Vol. 

 XI., p. 304, from the article of a very sound and brilliant writer, 

 who took ground against a strange fallacy broached at that time, 

 viz., that English and American thoroughbreds had degenerated 

 owing to their being too thoroughbred. 



" We are entirely too much,"' says he, " in the habit of under- 

 rating the bottom of the English horses — when the truth is, the 

 thoroughbred of both countries are almost the same ; but they have 

 attended more to the purity oi pedigree, speed, and a capacity to 

 carry weight. N'ow, I opine this system is not calculated to 

 lessen his lastingness ; at the same time, I must aver that the 

 possession of great speed is by no means an indication of want 



of game, and if ' P ,' will try the experiment of running a 



slow game horse after a fleet thoroughbred, he will hereafter be 

 willing to cross with some strong speedy horse, though he may 

 have broken down A'ouno;. 



* Tranby was not comparable in power, any more than in speed, to Lottery, 

 Plenipotentiary, or twenty others. 



