422 THE noRSE. 



It is safe to assert that, had they been half-breds, not one hoi-se 

 woukl liavo got back into the British lines ; had they possessed 

 no bh:)od at all, tliey would all have stood still before they 

 reached the Russian batteries. 



The heavy brigade of Brig. Gen. Scarlet, which rode through 

 the Russian troopers in fourfold force, as if they had been lines 

 of pasteboard, were mounted on chargers having two crosses of 

 pure blood, or as nearly so as possible. 



Nothing but blood could have accomplished either feat. 



And it is well to remember that, when cavalry meets cavalry 

 in the deadly shock, both being equally brave and equally well 

 led, that cavalry, which is horsed on chargers of the same 

 weight, but of inferior blood and stride, must go down like 

 grass before the scythe. 



Tliis is the pride and triumj^h of blood, that it can do every 

 thing, tor which it is intended, q^uite well, and that nothing else 

 can do so ; with the exception of pulling tons of weight at a foot's 

 pace ; and I have seen blood horses which could have done that 

 too, had they been put to it ; one in particular, a gigantic stal- 

 lion, named Belshazzar, which stood for country mares in the 

 West Riding of Yorkshire, in about the year 1830. He was 

 above seventeen hands high, and as large boned and generally 

 powerful as any Conestoga liorse I have since beheld. 



Tlie true utility of the thoroughbred horse, therefore, is the 

 raising the standard of speed, sjjirit and endurance, which are 

 Mood, in horses for all purposes, the road, the hunting field, the 

 shock of the battle, for pomp, for speed, for courage, for true 

 service. 



Woe tothe country which, aspiring to equestrian fame, relies 

 on any blood but tliat, or any mode of maintaining that, at its 

 acme, but the assiduous encouragement and patronage of the 

 race-horse and the turf. 



It was thus that England won, centuries ago, her admitted 

 invincibility, her immeasureable superioi'ity over all European 

 nations in her breed of horses ; not of one, but of all castes ; not 

 for one use, but for all conceivable purposes ; thus, that she 

 has preserved her prestige unaltered. 



It is thus that we, following her example, can show one 



