288 THE uoKSE. 



In temper, also, there is no more to be added to what I have 

 said relating to the mare, except that there are more bad-tem- 

 pered stallions met with than mares, independently of their 

 running, and this is caused by the constant state of unnatural 

 excitement in which they are kept. This kind of vice is, how- 

 ever, not of so much importance, as it does not affect the run- 

 ning of the stock, and solely interferes with their stable man- 

 agement. 



BEST AGE TO BREED FROM. 



It is commonly supposed that one or other of the parents 

 should be of mature age, and that if both are very young, or very 

 old, the produce will be decrepit or weakly. A great many of 

 our best horses have been out of old mares, or by old horses — 

 as, for instance, Priam, out of Cressida, at twenty ; Crucifix, out 

 of Octaviana, at twenty-two ; and Lottery and Brutandorf, out 

 of Mandane, at twenty and twenty-one ; Yoltaire got Yoltigeur 

 at twenty-one ; Bay Middleton was the sire of Andover at eigh- 

 teen, and Touchstone got Kewminster at seventeen. On the 

 other hand, many young stallions and mares have succeeded 

 well, and in numberless instances the tirst foal of a mare has 

 been the best she ever produced. In the olden times, Mark An- 

 thony and Conductor were the first foals of their dams ; and 

 more recently. Shuttle Pope, Filho da Puta, Sultan, Pericles, 

 Oiseau, Doctor Syntax, Manfred, and Pantaloon, have all been 

 first-born. Still these are exceptions, and the great bulk of su- 

 perior horses are produced later in the series. The youngest 

 dam which I ever heard of was Monstrosity, foaled in 1838, who 

 produced Ugly Buck at three years old, having been put to 

 Venison when only two years of age. Her dam, also, was only 

 one year older when she was foaled ; and Yenison himself was 

 quite a young stallion, being only seven years old when he got 

 Ugly Buck ; so that altogether the last-mentioned horse was a 

 remarkable instance of successful breeding from young parents. 

 As in most cases of the kind, liowever, his early promises were 

 not carried out, and he showed far better as a two-year-old, and 

 early in the following year, than in his maturity. Such is often 

 the case, and, I believe, is a very general rule in breeding all 

 animals, whether horses, dogs, or cattle. The general practice 



