HUNTING THE FOX 103 



a fine weight-carrying hunter has been bred from 

 the first cross of these opposite extremes, but 

 whether a mare bred in this way will, in her turn, 

 become a good hunter brood mare is another 

 matter. Some say that by scientifically crossing 

 and recrossing her stock alternately with the 

 thoroughbred and the cart horse, always coming 

 back to the thoroughbred, the right type of weight- 

 carrying hunter should eventually be estabhshed. 

 This will take some generations to prove, but the 

 process might be a success in time if strictly carried 

 out on scientific lines by a careful breeder ; and 

 a distinct breed of horse for hunting purposes 

 might be evolved, in the same way that the Cleve- 

 land Bay and the Hackney have estabhshed their 

 identity. At present, however, we have not 

 sufficient data or experience from which to form an 

 opinion. From our experience of the first cross 

 between the thoroughbred and the cart horse, it 

 would seem that the types are too far apart for the 

 experiment to be recommended ; such successes 

 as there have been are probably accidental. Six 

 sound, strong van mares with action were carefully 

 chosen, a few years ago, and mated every season 

 with a super-premium thoroughbred sire. In 

 ten years not one of these has bred a hunter ; one 

 mare has bred six or seven useful animals, of no 

 very definite character, that can do farm work 

 on fight land, or trot to market fairly smartly in a 



