The Eiiclish Horse. 



v> 



mixed, that of breeding from horses and mares of 

 maxed blood, or of putting mares of mixed blood to 

 horses of Eastern blood, was again pursued ; and our 

 present breed of horses traced through the three lines of 

 descent from the Byerly Turk, Darley Arabian, and 

 Godolphin Arabian, or Barb, have all come through 

 horses and mares of mixed blood, being more or less 

 of the old native stock, or from unknown mares. No 

 wonder, in the days of Hobgoblin and Shakespear, 

 although coming immediately after Flying Childers, 

 deterioration was discov^ered. The fact is, the horse had 

 gone back to the state before the importation of the 

 Leedes and Darley Arabian. Our modern racer has 

 been derived from three branches or lines, and every 

 individual has descended from either Eclipse, Herod, or 

 Trumpator, or a combination of all three, which horses 

 had many flaws in their pedigrees — they were only 

 half-bred. 



The very fact that at this period many horses 

 (see table of pedigrees) were bred entirely of Eastern 

 blood, and especially that Arabian blood had been 

 more freely used, is sufficient to account for the supe- 

 riority shown by such over the horses of a preceding 

 period and also of their own time, which were only of 

 Eastern blood mixed with or engrafted upon the old 

 native stock, and shows that the horse in England had 

 attained at this time to a degree of excellence unknown 

 before in this country ; and taking into consideration 

 how imperfect and inferior the breeding of our horse 

 was immediately after the time of Childers — and which 



