94 The English Horse. 



and although aged running horses and mares have dis- 

 appeared from our racecourses, it is certain that the 

 racing yearhngs annually offered under the hammer 

 are, on the average, growing larger and stronger.' May 

 it not be inferred from this — Firstly, that size is not the 

 great or ultimate desideratum ; and secondly, that the 

 strength this size would seem to indicate is fallacious, 

 and not real ? And is not the cause of the degeneracy 

 and deterioration to be accounted for by the fact that 

 our horse is not tJioroiigh-brcd — not bred completely 

 from a pure and original race ? And is not this the 

 secret of our horse being less enduring and less lasting 

 than the Arabian ? Stoutness and endurance, combined 

 with speed, contained in a beautiful form of perfect 

 symmetry, being the attributes, characteristics, and very 

 birth-right of a pure and noble race, are not to be in- 

 variably reproduced by a breed of less pure blood, nor 

 by a crossed and inferior breed. 



It would be well to take a retrospect of the Arabian 

 and other Eastern horses w'hich have been brought over 

 to this country. They have been styled Arabians, 

 Turks, Barbs, Persians, Egyptian, Toorkoman, and 

 foreign horses. 



The value of the blood of these imported horses would 

 be greater or less in proportion as they may be regarded 

 as being wholly, or only partially, of Arabian blood. In 

 looking at the Turks generally, it is to be considered, 

 were they merely horses of the Turkish dominions — the 

 descendants, doubtless, of breeds improved by the Ara- 

 bian — or were they really Arab horses imported into 



