dZ THE RACE-HORSE. 



horse of the Desert should be as good as he is even 

 now found to be. 



In a racing-stud, the period of putting mares to 

 the horse is much earlier in the year than that of 

 any other sort, by reason of their produce being 

 almost always called upon to go into work before 

 they are two years old. In fact, they can scarcely 

 be dropped too soon in the commencement of a new 

 year, where proper accommodations are provided 

 for them. A peep into the three volumes of the 

 Stud-Book will satisfy inquirers into these matters, 

 that some mares have produced more than twenty 

 colts and fillies, and, in a few instances, the greater 

 part of them proved good runners ; but, we should 

 be inclined to think that the average would not 

 exceed six, as the produce of each mare. It some- 

 times occurs that mares are put into a breeding- 

 stud, when affected by severe lameness in the feet. 

 When this is the case, the operations of neurotomy 

 or unnerving is recommended ; as pain, by produc- 

 ing fever, not only is injurious to the formation of 

 the fcetus, but often causes abortion. Bad, putrid 

 smells, or being struck on the nose, also produce 

 abortion in brood mares. 



Virgil, in his excellent remarks on breeding 

 horses, tells those of his readers who wished to gain 

 a prize, to look to the dam ; and, until of very late 

 years, it was the prevailing opinion of Englishmen, 

 that, in breeding a racer, the mare is more essen- 

 tial than the horse to the production of him, in his 

 highest form, and we know it to have been the 

 notion entertained by the late Earl of Grosvenor, 



