584 THE HOUSE. 



horses of a former age and those of the present day ; but it 

 is the opinion of the most careful observers, that the present 

 breed of Race-Horses has for a period past been tending to 

 become small, long limbed, delicate in constitution, and, 

 accordingly, inferior to the older horses of the turf. The 

 reasons assigned are, unfortunately, sufficient to account for 

 the effect, or rather the effect must necessarily result from 

 the causes in operation. In the former practice of the turf, 

 the courses were of several miles, and the horses were not 

 brought upon the field until of an age when their form was 

 developed and their strength matured. Now the practice 

 prevails of having very short courses, and of running the 

 horses at two years old or earlier. From the first of these 

 causes, speed alone is looked to as the end to be aimed at, 

 without relation to the essential properties of endurance and 

 strength ; and from the second cause results the yet greater 

 evil of calling into action the powers of the animal before he 

 has acquired the strength and development of parts which 

 fit him for the services demanded from him. Now, expe- 

 rience shews that we are able to adapt by degrees the form 

 and habits of the animal to the conditions to which we sub- 

 ject him. We can cultivate the characters of form which 

 -have relation to speed, rather than those which have rela- 

 tion to strength, and we know that the early development of 

 form which enables us to call his powers into premature ac- 

 tion, may, to a certain degree, be arrived at by the stimulus 

 of feeding, and by training at an early age. The latter re- 

 sult, however, cannot be attained without a violence done 

 to the natural habits of the animal, and an impairing of the 

 powers of the constitution ; and these things affect injuri- 

 ously not only the individual, but the progeny to which its 

 properties are communicated. The system of short races is 

 justified on the ground that, in the case of the long course, 

 there is only a part of the space passed over at which the 

 animal is urged to his utmost speed, and that therefore the 

 long course is unnecessary for the essential purposes of the 



