590 THE HORSE. 



mation with the Race-Horse, we shall find him inferior in 

 the characters which indicate the power of speed, but far 

 excelling in those which shew the adaptation of the animal 

 to useful services. The vast number of these beautiful horses 

 that are found in this country, not merely employed for the 

 chase but for the saddle, for military chargers, and for 

 chariots and the lighter carriages with which the country 

 abounds,' excite the admiration of strangers, greatly more 

 even than the exciting spectacle of the race-course, and 

 manifest in a more obvious manner the perfection to which 

 the cultivation of the Horse has been carried amongst us. 

 It is a truth, that it is this class of horses which is princi- 

 pally sought for by foreign agents, and that for many years 

 past a great and silent drain of them has been taking place 

 to other countries. Foreign dealers and agents are con- 

 stantly looking out for superior mares and stallions of this 

 class. We hear of the thoroughbred horses that are carried 

 off, but we are unsuspicious of the vast extent to which, 

 under the unnoticed operations of common trade, the expor- 

 tation of the most useful horses of all is continually taking 

 place. It is certain that it is to this cause that is to be 

 ascribed the difficulty which is everywhere complained of, in 

 procuring good horses for the saddle. The mares, on which 

 the breed depends, being removed, the market ceases to be 

 supplied as before. No remedy exists for this evil but that 

 increase of the price which shall render the home market 

 more profitable than the foreign, and the exciting of public 

 attention to the value and importance of the class of horses 

 which we are suffering to escape from us. We may be 

 assured, that the race of true Hunters, if materially di- 

 minished or injured in its characters, will not without 

 great difficulty be restored. A simple cross between a 

 thoroughbred horse and a common mare may produce a good 

 individual ; but this is very different from that progressive 

 change by which a class of characters can be communicated 

 and rendered permanent, and a true breed formed. It may 



