LIGHTER CARRIAGE AND SADDLE HORSES. 605 



approach the breeding of Hunters. There are regiments, 

 indeed, in which a more powerful class of horses is retained, 

 but yet these differ greatly from the Heavy Dragoon Horses 

 of former times. They have the characters of the modern 

 Coach-Horse, and not of the Horse of heavy draught. They 

 would have been the pride of the times of chivalry, and 

 aiford now the example of the most powerful cavalry horses 

 that are any where to be found. The memorable field of 

 Waterloo shewed their importance. It is known that the 

 lighter mounted regiments would have been overborne by 

 the heavy armed cavalry of France but for the presence of 

 the household troops. On the other hand, the lighter horses 

 of our ordinary cavalry have proved themselves fitted, by 

 their spirit and endurance, for all the ordinary purposes of 

 the campaign. 



Although the change so widely produced in the horses of 

 this country, by aiming at a lighter standard, has doubtless 

 given us animals more spirited, active, and graceful, it has, 

 at the same time, had the effect of causing great numbers to 

 be reared defective in form, deficient in strength and bone, 

 and which have lost the hardy qualities of the older races, 

 without having arrived at the properties which superior 

 breeding should communicate. The deterioration is gene- 

 rally admitted, and the causes are deserving of consideration, 

 as indicating the remedies. 



A full account has been already given of the system of 

 the modern Course, and the effects have been pointed out of 

 the prevalent practice of running short races, with colts not 

 yet arrived at sufficient maturity of bone and muscle to fit 

 them for the full exercise of their powers. The consequence 

 of the system is, that exclusive attention has been directed 

 to the properties of speed, and that the important requisites 

 of strength and power of endurance, have come to be re- 

 garded as secondary in the cultivation of the animals. Their 

 form, suiting itself by insensible degrees to the conditions re- 

 quired, a race of surpassing swiftness, but inferior in strength 



