58 MY horse; my love. 



in his ancestor, and often, alas, a multiplication of 

 them. This is the case with the most carefully 

 bred. What, then, can be said of those of much 

 mixed pedigrees, where strains are numerous and 

 derived through inferior animals? " 



And do imperfections continue to descend? 



" Inferior horses used in the stud most certainly 

 hand down the stain immediately derived from their 

 dam, in addition to former ones. In these later days 

 every consideration has been sacrificed to the develop- 

 ment of speed alone, all the science and soimd prin- 

 ciples of breeding which our ancestors established 

 being very greatly disregarded. Since the days of 

 King James the First the racer has been the product 

 of careful selection for racing purposes only." 



Have the English always been celebrated for their 

 horses? 



" It was immediately after the introduction of 

 Eastern blood, not before, and within the last two 

 hundred years, that the English reputation for own- 

 ing and breeding fine horses began, and it was not 

 until 1808 that the first volume of the stud-book, in 

 which every thoroughbred horse was registered, was 

 issued. If one should look back to the days of Queen 

 Anne and trace the pedigrees given of some horses 

 in her days, it will be seen that nothing but Eastern 

 blood can be found. No better Arabians have ever 

 appeared in England than the black and bay stallions 

 presented by Imaun Seyeed of Muscat to his majesty, 

 William the Fourth. These horses came from the pur- 

 est strain of the desert, the Nedj. It is, however, be 

 lieved they were never used as sires with thorough- 



