148 CONFESSIONS OP A HORSE DEALEK. 



into the veins of troop-horses also makes them too light 

 for the purpose they are required ; a light dragoon will, 

 with his kit, ride an average weight of eighteen stone. 

 It is clear then that he requires a horse with substance, 

 but it is also essential that troopers should be well-bred, 

 and this class of horse, commonly called the seven- 

 eighths bred one, cannot be produced at the price given 

 by government ; indeed they cannot be produced at all, 

 except through the medium of worn-out racing stallions, 

 and mongrel-bred mares. But if government could 

 procure a number of brood, mares and stallions of the 

 class above recommended, to form the nucleus of a breed- 

 ing establishment, and by these means produce a num- 

 ber of horses and mares with good blood and substance, 

 keeping them solely for breeding purposes, they might 

 then, without difficulty, produce, by the aid of a cross 

 with a lower, but stronger breed of horses, the finest 

 cavalry horses that ever looked through a bridle. 



I cannot but think that a national stake of very 

 heavy amount, say four or five thousand pounds, would 

 have a most beneficial effect ; no horses to start under 

 five years old, to carry twelve or thirteen stone a dis- 

 tance of four miles. "We all know that notwithstanding 

 the unnatural treatment to which the race-horse is now 

 subjected, that he sometimes attains very fine propor- 

 tions at six or seven years old. When sent to the stud 

 he thickens, lets down his belly, and, as far as regards 

 looks, is quite a different animal to what he appeared 

 during his racing career ; and we may have some idea 



