150 CONFESSIONS OF A HORSE DEALER. 



breed of horses. Horses bred and reared for such an 

 event as the one recommended, are the class we most 

 require for hunters and chargers for which I repeat 

 the demand is far greater than the supply. 



In this enterprising country, where capital, soil, cli- 

 mate, and everything tends to encourage horse-breeders, 

 this should [not be. People hunt for pleasure ; and 

 there can be no pleasure in a fifteen or sixteen stone 

 man riding a weedy animal, only qualified to carry 

 twelve which we often see in the hunting field. We 

 have horses sufficient to carry slim undergraduates, or 

 dashing cornets ; these can be bought in plenty, and at 

 a moderate price ; but hunting men of middle age 

 require a dash of pure blood and great substance in 

 their horses before they can " hunt for pleasure." Let 

 us yet hope to see the supply of such horses equal to tho 

 demand ; but I need not say that this state of things 

 can only be attained by the attention of farmers and 

 breeders being more directed to the first and most essen- 

 tial principles of generation and reproduction, and their 

 conviction that the production of good horses will pay 

 them much better in a pecuniary sense than a mongrel- 

 bred screw. 



