108 THE HORSE. 



not marked in any particular department of the animal economy, 

 but the defect shows itself wherever the strain is the greatest from 

 the nature of the work which the animal has to perform. Thus, 

 the racehorse becomes a roarer, or his legs and feet give way. The 

 hunter fails chiefly in his wind or his hocks, because he is not used 

 much on hard ground, and therefore his fore legs are not severely 

 tried, as in the case with the racer, who often has to extend him- 

 self over a course rendered almost as hard as a turnpike-road by 

 the heat of a July or August sun. The harness-horse often be- 

 comes a roarer, from the heavy weights that he has to draw, espe- 

 cially if his windpipe is impeded by his head being confined by 

 the bearing-rein. The hack, again, suffers chiefly in his legs, from 

 our hard Macadamised roads ; while the cart-horse becomes unsound 

 in his hocks or his feet, the former parts being strained by his 

 severe pulls, and the latter being battered and bruised against the 

 ground, from having to bear the enormous weight of his carcass. 

 But it is among our well-bred horses that unsoundness is the most 

 frequent ; and in them, I believe, it may be traced to the constant 

 breeding from sires and dams which have been thrown out of train- 

 ing, in consequence of a break-down, or " making a noise," or from 

 some other form of disease. It is quite true, that roaring is not 

 necessarily transmitted from father to son ; and it is also manifest 

 that there are several causes which produce it, some of which are 

 purely accidental, and are not likely to be handed down to the next 

 generation. The same remarks, apply to the eyes; but, in the main, 

 it may be concluded that disease is hereditary, and that a sound 

 horse is far more likely to get healthy stock than an unsound one. 

 In the mare, probably, health is still more essential; but if the 

 breeder regards his future success, whether he is establishing a 

 stud of racehorses, or of those devoted to any kind of slower work, 

 he will carefully eschew every kind of unsoundness, and especially 

 those which are of a constitutional character. If a horse gets 

 blind in an attack of influenza, or if, without any previous indica- 

 tions of inflammation, he breaks down from an accidental cause, 

 the defect may be passed over, perhaps; but, on the contrary, when 

 the blindness comes on in the form of ordinary cataract, or the 

 break-down is only the final giving-way in a leg which has been 

 long amiss, I should strongly advise an avoidance of the horse 

 which has displayed either the one or the other. I believe that a 

 government inspection of all horses and mares used for breeding 

 purposes would be a great national good ; and I look forward to its 

 establishment, at no distant time, as the only probable means of 

 insuring greater soundness in our breeds of horses. I would not 

 have the liberty of the subject interfered with. Let every man 

 breed what he likes, but I would not let him foist the produce on 

 the public as sound, when they are almost sure to go amiss as soon 



