THE BREEDING OF HUNTERS AND HACKS. 193 



also seen tlie Beauties of Mamhead, where, a similar prin- 

 ciple is upheld ; for although the illustrious Gemma di 

 Vergy may he beyond our reach^ I am glad to hear -that 

 since I was there Sir Lydston Newman has provided a 

 second horse with such good stout blood in his veins as 

 The Dupe. 



It will be gathered that the point of this paper is a reli- 

 ance on the use of the thorough-bred horse for improving 

 our breed of hacks and hunters. Other crosses, with the 

 sine qua non of pimty on one side, are of course avail- 

 able, such as putting the cart-stallion on to the blood- 

 mare ; but these extremes rarely meet or " nick," and are 

 not to be recommended. A better plan would naturally 

 be to associate the thorough-bred dam with the cocktail 

 sire ', but this, so far as the tenant-farmer is concerned, is 

 practically impossible. It would require far too large an 

 outlay to buy in the stamp of running mares fit to breed 

 hunters from, and we must be content with what I believe, 

 after all, to be the very best means for the purpose. No 

 animal leaves a stronger im'primatur of himself 

 than the racehorse ; and though he may not be 

 big and bulky, he will often throw back to more size 

 and power. The cross put the other way is not common, 

 neither can I remember any such striking- examples of its 

 success as, even if possible, to warrant its more general 

 adoption. Nearly all our best steeplechase-horses, if not 

 themselves quite thorough-bred, have claimed thoroug-h- 

 bred sires ; and I may cite an example in this way that 

 came personally under my own observation very early in 

 life. My father had for many years in his stud a 

 thorough-bred mare called Pintail, by Pioneer, that, just 

 towards the close of her career, threw that famous steeple- 

 chase horse, The British Yeoman, by Count Porro. Her 



