196 TALES AND TRAITS OF SPORTING LIFE. 



g'o very miicli witli tlie Cline theory, which says : *' It 

 has generally heen supposed that the breed of animals is 

 improved by the largest males. This opinion has done 

 considerable mischief, and would have done more injury 

 if it had not been counteracted by the desire of selecting 

 animals of the best form and proportions, which are rarely 

 to be met with in those of the largest size. Experience 

 has proved that crossing has only succeeded in an eminent 

 degree in those instances in which the females were larger 

 in the usual proportion of females to males ; and that it 

 has generally failed where the males were disjDroportion- 

 ately large. When the male is much larger than the 

 female, the offspring is generally of an imperfect form." 

 It must have been some such opinion as this which caused 

 that rare sportsman, the late Sir Tatton Sykes, to breed 

 from none but small or moderate-sized sires j and I be- 

 lieve that the cross of the Exmoor pony with the 

 thorough-bred horse would be yet more successful were 

 the latter only a little more proportionate to the size of 

 the mares. It would be pleasant to hear that Lord 

 Exeter had lent them his handsome little Midas for 

 a season or two, when w^e might expect to see in 

 the produce some of the most perfect hacks ever 

 backed. Not the hideous, vulgar, heavy-shouldered, 

 loaded neck Prince Regent kind of cob, but a little pat- 

 tern of beauty and strength, with style, substance, and 

 action really fit to carry a king. Such a hack as this 

 would soon outplace even the Prickwillows and Pheno- 

 mena, already going- out of use for the saddle^ now that 

 men travel to meet hounds in first-class carriages, and the 

 feats of Dick Turpin and ^' The Squire" are fast becoming 

 mere matters of hearsay. Like the modern hynter, the 

 modern hack must be well-bred, and we couple the two in 



