34 OLD AND NE W FASHIONED HUNTERS 



prized formerly. Thus it becomes no easy matter to 

 produce the style of horse which we most value. The 

 idea of the fashionable breeders of the present day 

 appears to be to sacrifice everything to pace, and but 

 little trouble seems to be taken in the matins' and 

 selection of mares and stallions, so as to breed out the 

 bad qualities and breed in the good. There is plenty 

 of class — there is, in fact, a deal too much of it ; but 

 such horses are very inferior to our old - fashioned, 

 clever, leg-to-spare hunters, which gave one the im- 

 pression that they could carry a man a lifetime and 

 never put him down. I have had the good-fortune to 

 own many such horses, but nowadays fencing power is 

 made to give way to pace, and the former more im- 

 portant quality^ — indeed, absolutely necessary in a stiff 

 hunting country — is made subservient to the latter more 

 fashionable and less worthy one. 



Colts, too, which often require extra time to mature, 

 are often put to work long before they are fitted for it, 

 the overgrown youngster receiving no more considera- 

 tion in this respect than the more compact, better- 

 matured horse ; and the result is, as can only be 

 expected, the former is never so satisfactory or lasting 

 as he would be if proper time for growth and ' filling- 

 out' were allowed him. 



Big, overgrown colts should, except for the purpose 

 of being broken and mannered, never be put to work 

 until they are five years old, but should be allowed to 

 run loose and gain all the strength they can. Nor 

 should they be fenced before they attain to that age. 

 Many a rough rider ruins an overgrown colt by working 

 him too soon, that would otherwise have turned out a 

 valuable weight-carrier. Such colts are invariably soft. 



