IRISH THOROUGH BREDS. 385 



certain degree, probably a capital one, and to do Pat 

 justice, ^vhether a horse can jump or not, he will try 

 him. 



Having said thus much of the leaping qualities of 

 the Irish horse, I have now something to say of their 

 other qualities, for which I cannot in justice award 

 them the same commendations ; these are pace and 

 temper ; in all I have ever said or written, Ihave 

 ever maintained that speed is the very first desideratum 

 in a horse intended for a hunter ; in short, if a horse 

 has not this qualification, it is, to say the least of it, 

 injudicious to take any trouble with him, in order to 

 make him a hunter ; he is prevented by nature from 

 ever making a perfect one for all countries, and even 

 where a slow one may do, if he had speed, he 

 certainly would do better. 



It is in this particular, where, speaking of him 

 generally and comparatively, the Irish horse fails : 

 the fact is, he wants breeding ; that is, that sort of 

 breeding that produces speed. The Irish race-horses 

 have hitherto been, when compared with ours, 

 small ; it is therefore impossible to expect from such 

 sires the kind of horse we see in Leicestershire studs ; 

 such thorough-bred horses as could carry thirteen or 

 fourteen stone have rarely been bred in Ireland, but 

 in this particular they are yearly improving. 



Nothing can more strongly prove the little esti- 

 mation in which thorough-bred horses are held in 

 Ireland, than the fact that if, in speaking of a horse you 

 might intend to make a hunter of, you were to say he 

 was thorough-bred, the impression would be against 

 him ; and why ? if he was an Irish thorough-bred one, 

 they would expect to see a weed only equal to 

 nine or ten stone : a thorough-bred horse sixteen 



VOL. II. c c 



