2 PURCHASING FROM THE STABLES. 



blood of some country, still, they are not to be trust- 

 ed like the "genuine Arab, whose pure 'descent and 

 unsullied pedigree is generally graced with a shape 

 that rarely or never deceives. There is a beauti- 

 ful symmetry and harmony of proportion running 

 through all the frame ; a superb quarter, with a high 

 set on, well-carried tail ; a softness and thinness of 

 skin ;~* a brilliancy of eye, and an elegant contour of 

 head ; qualities that mark the true blood, and which 

 never exist in the numerous spurious brutes that so 

 abound in the stables. 



While these handsome points may be relied on as 

 a sure criterion of caste, there are many that have 

 good caste without showing it externally : these can 

 only be proved on the day of running. Good build 

 of itself in a great measure insures good caste, t never- 



* Yet there are many that in the cold weather will wear a rather long coat, 

 and be very sleek in the hot months. 



+ The three following extracts serve to corroborote this. I think they are 

 also quite sufficient to refute the absurd saying, "No consequence what a 

 horse's build is ; and if he has only blood he'll run." That thorough breeding in 

 a bad formed horse, will generally beat half breeding in a good formed horse, 

 must be granted ;but the slightest superiority of build in any part of the frame 

 between two of equal blood, is known to every stable-boy to be of the great- 

 est importance : 



Osmer, page 221. On form and performance. " For if a different forma- 

 tion of the parts, &c. and the degrees thereof, be not the cause of difference in 

 the performances, why then one of these horses of the right and true blood 

 would act alike on all ground whatever, and be just as good though made like 

 a hog and without joints." Again, page 229. " In the nature and elegance 

 of their constituent parts, and the due formation thereof, consist the difference 

 between horses of the same and different countries ; or betwixt blood, and no 

 blood." Again, page 230. "Conqueror and Othello were two full brothers, 

 but one was a king and the other a beggar, with respect both to form and ac- 

 tion. If then the difference in the performance of these brothers did not de- 

 pend on their different formation of parts, &c. pray tell me on what it did 

 depend, for the cause of it couldn't be in the blood, unless you will say this 

 innate quality may appertain to one brother and not to another ; and then, I 

 apprehend, the bystanders will say you have proved nothing." 



