HUNTER. 47 



fresh strong legs, tough feet, and open heels, are the 

 grand desiderata for the cavalry. 



Breeding the cavalry horse is foreign to my pre- 

 sent purpose, but no man should be entrusted to pair 

 horses and mares, until he understands something of 

 the proper build of both, and is also fully aware of 

 the undoubted truism, that " Like will produce Like." 

 The keeping a bad horse costs the Honorable Com- 

 pany's government quite as much as a good one, in- 

 deed, more ; for the curious-shaped animals that are 

 sometimes sent as colts for troopers take five times 

 as long to break in as proper formed ones would ; and 

 even then, they are always laming themselves, or 

 annoying their riders. There is no more difficulty 

 in breeding good shaped horses than bad ones, if the 

 breeder has only a little knowledge how to pair : blood 

 is not required ; half to three parts bred is abundance 

 of blood, but make is indispensable. Some few lusus 

 nature, under the most scientific management, will, 

 of course, be thrown ; it is beyond the power of man 

 to prevent these occasional freaks of nature ; but nine 

 times out of ten, if the horse and mare are adapted 

 to each other, four-fifths at least of the good form 

 and good qualities will be inherited. A bull-neck 

 will run through a dozen generations, and a stallion 

 with a bull-neck should never be bred from. A 

 thick neck, in an otherwise fine horse, may be bred 

 from solely for draught for the artillery, but a down- 

 right bull-neck should be shot. A straight-shoulder- 

 ed stallion, if otherwise good, may be bred from, for 

 straight shoulders are required for draught ; and if 

 the shoulder has only good depth, and crossed with 

 an oblique-shouldered mare, this point may occasion- 

 ally alter sufficiently for the cavalry ; but not so cer- 



