RACING, OR TURF HORSES. 221 



CROSSED STALLIONS. 



1. Partisan. 2. Emilius. 3. Touchstone. 4. Birdcatcher. 5. Sir 

 Hercules. (3. Voltaire. 7. Plenipotentiary. 8. Pantaloon. 9. Lan- 

 ercost. 10. Venison. 11. Alarm. 12. Ion. 13. Harkaway. 14. 

 Velocipede. 15. Hetman Platoff. 



SELECTION OF BROOD MARE. 



In choosing the brood mare, four things must be considered — ^first, 

 her blood ; secondly, her frame ; thirdly, her state of health ; and 

 fourthly, her temper. 



Her blood or breeding will mainly depend upon the views of the 

 breeder — that is to say, what particular class of colts he wishes to obtain, 

 and according to his decision he will look out for mares of the particular 

 kind he desires to reproduce, on the principle that *'like begets like," 

 but subject to the various considerations partly alluded to in the last 

 chapter, and partly in this and subsequent ones. 



In frame, the mare should be so formed as to be capable of carrying 

 and well nourishing her offspring ; that is, she should be what is called 

 *'roomy." There is a formation of the hips which is particularly unfit 

 for breeding purposes, and yet which is sometimes carefully selected, be- 

 cause it is considered elegant ; this is the level and straight hip, in which 

 the tail is set on very high, and the end of the haunch-bone is nearly on 

 a level with the projection of the hip-bone. The opposite form is repre- 

 sented in the skeleton given with the article * 'Horse," which is that of a 

 thoroughbred mare, well formed for this breeding purpose, but in other 

 respects rather too slight. By examining her pelvis, it will be seen that 

 the haunch-bone forms a considerable angle with the sacrum, and that, 

 as a consequence, there is plenty of room, not only for carrying the foal, 

 ibut for allowing it to pass into the world. Both of these points are 

 important, the former evidently so, and the latter no less so on consider- 

 ation, because if the foal is injured in the birth, either of necessity, or 

 from ignorance or carelessness, it will often fail to recover its powers, 

 and will remain permanently injured. The pelvis, then, should be wide 

 and deep — that is to say, it should be large and roomy ; and there should 

 also be a little more than the average length from the hip to the shoul- 

 der, so as to give plenty of bed for the foal ; as well as a good depth of 

 back-ribs, which are necessary in order to support this increased length. 

 This gives the whole framework of the trunk of a larger proportion than 

 is always desirable in the race-horse, which may be easily overtopped ; 

 and hence many good runners have failed as brood mares, whilst a great 

 number of bad runners have been dam* of good race-horses. Beyond 

 this roomy frame, necessary as the egg shell of the foal, the mare only 



