2 1 4 The Post and the Paddock, 



politely speaking (with a fear of a Nisi Priits before 

 our eyes), " a high blower" — is still a fierce moot-point. 

 This infirmity is unfortunately becoming more and 

 more the rule instead of the exception ; and if all 

 the thorough-bred animals so afflicted were offered up 

 a sacrifice to ^olus on Newmarket Heath, he would 

 snuff the scent of at least two hecatombs a year. We 

 have met with many who assert that it has increased 

 among hunters very considerably since the habit of 

 turning them out for a summer's run was abandoned — 

 that in fact they have become roarers from stable idle- 

 ness, and an inability to throw off, in that confined 

 atmosphere, any throat ulceration they may have con- 

 tracted. It has been gravely laid down as a great 

 principle, that the throats of all "talking" blood sires 

 should at once be cut ; but we are strongly disposed 

 to beheve that the massacre should be confined to the 

 other sex, and that the exterior conformation of the 

 foal is for the most part derived from the sire, and the 

 interior from the dam. As far as our observation 

 goes, the foal of a roaring dam seldom fails to inherit 

 it, while those got by a roarer very often escape it. A 

 Northern veterinary surgeon has supported this con- 

 formation theory by the ingenious remark — that the 

 produce of a horse and a she-ass always brays, while 

 that of a mare and a jackass hinnies ; but we cannot 

 speak from ear on this point. It is said by some 

 herdsmen that it is dangerous to put a polled cow 

 for instance to a shorthorn bull, as she never loses the 

 traces of that impregnation after. Stud owners seem 

 to have no such fears before them, as Touchstone's 

 own sister Pasquinade, the dam of Slander and the 

 Libel, has been twice over successfully put to a cart 

 horse after a season of barrenness by way of a change. 

 Many odd stories are told about the enthusiasm ot 

 the tykes on mares and foals, and how a sly pub- 

 lican led an antiquary, who asked if there were any 

 remarkable spots in the neighbourhood, to a paddock 



