52 FOREIGN BREEDS OF HORSES. 



THE HOLSTEIN AND MECKLENBURG HORSES. 



Returning to the Continent, and having crossed the Baltic, we meet with 

 a horse as different from those which have just been described as it is possible 

 to imagine. The horses of Holstein and Mecklenburg, and some of the neigh- 

 bouring districts, are on the largest scale. Their usual height is sixteen, or 

 seventeen, or eighteen hands*. They are heavily made ; the neck is too 

 thick ; the shoulders are heavy ; the backs are too long, and the croups are 

 narrow compared with their fore parts : but their appearance is so noble and 

 commanding, their action is so high and brilliant, and their strength and spirit 

 are so evident in every motion, that their faults are pardoned and forgotten, 

 and they are selected for every occasion of peculiar state and ceremony. 



Before, however, we arrive at the native country of these magnificent 

 horses, we must glance at the attempt of one noble individual to improve the 

 general breed of horses. In the island of Alsen, separated from the duchy of 

 Sleswick by a narrow channel, is the noble habitation of the Duke of Augus- 

 tenbourg. His stud is attached to it, and under the immediate management of 

 the noble owner. It contains thirty mares of pure blood, and fifteen or sixteen 

 stallions of the same grade ; and all of them selected with care from the best 

 thorough-bred horses in England. Notwithstanding this selection of pure 

 blood, or rather in its peculiar selection, it has been the object of the duke to 

 produce a horse that shall be useful for the purpose of pleasure, commerce, 

 and agriculture. Some of the stallions are reserved for his own stud ; but with 

 regard to the others, such is the spirit with which this noble establishment is 

 conducted, and his desire to improve the race of horses in Sleswick, that he 

 allows more than 600 mares every year, belonging to the peasants of the isle of 

 Alsen, to be covered gratuitously. He keeps a register of them, and in the 

 majority of cases he examines the mares himself, and chooses the horse which 

 will best suit her form, her beauties, her defects, or the purpose for which the 

 progeny is intended. It is not therefore surprising that there should be so 

 many good horses in this part of Denmark, and that the improvement in 

 Sleswick, and in Holstein, and also in Mecklenburg, should be so rapid, and 

 so universally acknowledged. 



There is another circumstance which should not be forgotten — it is that by 

 which alone the preservation of a valuable breed can be secured — it is that to 

 the neglect of which the deterioration of every breed must be partly, at least, 

 and, in many cases, chiefly traced. The duke in his stud, and the peasants in 

 the surrounding country, preserve the good breeding mares, and will not part 

 with one that has not some evident or secret fault about her. 



How much have the breeders of Great Britain to answer for in the deterio- 

 ration of some of our best breeds from this cause alone ! 



There is, however, nothing perfect under the sun. This determination to 

 breed only from horses of pure blood, although care is taken that these horses 

 shall be the stoutest of their kind, has lessened the size and somewhat altered 

 the peculiar character of the horse in the immediate districts ; and we must 

 go somewhat more southward for the large and stately animal of which fre- 

 quent mention has been made. The practice of the country is likewise to 

 a certain degree unfriendly to the full development of the Augustenbourg horse. 

 The pasturage is sufficiently good to develop the powers of the colt, and few- 

 things contribute more to his subsequent hardihood than his living on these 

 pastures, and becoming accustomed to the vicissitudes of the seasons : yet this 

 may be carried too far. T he Sleswick colt is left out of doors all the year round, 



* There are two in the Queen's stables in Pimlico, that arc nearly twenty hands in height. 



