38 NOTES ON BREEDING EACEHOESES. 



Those who will not pay the cost of production of the thor- 

 oughbred, that is, who breed and use half-bred horses, insist on 

 the power and regularity in make and shape of the latter ; they 

 forget, however, that the breeder of thoroughbreds can calculate 

 to a fraction that selling his produce outside the racecourse by 

 the standard of the exterior alone will not pay for its rearing, 

 nor original cost and keep of the brood mares, covering fees, 

 &c. If he had no other means of disjsosing advantageously of 

 his produce, he would find himself placed in the alternative, 

 either to breed from cheap, and, therefore, indifferent material, 

 at a rate of expense not exceeding that of a half-bred stud, pro- 

 ducing consequently inferior animals, never subjected to public 

 trials, or to give up breeding altogether. Of the two, he would 

 certainly do better to choose the latter ; for, by following the 

 former plan, he would find himself needlessly restricted in the 

 choice of brood mares and sires, and, after all, produce animals, 

 the only difference between which and half-breds would consist 

 in inferior size and lack of substance. 



He who would breed thoroughbreds on rational principles, 

 and knows how to calculate, is forced to look for a better re- 

 turn for the capital invested than the every-day market affords. 

 This he will find only on the racecourse, without which the 

 production of thoroughbreds would be aimless, because it offers 

 the only possible public trial on which the whole principle is 

 based. 



To sum up, I say : 



The breeding of thoroughbreds to suit the ever-changing 

 fashion as to exterior, without regard to highly-tried capabil- 

 ities, I look upon as an absurdity— in that case it would be 

 preferable to turn one's attention to the better classes of the 

 half-bred — but within the acknowledged best strains of blood 

 I .should by no means neglect, if only on patriotic grounds, the 

 exterior, for in the production of our half-breds it has become 

 an absolute necessity to use thoroughbred stallions, not only 

 with performances of a high order, but also that our cavalry 

 horses may answer certain conditions and forms about make 

 and shape laid down in order to prevent their deterioration. 



