25 



costing no more, has the further value to 

 which the foreign purchaser with his thrifty 

 instincts is fully alive ; the mare is used to 

 breed from when her career of active service 

 is at an end, whereas the value of the 

 gelding when past work is neither more nor 

 less than that the knacker is pleased to set 

 upon his carcase. 



PREJUDICE AGAINST MARES. 



There has long been a strong prejudice in 

 England against mares for harness, the result 

 being that mares could be purchased at a 

 lower price than geldings ; a fact, in con- 

 junction with the advantage already indicated, 

 which has not been without its influence on 

 the Continental buyer. 



From the earlier part of the nineteenth 

 century, when, as " The Druid " tells us, the 

 Norfolk Hackney had an "almost European 

 reputation," horses of this breed have been 

 in keen demand on the Continent, more 

 especially among the breeders of France and 

 Oldenbourg. 



Within the last thirty years or more the 

 effect of the Continental demand for roadster 

 breeding stock has been more keenly felt 

 than ever, owing to the fact that foreign 



