58 BREEDING ARMY HORSES. 



least was honourable testimony of a long 

 day's work under a broiling sun on our 

 parched chalk downs and in dusty lanes — 

 I will confine my criticism to the horses. 

 Sitting one August afternoon on my pony 

 at the centre of village cross-roads, in 

 company of a farmer friend who is an 

 excellent judge, I watched squadron after 

 squadron of British cavalry file past at the 

 conclusion of the day's work, and not a , 

 good horse, according to our views, could 

 we discover among them (some of the 

 ofiicers' mounts of course excepted). There 

 was great uniformity, it must be admitted, 

 but it was an uniformity of bad points — 

 all seemed to be both light and coarse, 

 with plain heads, upright shoulders, no back 

 ribs to speak of, and drooping quarters. It 

 may be that, trained in the canons of the 

 show ring, and used to our own admirably 

 horsed Dorset Yeomanry, in which a large 

 proportion of troopers used to ride serviceable 



