Breeding to Colour 



THOROUGHBREDS 



The Term " Thoroughbred " 



Before proceeding to discuss the matter of colours in 

 our race-horses, it may be well to observe that the term 

 " Thoroughbred " is, comparatively speaking, of recent 

 origin. The word does not occur in the early volumes 

 of the Racing Calendar, nor in old works relating to the 

 Turf. 



The term would seem to have come into use during 

 the first few years of the last century. It does not 

 occur in the Sporting Magazine of 1805, wherein we read 

 of the shipment to Russia of " stallions of the first breed 

 and celebrity." We do, however, find it in the Sporting 

 Magazine of August, 1806, among the remarks under the 

 heading " Mares sent to Stallions." Here it is stated of 

 some stallions that they " covered thoroughbred mares," 

 the term being employed to distinguish these from 

 "hunting" and "country" mares. Clearly, the word 

 " Thoroughbred" had not at this time come into general 

 use, as the reports of the services rendered by other 

 stallions refer to "blood," "hunting "and "country" 

 mares. 



The first explanation of the meaning of the term I 

 have been able to trace occurs about the same period in 

 that well-known work. The History and Delineation of the 

 Horse, written by Laurence in 1807, and published two 



