24 HORSE-BREEDING FOR FARMERS CHAP. 
have been of a very composite character. Frenzel, 
in his laborious work, traced every existing Thorough- 
bred mare to her original ancestress; as recorded in 
the General Stud Book, and we are able from his 
work to make the following certain deductions :— 
That in 1886 there were 4605 Thoroughbred 
mares in England, and that these were descended 
from 97 original ancestresses. 
That only 14 of these 97 were of pure Eastern 
blood. 
That of these 14, the families descended from 7 
were of no importance at the stud or as racers, 
though one of them is the maternal ancestress of one 
of the best racing families. That there are left 83 
original mares whose origin is unknown. 
That the original quantity of unknown blood 
must remain so, and consequently it can never be 
ascertained how much of the superiority of the 
English Thoroughbred is due to Eastern blood 
and how much to native blood. In other countries 
with greater facilities for obtaining the highest-caste 
Eastern sires, and where the experiment of develop- 
ing Oriental blood by every kind of method and 
over long periods has been tried, the attempt has 
hitherto entirely failed in producing anything like 
an equal to the English Thoroughbred. Hence it 
would appear probable that the English Thorough- 
bred owes much to native blood. 
That nearly all the most remarkable Thorough- 
bred sires and winners are to be found amongst the 
descendants of 3 out of these 97 mares. Three 
families out of 97 stand out as the most remark- 
able:—Family 4 contains both the True Blues, 
