CHAPTER V 
HEREDITY. HACKNEYS, HUNTERS, WEIGHT- 
CARRIERS 
IN the last chapter I took stock of the Yorkshire 
coaching breeds; but the farmer need not limit 
himself to these mares in his attempt to breed 
carriage horses. The late Lord Charlemont, who 
was perhaps the greatest horse-breeder in Ireland, 
and who made breeding carriage horses pay well, 
bred his best animals off hunter mares put to a big 
Norfolk hackney stallion named “The Arrow.” He 
was asked before the Royal Commission on Horse- 
Breeding (Lord Rosebery’s) how this horse was bred, 
and he replied to the effect that he did not know 
nor care, as he judged a horse by the stock it got 
—not by its pedigree. There is a good deal in this 
view. There is an enormous number of stallions 
used in England, but it is only here and there that 
one is found that is an impressive sire, stamping his 
stock with his good qualities,it may be with far greater 
excellence that he himself possesses. Such a horse 
possibly is undersized ; he may be plain even to ugli- 
ness ; he may appear to lack quality or even sufficient 
substance ; and yet all his “ get” are distinguished 
