CHAP. V HEREDITY 61 
by singular merit. The breeder should not judge a 
horse by appearance only, when he can also judge 
of a sire’s stock ; the latter is a safer criterion than 
simply a combination of good looks and fine action. 
It is not enough that a horse isa “ Queen’s Premium ” 
winner and is universally regarded as a splendid 
animal. The question a breeder has to ask is, 
“Can I see his stock? Let me see his foal, or, 
better still, horses by him that have come to age.” 
When satisfied in this respect, let him spare no pains 
to secure that thorse’s services. Pedigree certainly 
goes for something ; it is an indication of probabilities, 
ze. that in certain families of horses you find pro- 
minent characteristics, and that the members of each 
family have the quality of impressing these charac- 
teristics on their offspring. As action runs in the 
blood of the descendants of a hackney like D’Oyley’s 
Confidence ; jumping power in the blood of Bird- 
catcher ; chestnut colour and a white blaze in the 
blood of Blair Athol ; grey hairs in the manes and 
tails of the descendants of Cleveland Barnaby ; 
superb form in those of the Yorkshire bay Candidate 
—so do faults of form, of construction, and temper 
remain the inherent attributes of other horses’ 
descendants. A knowledge of pedigree assists 
the breeder to select, to discriminate, to anticipate, 
and to be on his guard. It is the same in all 
breeds. Now and then in the course of centuries a 
cart horse such as the Packington blind horse, a 
leveland such as the Hobhill horse, a Barb like 
the Godolphin, an Arab like the Darley Arabian, 
appears, that revolutionises to a greater or less extent 
the future of his kind. Some horses possess ‘this 
