58 THE HORSE. 



last ten years, the Derby has five times been won by an unsound 

 animal, which the trainer was almost immediately afterwards obliged 

 to put out of work, either from diseased feet or a break-down, and 

 yet few breeders think of refusing to use such horses as these. 

 Nevertheless, good legs and feet, and a hearty constitution, are no 

 small recommendations, and Mr. Merry may thank them for win- 

 ning him the great prize of the year I860, with Thormanby, a son 

 of that wonderful mare Alice Hawthorne. Thormanby, however, 

 is not an instance of a colt having been reserved till he was arrived 

 at his growth, for there are few horses which have been more used, 

 having run fourteen times as a two-year-old; but his naturally 

 excellent legs and feet, and the fine down on which he is trained, 

 have enabled him to pull through unscathed. Now the reliance 

 which was placed by his backers on these good qualities, proves 

 that he is an exception to the rule ; for if they were at all common, 

 they would be of comparatively little advantage. The truth really 

 is, that the average racehorse of modern times is of such forced 

 growth, that he is unable to bear the wear and tear of training as 

 he used to do, and hence a much larger percentage of unsound 

 animals is to be met with. He is bred mainly for speed, super- 

 added to which is as much stoutness and soundness of constitution 

 as can be procured among the most speedy horses at the service 

 of the breeder. By a perseverance in this method of selection, he 

 has undoubtedly become more speedy, and less lasting in propor- 

 tion to his speed, that is to say, he cannot be extended for as long 

 a time as he used to bear with impunity. But that he cannot 

 cover as much ground in a given time as formerly is, I. think, an 

 error, — for there is every reason to believe that any distance may 

 now be run in as short a time at least, as either in the middle of 

 the last century or the beginning of this. 



OBJECT OF ENCOURAGING THE BREED OF HORSES. 



The great OBJECT of encouraging the breed of racehorses is, 

 however, lost sight of. if suitable crosses for hunting, cavalry, and 

 hack-mares cannot be obtained from their ranks. In these throe 

 kinds, soundness of the feet and legs is all important, together with 

 a capacity to bear a continuation of severe work. These qualities 

 are highly developed in the Arab, and until lately were met with 

 in his descendants on the English turf. Even now a horse with a 

 stain in his pedigree will not bear the amount of training which a 

 thorough-bred will sustain, his health and spirits soon giving way 

 if forced to go through the work which the racehorse requires to 

 make him " fit." But the legs and feet of the latter are the draw- 

 backs to his use, and the trainer of the present day will generally 

 be sadly taxed to make them last through a dry summer. Our 

 modern roads are also much harder since the introduction of mac- 



