discovered this in his extensive experience as a breeder of 



Arabs. He found that there was no difficulty in grading them 



up a couple of inches ; but he found that when this had been 



done the bigger horses were in no way stouter, stronger or 



better than Arabs of normal size. 



Mr. William Day, the famous trainer, was a strong 



advocate for the horse of moderate size. He writes * : — 



"Asa rule you may get fifty good small horses for one good large 

 one, and the former will, and do, run well after the latter has been put to 

 the stud. . A good big horse may beat a good little one over a short 

 course ; but I think at three or four miles a good little one would beat the 

 best big one I ever saw." 



Mr. Day admits the great merits of some big horses — 

 Fisherman and Rataplan, for example — but, both for the 

 race-course and the stud, his unrivalled experience leads him 

 to prefer the small one ; in fact, when he reviews forty years' 

 work among horses, he can recall but one single good stallion 

 above or about i6 hands — namely, Stockwell.t 



Character of Race-Horses from 1700 to 1900 



We have only to examine the history of the race-horse to 

 discover that the breed has undergone most marked changes 

 in conformation, constitution and character during the last 

 two hundred years ; and to realise that while the race-horse of 

 a former age could be depended on to beget animals sound and 

 hardy, capable of carrying weight, and that over long distances, 

 he has undergone such changes that it is absurd to expect him 

 to do the same thing in our own day. 



For generations we have aimed at the development of a 

 horse of great speed, able to travel a short distance under a 

 light weight ; and having accomplished this with the greatest 

 success, we still expect him to beget horses able to travel long 

 distances under heavy weights at reasonable speeds — to 

 beget, in a word, horses of similar stamp to his remote 

 ancestors, from whom we have made him utterly dissimilar ! 



* The Race-horse in Training. 



t The Horse: How to Breed and Rear Him. 



16 



