latter was obviously the extreme height for which it was 

 considered necessary to provide, and it was probably an 

 uncommon thing for the limit to be reached. 



Admiral Rous {Baily's Magazine, i860) showed that the 

 average height of the Thoroughbred had then increased one 

 inch in every twenty-five years. Facts bear out the Admiral's 

 statement. 



We cannot doubt that the rate of increase in height has 

 been more rapid from 1800 to 1900 than it was from 1700 to 

 1800, and for this reason — About the year 1800, or a little 

 earlier, the practice of racing two -year -old horses was 

 introduced, and, as a natural consequence, breeders began to- 

 "force" their young stock in order to make them the sooner 

 ready for racing. 



The results of this policy had become evident in 1836, for 

 an authority writing in that year '■= says : — 



" We have seen that the ' Turf ' commenced with ponies, and that 

 for a long period horses under 14 hands were found among the best racers. 

 . . . The inteUigent reader must perceive that the great size so much 

 admired by the public in brood mares has been acquired. . The 



English racer, we cannot doubt, acquired his enlarged structure by rich 

 food." 



The "enlarged structure" to which the author refers, in 

 his day, did not exceed 15 hands ; we may doubt whether the 

 average height was so much. Individual horses there were, 

 as the Turf records inform us, which measured over 15 hands 

 about this period, but these were very exceptional, and we 

 shall probably be within the mark if we put the average height 

 of the race-horses of 1800-1820 at 14 hands 3 inches. 



With tHe increase in height attained in our own day our 

 race-horses have lost, in great measure, the qualities possessed 

 by their smaller ancestors. It would seem that there is a 

 point in height, beyond which the race-horse, or indeed any 

 horse, cannot with advantage be bred. Mr. Scawen Blunt 



* A Comparative View of the Form and Character of the English Racer 

 and Saddlc-Horses during the Past and Present Centuries. Published by 

 Thomas Hookham, 15 Old Bond Street, London. 1836. 



15 



