r A GOOD HORSE 21 



less in either mating or feeding, will find each gen- 

 eration a trifle lighter in weight ; while the breeder 

 of ponies (if in the temperate zone) will, unless 

 he use equal care, find each generation a trifle 

 heavier. In like manner, as the run is the natural 

 gait of the horse when he is going his fastest, so 

 it is difficult (and, in all probability, will prove 

 impossible) to breed this tendency entirely out of 

 trotters. 



Let us take a glance at what has been done by 

 Nature and what by man in the formation of 

 breeds. Breeds of ponies were formed by Nature 

 in very hot or very cold countries, mainly the lat- 

 ter, where the horse will inevitably deteriorate in 

 size. Climate has also some effect in other ways. 

 But by far the greatest number of modifications 

 of the equine type — as the thoroughbred, the trot- 

 ter, the hackney, and the draft breeds — were 

 formed by the skill of man in selecting, mating, 

 and feeding. 



Environment, it is true, cannot be wholly ig- 

 nored; the dweller in a mountainous country, for 

 instance, is not well situated for raising heavy 

 draft-horses. But as a factor in the formation 

 of different breeds and in the production of speed 

 I have long felt that its importance had been 

 greatly overestimated. Indeed, I have never 

 been able to discover that horses of most of our 



