LIMIT OF HEIGHT. 135 



Arabs which have gone to India that were better than the 

 gallant little Chieftain, who was only fourteen hands high, 

 and who was the best of his time. The records of the 

 Shanghai and Hongkong races prove that a good Mon- 

 golian of thirteen hands two inches (like Teen Kwang, see 

 Fig. 350, who was the Eclipse of the Celestial Empire) can 

 hold his own with any of his class, even at level weights. 

 In China an allowance of only three pounds for an inch in 

 height is given, and yet the best ones are found at about 

 thirteen hands two inches. In India, on the contrary, an 

 allowance of twelve pounds an inch is given ; but, with very 

 rare exceptions, a thirteen hands one inch or a thirteen hands 

 two inch English, Australian, Arab or '* country-bred " has 

 no chance with a fourteen-hander of its own class. These 

 striking differences in the standard of useful heights are no 

 doubt chiefly due to the effects of climate ; for if foreign 

 blood be introduced into any country, it will, in a very few 

 generations, assume the characteristics of the local type of 

 horse or pony. 



Careful selection in breeding, good feeding, and healthy 

 conditions of life have a great influence in tending to increase 

 the size, not only of individuals, but also of breeds, in which 

 case the standard of useful height will naturally become 

 raised. Thus the average English horse is, at the present 

 day, probably six inches taller than he was 200 years ago. 

 From my own observation, I am inclined to think that horses 

 in England have increased about an inch in height during 

 the last thirty years. We should remember that when we 

 refer to certain breeds of ponies, we allude to horses that 

 have for generations been kept small by privation, inclemency 

 of climate, or other influences which have retarded their 

 growth. Were they placed under conditions favourable to 

 their development, their descendants would soon become full- 

 sized horses, even in the case of ten-hand Shetland (Fig. 234) 

 or Corean ponies. Selection, as in the case of toy-terriers, 

 would of itself, if carried out strictly, enable xis to maintain 

 a breed of dwarf horses ; but when with small size we also 



