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TEE AQRICULTUBAL JOURNAL. 



up all these old English breeds for close 

 upon a century, until the French are able 

 to boast that their cavalry is the test 

 mounted in the world. The same action 

 holds good in the case of all other 

 European countries and America. Buyers 

 from these countries could always be seen 

 by the score attending all the large horse 

 fairs and shows in the United Kingdom, 

 buying up all the best mares and stallions 

 they could lay their hands upon, with the 

 resialt that at the present moment they 

 are able to supply thousands of first-class 

 horses to the London market of exactly 

 similar type to those previously exported 

 from the Old Country. At one time the 

 exportation of mares was carried to such 

 an extent that the country became almost 

 denuded of good mares, farming became 

 bad, and the breeding farmers had to sell 

 their best mares to meet their losses, a 

 thing which had never been previously 

 contemplated, either by themselves or 

 their forefathers. 



I will now make a few remarks about 

 the direct crossing of the three breeds 

 advocated as being the most suitable sires 

 to cross upon the native mares of this 

 country. 



The Hackney Thoroughbred Gross. 



Some of the finest and mostnoted saddle- 

 horses ever seen in the English show ring 

 have been bred in this manner ; this cross 

 produces horses with action as light as a 

 feather, with all the beautiful carriage and 

 dash of the Hackney combined. No 

 animal of any distinct breed can compete 

 with this cross as a saddle or park-hack, 

 neither can any other horse stand against 

 him in the show ring. One of the most 

 noted breed of horses in the M'orld was 

 produced in this manner, being a cross 

 between the old English trotting horse 

 (now the Hackney) and the thoroughbred. 

 Both of these animals were originally ex- 

 ported from England, viz :— That greatest 

 of all American sporting horses, the 

 Trotter. 



The Thoroughbred Coach Horse 

 Cross. 



Very fine hunters have been produced by 

 mating Cleveland and Yorkshire bay 

 mares with hunter sires. The writer dis- 

 tinctly remembers a horse which had 

 been bred in this manner being sold for 

 four hundred and fifty guineas at four 



years old, and this amount was paid for 

 an animal that had never seen hounds. 

 This horse 1 had personally known from 

 the day he was foaled. 



The Hackney Coach Sorse Cross. 



This was the manner in which the London 

 carriage horse was bred before the advent 

 of the diflEerent stud books. This animal 

 was bred distinctly to type, with no par- 

 ticular regard to pedigree by mating in 

 the above manner, and found a ready sale 

 to the London dealers, but the coming 

 into vogue of the Hackney and Coach- 

 horse stud books, chiefly brought about 

 by the action of Mr. Burdett Coutts, Sir 

 alter Gilby, and several other prominent 

 gentlemen, completely put a stop to the 

 production of this class of horse. Breeders 

 all over the Kingdom took to the breeding 

 of pedigree stock, whether for good or 

 evil, so far as profit is concerned, remains 

 to be seen. Certainly the class of animal 

 mentioned found a ready sale at very re- 

 munerative prices at four years old, and 

 invariably brought the breeders from one 

 hundred pounds upwards. 



At the sitting of the Royal Commission 

 on horse-breeding in Ireland some four 

 years ago, several old Loadon dealers, 

 well known to the writer, deplored their 

 inability to secure the class of horse 

 generally required for the London market, 

 especially for carriage purposes, and 

 which, they informed the Commissioners, 

 they used to secure in large numbers 

 twenty or thirty years ago in the Northern 

 Countries. On being asked how these 

 animals were bred not one of these men 

 could give a correct answer, and the reason 

 is not far to seek, as it was of minor im- 

 partance to the dealers how the animals 

 were bred, and not one in a hundred ever 

 took the trouble to ask, they simply pur- 

 chased the animal at his actual value, 

 pedigree being of no consequence to them. 

 Whatever may be the ultimate outcome, 

 it is an undisputed fact that the production 

 of this class of horse, like numerous other 

 profitable industries, has fallen into the 

 hands of the foreigner The answer as to 

 how these animals were bred would have 

 been readily given by old breeders who 

 used to produce this class of animal, and 

 I do not remember seeing the names of 

 any of them as having given esddence be- 

 fore the Commission. 



