SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



70 THE 



scendants, established their claims to a pure 

 descent from the noble house of Kochlani, and 

 constituted them the founders of a new race in 

 England, known as the blood horse. And now, 

 no horse is entitled to the name of " thorough 

 bred," unless he can trace, at least, fifteen-six- 

 teenths of his blood to these fountains, pure and 

 undefiled. 



It may be asked if these natural properties, 

 which we have stated to be originally peculiar 

 to the horses of Africa and Arabia, have not 

 declined in the humid atmosphere and on the 

 luxuriant and moist soil of Great Britain. We 

 answer that such undoubtedly would have been 

 the tendency of these influences, if the horse 

 had been subjected to them, but such has been 

 the care of this horse-loving people to preserve 

 the race in all its pristine glory, so much judg- 

 ment and wisdom have they shown in the se- 

 lection of individuals and in judicious crossing, 

 in short, the talent of civilized man has so over- 

 balanced the mere inferiority of climate, that 

 the race has not only not deteriorated, but there 

 is much reason for thinking that the English 

 race horse is at this day greatly superior to the 

 best of his foreign ancestors. The greatest in- 

 citement to the exercise of this skill and judg- 

 ment, whereby the English nobleman and the 

 English farmer are supplied with the best horses 

 in the world, is undoubtedly to be found in their 

 system of racing. By this means a practical 

 and unerring test of the comparative merits of 

 different horses has been afforded, and in the 

 reward bestowed upon the conqueior, a mighty 

 inducement has been offered to every breeder to 

 seek after excellence. Oliver Cromwell, puritan 

 and hypocrite as he was, had too much discern- 

 ment, and was too much of an Englishman, not 

 to appreciate the value in a national point of 

 view of the racing system ; he, therefore, kept 

 his racing stud, and to him we are indebted for 

 the importation of the celebrated Eastern horse, 

 called White Turk. 



This particular race of horses possesses then, 

 we contend, from natural and artificial causes, 

 a superiority of physical construction, a fineness 

 and density of fibre, their bones are ivory, their 

 muscles are tendons, and a mechanical adapta- 

 tion of parts, that render them superior to all 

 others in strength, speed, activity, and endurance. 

 This is no fanciful theory nor groundless as- 

 sumption ; every farmer, every cartman in the 

 South, relies upon his blooded horse, at the "pinch 



of the hill." Edwin Porter, one of the most 

 experienced and most judicious of stage pro- 

 prietors, whom the steam innovations of modern 

 times has driven to the mountain passes, where 

 with his beloved teams he can canter up hill 

 and down hill, and laugh to scorn the idea of a 

 rival rail-road, we have heard him declare a hun- 

 dred times, that every thing else equal, he would 

 give twenty dollars more, for mere coach pur- 

 poses, for a well bred than for a cold bred horse. 



But we must not forget the means by which 

 this excellence has been maintained. An in- 

 teresting and exciting public test of the valuable 

 qualities of the animal must be instituted, and 

 rewards must be bestowed commensurate with 

 the value of the object to be obtained. In what 

 shall this test consist? what is that best calcu- 

 lated to determine the valuable qualities of the 

 individual? Remember, that the race will be 

 bred up exactly to the standard you erect. Sup- 

 pose your test be, as it is in this country, the 

 capability of carrying a light weight a long dis- 

 tance ; it may be that this will secure only 

 speed and wind, without strength : if so, it is evi- 

 dent that in the breeder's consideration, strength 

 will be overlooked, and those individuals only 

 kept for the stud, who possess the properties of 

 activity and endurance. For our own part, we 

 are inclined to think that this is the fact, and 

 w r e think the failure of our system of racing to 

 test the strength of the horse, has produced a 

 light and active race, that has had a great ten- 

 dency to bring into disrepute the claims of the 

 blood horse to superiority, as a horse of all work. 

 We incline to think that the English rule of a 

 heavy weight for a short distance, begets a de- 

 gree of stoutness, that is a great desideratum 

 with our farmers, and workers of horses gener- 

 ally. It was this idea, which we ventured to 

 hint in our last number, that misled our re- 

 spected friend of the "Spirit." Such is our de- 

 votion to the thorough bred horse, that we almost 

 feel it as an imputation upon our good taste, to 

 suppose we could have for a moment advocated 

 the superiority of any other race, for any pur- 

 pose whatsoever. There is no game, but a slow 

 race, at which the blood horse will not come off 

 victorious. Institute what test you will to try 

 his strength, activity, or wind, all or either, even 

 to the pulling of a heavy weight in the collar, 

 and such is our confidence in his bone and sinew, 

 that we would bet, the winner would be found 

 with pure blood coursing through his veins. 



