304 Hie Report of Hie Royal Commission on Hoi'se- Breeding. 
see if lie grunted, I should certainly have had him examined 
for his wind. 
Dr. Fleming and other witnesses, however, are perfectly- 
right in contending that by breeding for speed, and from fashion- 
able speedy blood, in order to win richly endowed short races, we 
are sacrificing stoutness. A stout horse, in my own experience, 
is usually a hardy horse. If you lose stoutness you will get a less 
hardy horse, a less good feeder, and I think consequently more 
subject to colds and coughs, and so more liable to go a roarer. 
We all know the kind of weather an English hunting season 
can treat us to. Tot up in your imagination the number of 
horses out hunting in such weather all over England ; clipped, 
and out of more or less heated stables. Imagine them hanging 
about raw woodlands or exposed uplands in bad scenting weather 
until the hounds go home. Can we be surprised that many 
half-bred horses go roarers, and after they are five years or six 
years old ? 
For my own part, from the evidence about roaring in general 
— not roaring in connection with subsidising a premium stallion 
— I think we only heard what we expected to hear, and what we 
pretty well knew we should hear. We understand roaring is 
less common in France, as they are more careful in their breed- 
ing and pay enormous attention to soundness. Many witnesses 
told us it was impossible to sell an unsound one — horse or mare 
— to a foreigner. Still, I would rather trust a Yorkshireman to 
breed my horses, all said and done. 
The evidence throughout abounds in so many out-of-the- 
common-way bits of experience and nice observation, that I 
should have liked, had space permitted, to deal with some of 
these. Every witness's evidence (apart from its value as a 
contribution to the subject) has something or other about it — 
be it an experience, or a fancy, or a suggestion — which is 
individual and native. 
In conclusion, I think the evidence absolutely proves that, 
with proper remedies, there is a good prospect of the revival of 
horse-breeding upon the best lines and in allegiance to our best 
traditions ; and I think that the evidence also proves that, as far 
as it is able, the Commission is applying these proper remedies, 
and wisely supplementing private enterprise and the well-timed 
efforts of public societies, such as the Hunters' Improvement 
Society, and many local clubs and associations. 
Obviously, no Commission, however well-intentioned or well- 
informed, can regulate the economic laws of supply and demand; 
nor can it make any particular branch of commercial industry 
