at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
115 
examination. The veterinary surgeons did not report the nature 
of the various unsoundnesses, therefore particulars cannot be 
given ; and subsequently, the standard of soundness being very 
high, it was agreed that the names of the horses failing to pass 
should not be declared. 
It would be idle to pretend that the recent experiment of the 
Society has not been the subject of criticism, some rather 
hostile perhaps. This is not to be regretted. It is wise to 
learn from our enemies, says the maxim ; and though an enemy 
is too strong a term to apply to a critic, the principle holds 
good. In some minds there has been a feeling of disappoint- 
ment at the class of horses seen at the Newcastle show, and 
hereupon arises the question. What is a first-class hunter-sire? 
With one requisite every horse at Newcastle necessarily com- 
plied — all were thoroughbred. That the sire should have no 
hereditary disease is of course admitted by everybody, and 
the veterinary inspectors at the show took great pains to 
ascertain that the decorated horses were sound in this respect. 
As with hounds, so with horses, bone is a sine qua non, and the 
sire should also be built on the lines of a hunter, and should 
not merely show indications of possessing speed. These are 
points about which controversy can scarcely arise, but some 
surprise has been felt that among the entries there were not 
more horses of reputation. It seems to have been fancied that 
the liberal prizes offered by the Society would have attracted 
some whilom celebrated winners on the Turf. Except in the 
hands of a very patriotic, one might almost say Quixotic, owner, 
it seems unreasonable to suppose that an ex-racehorse, whose 
career may have rendered it probable for his subscription list 
to fill at a fee of from 25 guineas to 250 guineas — the latter is 
" Hermit's " fee — would be placed at the service of breeders in 
return for 505. This is simply a commercial view of the case. 
Secondly comes the question whether a hunter-sire is any the 
better for having won races. It is, perhaps, well for him to 
have run, if only to show that he has survived the exigencies of 
training and racing, and is therefore possessed of limbs capable 
of withstanding the effects of work ; but is success on the Turf any 
criterion of success as a sire of hunters and other half-bred horses^ 
W here so many good judges have differed, it would be presump- 
tuous for the writer to express an opinion one way or the other. 
It might have been expected, no doubt, that horses which had 
won valuable steeplechases would have been entered, but there 
was, as a matter of fact, hardly a jumper in the show. We should 
of course have liked to see such horses as "Downpatrick," but Mr. 
Chandos Pole bought him at Doncaster for the use of the farmers 
in the Meynell hunt, and so might not have cared about win- 
I 2 
