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Report on the Horses Exhibited at Windsor. 
France, Cyjirus, Malta, Syria, and Egj'pt, besides one or two natives of 
England. As their several characteristic points were so different, we con- 
sidered their merits entirely with a view to their value for breeding 
purposes. 
P. Feilbing, I-t.-Genl. 
Titos. A. RrExcER. 
In bi-ingiug a somewhat linigtliy story to a close, it may not 
be oat of place to notice shortly the present pecuniary induce- 
ment to breed good horses of all kinds. At the termination of 
the Shire Horse Show in February last, 173 lots were put up 
to auction and realised a total of just 14, oOOL, or something like 
821. per head, and this list contained scarcely any prize-takers. 
Some of the more famous horses were disposed of by private 
contract, and 1,000 guineas and upwards are said to have been 
given for several. But the foreign trade has advanced with the 
proverbial leaps and bounds ; and the number of horses exported 
during the nine months of the present year ending on the last 
day of September was no fewer than 10,642. If the United 
States buyers have purchased less freely than they did last year 
the prices would appear to be better ; and it is the opinion of 
the chief shippers of agricultural horses that the demand will 
not fall off. The shipment of Shires, Clydesdales, and SufTolks 
is certainly on a large scale, and it will be interesting to watch 
whether, in days to come, foreign buyers will be as successful 
in getting hold of our best mares as they were at an earlier 
period in the history of horse-breeding. In this respect, how- 
ever, the breeders of heavy horses will doubtless profit by the 
experience of those who went in for the breeding of hunters ; 
while the breeders of the latter stamp can learn a useful lesson 
from the breeders of those types wliich have stud-books. In 
the case of these, sires and dams are of one stamp, the produce 
resembles the parents, and, being good raw material, sells for a 
remunerative price when one or two years old ; whereas the 
hunter breeder is often heard to complain that he can get 
nothing for his young stock, for the reason, as it seems to the 
writer, that, the mares being too often old, worn out, and under- 
sized, the progeny is frequently worthless in the eyes of men 
who want something good enough to show, or likely to develop 
into a weight-carrier. 
While admitting that the rank and file of hunter breeders — 
that is to say, some of the small farmers — are far less particular 
than they should be about their mares, one cannot altogether 
assent to the assertion of the Italian Government that a deca- 
dence has taken place in the breeding of half-bred horses in 
England. This lament is tittered in the pages of the Amiali di 
