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Half-bred  Horses  for  Field  or  Road  : 
and  I would  certainly  advise  all  horse-breeders  to  read  those 
articles  carefully. 
With  all  the  knowledge  that  study  and  experience  can  give  us, 
breeding  half-bred  horses  will  always  be  more  or  less  a specu- 
lation : the  most  likely  mares  fail  to  produce  anything  so  good 
as  themselves  ; and  one  not  nearly  so  good-looking,  or  even  so 
good  an  animal,  may  annually  breed  a really  good  and  valuable 
foal.  But  still  there  are  certain  rules  which  must  not  be  disre- 
garded, and  there  is  a road  to  success,  if  we  steadily  stick  to  it. 
One  comfort  to  the  hunter-breeder  is,  that  men  of  all  weights 
and  sizes  join  in  the  sport,  and  so  a sale  is  obtained  for  the 
small  fry  and  failures,  as  well  as  for  the  plums  ; and,  fortunately, 
some  men  are  not  critical  judges  of  shape  and  form,  and  so  long 
as  they  are  carried  safely  across  country,  are  not  perhaps  aware 
what  an  inferior  animal  they  are  riding.  And  indeed  I have 
heard  an  old  sportsman  affirm  that  no  young  man  under  thirty 
should  be  allowed  to  ride  behind  perfect  shoulders,  which 
should  be  a luxury  reserved  for  mature  age  and  failing  nerve. 
The  great  misfortune  of  the  present  day  is  the  system  of 
showing.  The  farmer  who  has  a good-looking  three-year  old, 
instead  of  knocking  him  across  country,  and  improving  both 
himself  and  his  horse,  now  fattens  him  up,  and  will  hardly 
jump  him  over  a stack  bar,  for  fear  of  hurting  him,  or  perhaps 
throwing  out  a curb,  the  horror  of  dealers,  but  in  reality  of  no  con- 
sequence, and  almost  inevitable  with  a keen  young  horse  who 
handles  his  hind-legs  in  proper  form.  The  horse  is  run  the  round 
of  the  shows,  and  perhaps  sold  to  some  admirer  for  a long  price 
as  a hunter.  The  purchaser  is  surprised,  on  riding  him  with  the 
hounds,  at  his  high-priced  hunter  putting  his  fore-feet  into  the 
first  blind  ditch  and  giving  him  an  ugly  fall,  and  he  then  finds 
out  he  has  bought  a perfectly  unmade  horse,  which  he  will 
have  to  teach  the  rudiments  of  his  business,  and  which  may 
or  may  not  turn  out  a hunter. 
I fear  it  is  beyond  dispute  that  hunter-breeding  has  been 
much  neglected  in  the  last  few  years,  even  in  the  most  horsey 
counties,  many  of  the  most  likely  young  horses  on  the  lands  of 
farmers  having  been  bought  of  Irish  dealers  ; and  indeed  the 
mares  are  not  in  the  country  to  produce  hunters.  A man  may 
travel  a long  way  now  without  seeing  a mare  calculated  to  breed 
a hunter,  and  our  principal  Shows  fail  to  bring  out  the  class  of 
animals  required  in  any  quantity.  The  fact  of  horses  being 
imported  into  England  from  Hungary,  Canada,  &c.,  speaks  to 
the  scarcity  of  good-looking  half-bred  horses  in  our  own  land. 
In  looking  for  the  cause  of  this  disinclination  on  the  part  of 
farmers  to  undertake  the  business  of  breeding  hunters,  we 
