22 
Half-bred  Horses  for  Field  or  Road: 
couple  of  summers  at  this  game,  till,  when  his  horse  is  ex- 
amined, what  with  fat  and  exposure  in  showyards,  his  horse  is 
found  to  be  a roarer,  and  has  to  be  sold  at  screw  price  ; and 
the  farmer  is  naturally  disgusted  at  what  he  calls  breeding 
hunters,  and  will  have  no  more  of  it. 
But  I feel  sure  that  with  the  exercise  of  good  judgment  in 
selecting  mares  to  work  on  the  farm,  crossing  them  with  thick, 
short-legged,  thoroughbred  sires,  that  many  of  our  light-land 
farmers  and  dalesmen  could  still  find  breeding  half-bred  horses 
a fairly  remunerative  business,  with  perhaps  more  plums  in  the 
pudding,  than  breeding  pure  cart-horses. 
Colonel  Luttrell. 
Being  anxious  that  all  my  correspondence  should  not  be 
dated  from  Yorkshire  and  the  North,  I wrote  to  Colonel 
Luttrell ; he  has  favoured  me  with  the  following  letter,  for 
which  I sincerely  thank  him.  Of  the  Colonel,  I need  on  the 
present  occasion  write  no  more  in  this  ‘Journal he  is  to  us  all 
so  well  known  and  so  much  appreciated  as  an  undoubted 
authority,  and  as  a most  able,  patient,  and  painstaking  Judge. 
“ Badgworth  Court,  Axbridge,  B.S.O., 
“ Dear  Lord  CATHCART,  “ Somerset,  July  4,  1882. 
“ It  is  not  easy  to  say  anything  fresh  about  horse- 
breeding,  but  I gather  from  your  letter  that  your  paper  is 
intended  more  for  the  practical  information  of  farmers  than 
anything  else.  Now  farmers  in  this  county  are  profoundly 
ignorant  in  the  science  of  breeding  light  horses,  the  land  being 
more  adapted  to  carthorses,  and  the  profit  of  breeding  them 
quicker  and  more  certain.  My  own  experience  in  breeding 
nag  horses  shows  me  that  the  selection  of  the  dam  is  of  the 
utmost  importance,  for  from  her,  as  a rule,  we  have  to  look 
for  size,  constitution,  temper,  and  endurance  ; above  all  things 
she  should  be  free  from  any  disease  likely  to  be  propagated 
in  the  progeny,  such  as  curbs,  spavins,  ringbones,  sidebones, 
sandcracks,  and  roaring.  To  breed  hunters,  she  should  have 
well-sprung  ribs,  like  a sherry-cask  ; I have  never  seen  a flat- 
sided one  a good  breeder:  her  shoulders  should  be  long  and 
clean,  her  quarters  long  and  strong,  in  fact  she  should  be  a 
well-made,  deep,  long  mare.  Many  people  think  that  any 
defect  in  the  mare  can  be  easily  rectified  by  the  horse  ; this  to 
a certain  extent  is  true,  but  1 have  always  found  that  if  the 
mare  is  defective  in  any  material  point,  it  is  certain  sooner  or 
later  to  show  itself. 
