36 
Half-bred  Horses  for  Field  or  Hoad : 
On  a hard  road  he  trotted  with  12  st.  2 lbs.  on  his  back 
17  miles  in  the  hour.  “ Shales  ” w as  the  famous  sire  of  a 
famous  stock.* 
“ Shepherd  F.  Knapp  ” was  a success,  and,  when  mated  with 
that  all-important  factor,  a well-bred  mare,  his  stock  showed 
quality.  The  stock  bred  at  Myton  Stud  Farm  made  good 
prices  ; the  French  Government  bought  one  at  2 years  old  for 
250/.,  and  a yearling  pony  for  90/.  One  sold  for  200/.  at  3 years 
old,  and  it  is  said  was  subsequently  sold  for  600/.  A gentleman 
writing  to  me  from  Croft,  near  Darlington,  says  : “ I had  a mare 
by  ‘Shepherd  F.  Knapp,’  out  of  a well-bred  mare  by  ‘Post 
Captain  : ’ my  mare,  a handsome  brown,  16  hands,  full  of  quality, 
was  fast  in  her  gallop  as  a hunter,  with  fine  trotting  action,  and 
a bold  big  jumper;  when  5 years  old,  I had  bid  for  her  by 
auction  at  York  ^260  guineas.”  My  correspondent  adds,  “ I 
have  known  similar  instances.”  “ Shepherds  ” are,  however, 
chiefly  harness-horses,  and  as  such  cannot  well  be  surpassed. 
Certainly  “Shepherd  F.  Knapp  ” did  not  make  his  mark  in  the 
Thirsk  district  where  I live;  his  fee,  10  guineas,  was  compara- 
tively high.  “ Highthorne,”  for  example,  covers  half-bred 
mares  at  3 guineas,  and  my  neighbours  preferred,  for  getting 
hunters,  such  undoubtedly  successful  thoroughbred  horses  as 
“Highthorne”  and  “Baron  Cavendish.”  Speaking  generally, 
it  may  be  doubted  whether  as  roadsters  American  trotters  would 
cut  a figure  in  our  English  Showyards  ; their  slow  paces,  as  a 
rule,  would  hardly  reach  our  requirements — the  easy  trot  and 
the  essential  walk.  The  American  pacers  and  trotters,  going 
off  in  a little  pacing  amble  before  they  square  away  in  the 
flying  trot,  are  bred  chiefly  for  speed  and  action  ; their  defi- 
ciency, as  regards  slow  paces,  tvould,  as  everyday  hacks,  render 
them  unsuitable  and  unpleasant.  We  can  hardly  realise  the 
essentially  American  needs,  conditions,  and  sandy  “ tracks  ” : 
bearing  them  in  view,  take  “ Flora  ” as  a type  : — “ ‘ Flora  ’ does 
not  amble  to  begin,  but  in  jogging  off  slow,  she  goes  rolling  and 
tumbling  along,  as  if  she  had  no  gait  at  all,  and  was  capable  of 
none.  But  when  she  squares  away  and  begins  to  deliver  the 
real  stroke,  she  has  as  fine  and  even  trot  as  any  horse  in  the 
world — her  gait  in  the  rushes  of  lightning  speed,  when  she  darts 
up  the  stretch,  is  as  square  as  ever  was  seen.” 
As  regards  Army  horses  and  Cavalry  remounts,  I have  been 
favoured  with  the  following  interesting  memorandum ; the 
information  it  contains  is  of  the  latest  date,  and  may  be  taken 
* There  is  a portrait  and  an  account  of  ‘“Shales”  in  that  excellent  work, 
‘ Sidney’s  Book  of  the  Horse,'  London  : Cassell,  which  see. — C. 
