48 
Half-bred  Horses  for  Field  or  Road : 
they  have  2000  stallions  belonging  to  the  Government  stud,  under 
the  management  of  such  first-rate  judges  as  Count  LehndorfF 
and  other  gentlemen,  travelling  the  various  districts,  at  a fee  of 
from  Is.  to  10s.  or  12s.  of  our  money ; and  I am  informed  by 
Count  Munster  that  now  the  studs  are  well-established  the  cost 
to  the  country  does  not  exceed  100,000Z.  a year — a fleabite  for  a 
rich  nation.  In  Austria  they  have  an  equally  large,  or  a larger 
number  of  stallions  for  the  service  of  the  country,  under  the 
management  of  first-rate  judges  ; and  Count  Zaparey  has  lately 
purchased  ‘ Craig  Millar  ’ and  ‘ Ruperra  ’ in  England  at  large 
sums,  and  from  these  and  similar  horses  they  breed  in  their 
different  studs  the  stallions  which  are  sent  through  the  country 
districts. 
“The  same  thing,  I am  told,  is  done  in  Russia,  on  even  a 
larger  scale. 
“ The  late  Emperor  of  the  French  established  studs  all  over 
France,  and  although  they  were  dispersed  after  the  Empire,  the 
Republican  Government  has  had  the  sense  to  re-establish  them, 
and  at  the  present  moment  I believe  England  is  the  only 
country  whose  Government  takes  no  trouble  to  keep  up  the 
national  supply  of  good  horses.  My  friend,  the  late  Mr. 
Cavaliero,  used  to  tell  me  that  England  was  very  foolish,  and 
was  losing  a large  trade  in  horses,  which  she  ought  to  have 
kept  in  her  own  hands  ; and  there  was  no  cleverer  man  or 
better  judge  ever  sent  over  to  this  country  to  pick  up  and  buy 
our  best  thoroughbred  stock. 
“ Colonel  de  Butts,  an  Irishman  by  birth,  but  an  Austrian 
cavalry  officer,  bought  ‘ Buccaneer  ’ and  other  good  horses,  and 
he  told  me  that  he  had  for  many  years  bought,  whenever  he 
could  get  them,  the  best  mares  of  the  best  old  blood  out  of 
Ireland,  as  well  as  English  half-bred  mares. 
“ So  that  our  best  mares  for  years  have  been  drained  away  from 
the  country,  and  we  are  now  obliged  to  buy  from  foreign  countries, 
and  largely  from  America — horses  for  harness  more  especially — 
instead  of  breeding  them  for  ourselves,  as  we  ought.  - For  in 
spite  of  all  disadvantages  and  under  all  difficulties  there  is  no 
country  in  the  world  where  such  good  horses  are  bred  as  in 
England,  and  this  is  proved  by  buyers  coming  here  from  all 
parts  of  the  world  to  buy  our  best  blood  to  breed  from  and 
to  replenish  their  studs.  There  is  a something  soft  in  the 
foreign  horse  generally,  and  the  English  horse,  like  the  English- 
man, when  it  comes  to  the  pinch,  shows  more  ‘ real  grit  ’ than 
the  horse  of  any  other  country. 
“ I quite  agree  with  what  one  of  the  writers  has  said  as  to 
the  Norfolk  horse  or  mare  for  a cross  with  the  thoroughbred. 
They  have  some  real  good  blood  in  them.  I remember  some  of 
