loith Remarks on the pi'esent Breed of Riding Horses. 519 
is only by careful and judicious crossing from such lines that 
we can hope to approximate to the perfect animal ; but the 
ignorance and carelessness which are daily shown in the selection 
of the parents, is lamentable in the extreme. Hence the many 
middling animals bred — hence the constant failures. And Avhy ? 
simply because the breeder will not weed out with unsparing 
hand the indifferent stock which he may rear, but perseveres in 
the idle hope that some day a trump may turn up. 
At the late Canterbury Show, with the exception of " Dago- 
bert," who was a well-turned wiry horse, with good action, not 
one other horse was exliibited in my department worthy of a 
prize, or calculated to do any good in the district in which he 
travelled. It is true, that after some hesitation a prize was 
awarded to " Comet," by " Planet," a horse (as a writer in the 
' Field,' at the time, justly remarked) too light, and scarcely 
worthy of a prize ; but as he possessed soundness and action, it 
was better to err on the safe side, and encourage the entry of 
horses that at least are sound. 
It is needless now to enter upon a description of the other 
stallions shown at Canterbury, but they were of a stamp quite 
unfitted to benefit the breed of any district. Two of them were 
mongrels, i.e. (as dealers say) of no trade whatever ; and among 
horses, as dogs, above all beware of mongrels ! And yet how 
extensively is this class of nags, as he calls them, patronised by 
the small farmer ! The reason is, they only ask a low price and 
go round to the farmers' homesteads, thus saving risk, trouble, 
and money at the time, and illustrating in the end the "penny 
wise and pound foolish " principle : although extraordinary 
good animals have occasionally resulted from the cross of the 
thoroughbred stallion and cart mare, these instances are quite 
exceptional, and such wide crosses are to be deprecated. For 
hunters, the most injurious cross of all is that with the soft, 
specious, Cleveland Bay. There is scarcely a district in which 
one or more specimens of the Yorkshire Horse, as it is termed, 
is not abundantly used. Even Ireland, which was formerly pro- 
verbial for blood, and where consequently hunters were eagerly 
sought for, is now debased and half-ruined by this flat-catching 
strain. The reason for the general increase of Cleveland blood 
is, that they are flashy, dealers' horses ; they come to early 
maturity, and have great size and good colour. Not but that 
for their own particular purpose, of London carriage-work, they 
are a handsome and valuable breed ; but unfortunately, of late 
years, a demand has sprung up for a quicker and lighter horse, 
which has led to more blood being wanted for that market. 
Hence has arisen a cross between the thoroughbred horse and 
