270 
Breeding Horses. 
Blood gives life ; the tliorough-bred liorse lives longer in work 
than any other. Our horses have fallen off wofully since the 
battle of Waterloo ; and those of our friends now, who were 
opposed to us then, have been as much improved as ours have 
been deteriorated. The Emperor of Russia also has so improved 
the horses of his Imperial Guard that I believe he has 10,000 
men better mounted than any 10,000 men in England or any- 
where else. 
The remedy is in our own hands. Let Her Majesty's Plates 
of lOOZ. be re-established for high weights and long distances ; let 
the Prince of Wales throw his influence into the scale, and the 
nation follow the example,- — it is a national subject, and worthy 
of all the patronage that can be bestowed upon it. The Agriculr 
tural Societies of the United Kingdom should follow on with the 
Royal Agricultural Society, and call for weight-carrying, tho- 
rough-bred stallions. We may thus recover what we have lost, 
and again possess some^ useful animals capable of doing good 
service to the country. 
Be it ever remembered that, however bad may be the horses 
available for the general use, those upon which the cavalry 
are mounted Avill be worse still ; whilst, if horses at large are 
better bred, the army will be better supplied. I have sent six 
mares fifty miles to a thorough-bred stallion that I saw at Batter- 
sea. I would advise any anxious breeder to look at those exhibited 
at the Roj al Agricultural Show, with the view of selecting one 
for his purpose for the ensuing year ; there are a few left ; but 
they are very few indeed. 
In conclusion, let me remark that most of the observations 
and opinions which I have expressed have not been adopted at 
random as chance suggested, but have resulted from what may 
be called the statistics of the stable. It was my habit early in 
life to keep in a book for the year a detailed account of every 
horse I bought, his age, pedigree, colour, quality, defects, and 
native district, number him, and give him a name significant of 
the horse as far as possible, to impress him on my memory.* 
These were all entered when he was bought, and the chief inci- 
dents of his career were added from time to time afterwards. 
At the end of the year all these circumstances were brought 
together and formed a summary of the year's transactions, con- 
sisting of — 
The horses bought in. 
The horses cast and sold out ; why each was cast and sold. 
Those killed accidentally ; how killed. 
Those that died ; the cause of death, and where. 
