Breeding of Hunters and Roadsters. 
343 
basis. Horse-dealers' sujjg;estions, capricious demands whicli ^ 
temporarily influenced the market, have led men to alter their 
comiuct with as little consideration as they chano^ed their vests. 
Few good judges, and especially among those who can re- 
member longest, see reason for congratulation on comparing the 
present with the past, particularly with reference to the hunter, 
and the high class hack, and carriage-horse. 
Meanwhile in those animals wliich propagate and therefore 
multiply more rapidlv, such as dogs, pigs, fowls, and even sheep, 
great changes have been effected by individual enterprise in a 
few years ; whilst the horse, the favourite of princes and nobles, 
appears to require to be specially fostered by the patronage of 
the great, or bv union and concert among the many. 
Hunters have usually been identified with the country in which 
they are bred. We pronounce a horse to be of Yorkshire, Shrop- 
shire, Norfolk, or Irish breed, from his characteristic form ; but 
these have had in the main a common origin, represented in the 
blood-horse; though the influence of soil and culture together, in 
great measure, fixes their character and decides their worth. 
Too much stress cannot be laid upon the judicious manage- 
ment of mares and foals : with care useful horses may bs reared 
from indifferent stock ; whilst without it, the produce, though 
well descended, will not be worth their cost. In feeding young 
stock, extremes should be guarded against; liberal keep, on 
sound grass, with corn and hay in moderation, proves the most 
economical in the end. If more food be given than the svstem 
can assimilate, superfluous bulk will be produced at the expense of 
strength and stamina, and the digestive system will be derangr^d. 
The same rule applies to exercise, shelter, and warmth ; for 
the first, space and liberty are essential, and as regards tempera- 
ture, it is neither practicable nor desirable for horses that it 
should be constantly equal. Wet and cold, however, are uncon- 
genial to horses, which should be provided with means for at 
least voluntary shelter. 
If horses be properly fed, are protected from rain, and have a 
dry surface under foot, with space for voluntary exercise, the 
temperature of an ordinary winter is salutary to them. The 
horse's coat, then, with the secretion going on over the surface 
of his body, equalises and regulates the bodily heat. Horses in 
a roomy paddock do not suffer from a shower in summer any more 
than schoolboys in a cricket-field ; but long exposure to rain in 
a confined space is injurious to them. 
The question of blood versus bone is so often raised without 
receiving any satisfactory solution, that I am induced to make a 
few remarks on it. 
The practice of cross-breeding is constantly resorted to by 
