Thoroughbred Stallions at Nottingham. 
253 
while a stallion may himself have been speedy and a good performer although 
pinned at the elbows, it is one of the worst faults he can transmit to his 
offspring. 
(Signed) Aethtje Somerset. 
Robert G. F. Howard. 
J. L. Napek. 
It may be convenient here to give also the report of the 
Veterinary Inspectors (Professor Brown, C.B., Sir Henry Simp- 
son, F.R.C.V.S., and Mr. George Williams, F.R.C.V.S.), as their 
rejections of animals favoured by the Judges is referred to by 
the latter : — 
Report of the Veterinary Inspectors. 
Sixty-four horses were submitted for examination, and of these thirty- 
four were rejected as unsound. 
The following summary of the causes of rejection is submitted for the 
information of the Royal Commission and the Royal Agricultural Society : — 
Unsoundness of wind 3 
Unsoundness of eves ....... 5 
Curb . . " . . . • • 1 
Unsoundness from bony deposits affecting joints : Spavin 
9, Ringbone 8 17 
Unsoundness from diseased feet 8 
34 
(Signed) G. T. Brown. 
Henry Simpson. 
George Williams. 
The above reports open up a large field for discussion, as — to 
commence with Class C, representing the division for the five 
premiums bestowed by the Eoyal Agricultural Society — the 
Judges complain that eight out of the fourteen sent up to the 
veterinary inspectors were rejected, and that in this, as in other 
classes, they were obliged to fall back upon inferior animals for 
premiums and reserve numbers. In the selection of stallions 
for a national purpose such as this is, the main object of all 
must be to prevent any inferior horse being made use of. This 
is one of the great points I observed in the working of the 
Haras system in France. The Government never gave less than 
3,000 francs for a stallion, and the same rule was observed 
in giving premiums, of which there were two classes — one of 
1 ,500 francs, and the other of 800 francs. The lower class, at 
the time I am alluding to, was the premium bestowed upon a 
horse worth three or four thousand francs, or say 150L ; but 
there was no sort of chance for an owner to get even 32 L a year 
for keeping an animal worth 40L This seems reasonable enough, 
and all the more obvious and important in England, as, in giving 
premiums of 200^., a higher class is appealed to. The object 
is not simply to get up a supply of cavalry horses, but to im- 
