TJibroughhrecl Stallions at Nottingham. 
257 
last-named has been as a hunting sire botli in Lincolnshire and 
Shropshire, he is not as typical as his son Even, perhaps the 
most powerful horse in the show, on short legs and possessing 
immense bone. He well deserved his premium ; and so did 
Suleiman in Class G (Cheshire, Lancashire, and North Wales), 
as this son of Knight of the Crescent has plenty of bone, and he 
is so very bloodlike. The little horses, Royal George by Toxo- 
philite, and Ratcatcher by Young Monarque, have both creden- 
tials for getting good useful hunters ; but unfortunately they 
failed in obtaining the necessary qualifications from the Vete- 
rinary Inspectors. 
The report of the Veterinary Inspectors clears away some 
doubts as to why there have been so many discrepancies between 
the decisions of the most eminent men. It is seen from this 
report that seventeen out of thirty-four horses were rejected for 
unsoundness from bony deposits affecting joints, of which nine 
were from spavin and eight from ringbone. If the last terms 
fully implied everything, there can be little question about such 
horses being unsound ; but the prefix about bony deposits 
affecting joints gives one the idea that there was a tendency in 
some cases to spavin or ringbone ; and this is just where the 
difference of opinion comes in. Many people think — and I am 
of that opinion myself — that bony deposits in old horses must be 
allowed a good deal of margin, as very few horses that have 
been in training escape such signs of wear. I am convinced 
in my own mind that the Veterinary Inspectors were practically 
correct in all the decisions they came to at Nottingham, and, as 
I happened to know a good deal about most of the horses, 
I was pretty well aware of all they had to consider. 
It is highly necessary that the public should be made com- 
pletely aware of what constitutes hereditary unsoundness, and 
I believe that the best plan to adopt is to throw the onus on the 
J udges, by making the veterinary decisions simply a guide to 
go by in deciding the qualifications of a horse. That something 
will be done on the basis of some of the different suggestions 
which have been thrown out is probable enough ; and reform in 
this direction is very necessary, as by the system at present in 
vogue the particular horses required by the country can be very 
easily lost sight of. 
There is little doubt that the pattern taken by all the 
Government studs of Europe has been the English hunter. The 
nearest approach to such a horse is the best cavalry horse, and 
the best horse for general purposes, and to obtain this excellent 
type the foreigner has copied everything that has produced our 
best results much more closely than we have done ourselves. 
To supply the French Haras of which I have spoken our stoatest 
VOL. xxiv.— s. s. s 
