544 Breeding and Management of Horses on n Farm. 
him at all risks until five or six years old, with a chance of ob- 
taining a hundred, or a hundred and twenty guineas for him, to 
selling him at four years old without a character, and only realiz- 
ing half that sum. 
To say the real truth, in most instances breeding hunters is 
something like buying tickets in a lottery, and is a business that 
requires the exercise of a far greater degree of thought and judg- 
ment than most people suppose, to be made profitable in the 
highest degree. Any man, with a fair knowledge of horses and 
tolerable discrimination, may breed a horse that, being taken out 
with hounds, may be called a hunter, and may be worth from 
50/. to 60/. ; but to breed an animal of superior qualifications — 
one that can live with a fast pack of hounds in some of our crack 
counties, and subsequently stand a good chance of carrying off 
one or more hunter-stakes at the end of the season — is a differ- 
ent matter altogether, and, excepting through sheer luck, is not 
to be done by the man ignorant of the most important points of 
the horse, and of the pedigree, performances, and general charac- 
ter of the first mares and stallions of the day. 
Nevertheless, let me ask who is there who is not fond of a 
lottery-ticket, and where is the young farmer who objects to pos- 
sess one in the shape of a hunter ? If he chance to breed a good 
one, and be a bold rider in the field, since he will, no doubt, 
keep a horse of some kind for his own use, he may as well keep 
his colt from four years old till six as any other, and make a 
hunter of him, as, when perfect at his fences, he will find plenty 
of admirers in every hunting country. 
This choice, however, it must be admitted, is matter of fancy. 
The plodding farmer, who breeds a hunter for which he has no 
use, sells him so soon as he can make a profit of 15/. or 20/. by 
him, whether he be three or four years old ; whereas the young 
man, Avho does not make the most rigid calculati(ms of expense, 
and who is, moreover, a sportsman, and perhaps fancies himself a 
bit of a jockey, keeps his horse from year to year, in the hope of 
at last obtaining for him a considerable sum, which it is not im- 
possible that he may eventually do, but not certainly without 
incurring ccmsiderable risk. 
The above calculations, I must remark, have been made under 
circumstances most favouralile to the farmer; and 1 believe that, 
in the long run, were every item of the expenses of breeding and 
rearing horses taken into consideration, and placed against the 
average sums they realize, the balance would be but vei'y little, if 
anything, in favour of the breeder. 
When we consider the numerous diseases and accidents to 
which horses are subject, and that to pay a remunerating price 
they must at all events be sound, we cannot be surprised at the 
