llofse-b reeding for Profit. 
73 
Cleveland mare, which I regard as the ideal type of farmer’s 
bi’ood-mare, I shall have something to say later on. 
Blood-stock may be eliminated from serious consideration as 
an appanage of the farm. Like everything else connected with 
the turf, there is too much dependent on fortune, and should a 
farmer with a thoroughbred mare have the enterprise to send 
her to the most fashionable blood, and to pay the enormous fee 
that such sires command, it cannot be wisdom for him to run 
the risk of the great loss that a barren mare or an indifferent 
foal must be to him. Hunters, however, may be worth his 
attention if he lives in a hunting country and hunts himself, 
or has a son that can ride a horse to sell. I know plenty of 
small farmers who make it pay, but I do not think it is the 
most safe or lucrative form of breeding on a farm. At the same 
time hunters never fetched a higher price than they do now if 
they know their work, and, as the Hon. George E. Lascelles 
points out in his paper on “Half-Bred Horses for Field or Road,” 
as men of every size and weight join in the sport, no matter what 
the size of the horse there is always a market for him. Besides 
this, the possession of a hunter promises the farmer tlie prospect 
of combining pleasure and profit. 
The uncertainties and risks in breeding hunters are very 
considerable, and it is impossible when you have bred one 
“ clipper ” to count on getting even off the same mare by the 
same sire another equally, or even approximately, as good. I 
have had off the same dam (a well-bred strong mare, and the 
cleverest I ever had) two consecutive foals, the first by Lord 
Zetland's Morocco, that reached IG hands 3 inches at four years 
old, and the next by Laureate (by Posicrucian) which only got 
to 14 hands 2 inches at four years old. They were both very 
good, but I sold them, as one was too big and the other too 
small for me. Of one thing there is no doubt, that to breed 
hunters successfully it is necessary to keep clear of carting- 
blood, and you must not be afraid of keeping your horses till 
they are five years old if you wish to sell them well. Really 
big blood hunters take six years to get properly furnished 
and conditioned, and the difference between the same horse at 
four and at six or even seven years old is often astonishing. 
In Cleveland very few hunters remain in the farmers’ hands 
after four years of age ; but many that are sold for a little money at 
that age, or at three years, fetch a very long price a year or two 
after. Perhaps the ideal weight carrier is the second thorough- 
bred cross off an active Cleveland mare. One of the hardest 
fifteen-stone men I know told me quite lately the best hunter 
and stayer he ever had was ont of a Cleveland mare by Ilollyfox. 
