78 OBSERVATIONS ON THE HORSES OF CANADA. 
ing^vith sound good horses, when I tell you that it took three 
months this sunder, travelling about the country, to pick up 
twenty-five horses for the artillery service. 
There is no scarcity of stallions in the country, far too many 
for improving the breed. Every fellow who possesses a large- 
bodied staring colt is sure to keep him for a stud or seed-horse , 
as they are sometimes termed, without any reference to his points ; 
and the country is overrun with brutes of an inferior description, 
many of them covering at a dollar and two dollars; and if the 
owner of the mare cannot pay in cash, they trade a little, that is, 
he receives a certain quantity of wheat ; and it is this low price 
which induces very many farmers to send their mares to them, in 
preference to imported English and American horses, of which 
there is no lack. Of the former, there is Blacklock, Manx, Pan- 
mure, and Messenger ; and of the latter, Truxton, Prince Albert, 
Tom Kimble, Monolipan, Dan O’Connell, Catskill Duroc, Orphan 
Boy, and Hambletonian. There was also a horse called Wild 
Deer, bred in Canada. I saw several of his stock at Picton, Prince 
Edwards’ District, of a superior description ; and from the circum- 
stance of his having recently been purchased by an American, 
and taken off to the States at thirteen years of age, I have no doubt 
he was one of the right sort. There is likewise a horse called 
Sir Walter in that part of the country (Canada bred), well 
calculated to improve the breed in that neighbourhood. Blacklock 
and Messenger’s stock are of the very best description, as is also 
Prince Albert’s and Hambletonian’s. Catskill Duroc is highly 
spoken of, and carried off the premium of £50 at a recent agri- 
cultural show at Woodstock. There is also a horse called Dar- 
lington, and another called Tippo. 
When purchasing horses in Upper Canada the summer before 
last, I saw a two-year old Blacklock colt, which, from the circum- 
stance of his having been put to work at fifteen months’ old, had 
scarcely a leg to go upon : there was every thing about him calcu- 
lated to make a good nag, providing care had been taken of him. 
I likewise saw another very promising two-year-old, by the same 
sire, in the neighbourhood of Newmarket (from the owner of which 
we purchased a three-year-old), and I endeavoured to impress 
upon him the necessity of taking care of him, but all to no pur- 
pose ; for, upon calling on him this summer, I found he had been 
ploughing and drawing stumps out of the bush with him, and that 
he had thrown out spavins and curbs, and was completely ruined. 
So long as this system is kept up, which I have explained to 
several influential members of the Agricultural Society, it matters 
very little what sort of stock they breed from. Many of the 
Canadians are half Yankees, and have some extraordinary expres- 
