32 INCREASING OUR SUPPLIES OF CAVALRY HORSES. 
preference ought certainly to be given to one who has done 
something. For my own part I would far rather pay £5 for 
putting a mare to a horse whose speed and bottom had been 
proved by frequent victories, than £2 for the services of one 
who, never having been tried, might be a worthless brute. 
Of the other essentials of a stallion, next to high pedigree 
and proved prowess, I would place the formation of the 
shoulders, the position and conformation of the fore-legs, and 
the shape of the neck and head. On these, space not 
permitting me to dilate, I must condense my meaning by 
saying that no horse ought to be used for the class of mares 
I am speaking of, which has not shoulders well receding, a 
good fore-hand, a refined head, and a neck long enough, yet 
with sufficient substance : above all, his action must be as 
good as possible, as much of the value of his stock will 
depend upon their inheriting this quality. 
The convictions which I hold on this subject are the result 
of no brief experience, and of no cursory observation. Since, 
however, I have been the ovmer of Red Deer, they have 
received additional strength from the opportunities which I 
have possessed of watching the progress of his progeny from 
the mares which have been sent to him by other persons. I 
must say that in numerous instances in which I have prog- 
nosticated failure, I have been agreeably mistaken, and that 
mares w hose exterior v^as of the most unpromising kind have 
produced excellent foals by him. In point of size and sub- 
stance especially, his stock more than bear out what I have 
always maintained on this subject. I will quote one or two 
instances. A farmer put two mares of his team — the one to 
Red Deer, the other to a cart-horse. The difference in size 
is so striking between the tv r o foals, that persons at a distance 
always mistake in guessing wffiich is the son of the thorough- 
bred horse. Another farmer put an insignificant-looking 
little mare, about 15 hands high, to Red Deer. The foal 
promises to obtain great size, while his action and general* 
appearance seem well suited for making him a hunter. I 
have two foals of my own out of thorough-bred mares, one by 
Red Deer, enormously lengthy, and of great strength; the 
other by a Yorkshire coach-horse (the mare having belonged 
to a farmer previous to my purchasing her), which is small 
and insignificant, compared with the first. It is probable 
that the coach-horse might weigh half as much again as Red 
Deer, and therefore to the inexperienced would seem to 
possess more substance. The surplus, however, being chiefly 
made up of fat and “ offal, ” is not transmitted to another 
generation. I attach next to no importance to the size of 
