424 
C Ull SOli Y llKMAKKS. 
there is a certain risk attached to the castrating a well-bred colt, 
because, should he turn up a trump, his value ceases with his 
work ; but still I am decidedly of opinion that there are hundreds 
of colts that prove worthless when left entire, which would have 
made race-horses had they been castrated at a year old, and 
continued running on till seven or eight years old, instead of 
being thrown out of training as worthless at three. Of course 
I allude to that description of colt which is inclined to become 
too heavy for his legs, or “ overtopped/’ as the term is ; added 
to the fact of entire horses almost always requiring much more 
work to bring them to the port than either geldings or mares. 
With the exception of Doctor Syntax — and it is well known that 
he was never pressed in his work, being reserved for certain 
cups — those racers that have stood training for any considerable 
number of years have been either geldings or mares : witness 
Rebel, Euphrates, Habberley, Marksman, Philip, Victoria, my 
old mare Victorine, and a long list of others too numerous to 
mention. With respect to colts designed to make hunters, 
indiscriminate recourse to castration at the expiration of the first 
year is still more to be condemned. Those that are inclined to 
be weak in their necks, or deficient in any essential points, 
would be decidedly benefitted by not being cut until the second 
year ; at the same time that caution is to be observed when 
they incline to the opposite extreme — that is, being too heavy 
for their legs. The last colt I bred would not have been worth 
ten pounds, had he been cut at a year old, having been very 
weakly when dropped, and very badly suckled, being the pro- 
duce of a very old mare ; whereas, by being left entire until the 
second year, he paid well for rearing. He was got by Mr. Theo- 
bald’s Norfolk trotter, out of a famous trotting hackney mare ; 
and having been sold at my sale, after I left England, to a 
butcher at Hartley Row, has distinguished himself, I have been 
told, as a trotter. As to the operation of castration, I have no 
remarks to make on that part of this subject, but I severely 
condemn the practice of having recourse to it, during the first 
year, without a regard to circumstances. 
In reference to the often-discussed question, why do we cast- 
rate colts intended for hunters 1 1 I have an observation or two to 
offer. There is certainly a prejudice against stallions as hunters, 
and in part founded on experience. In the first place, accidents 
have happened from them in the field, by their lashing out their 
heels in a crowd, which the most forward riders occasionally 
find themselves in, at gateways, &c. Secondly, they are given 
to be sulky, and to refuse their fences ; and, lastly, a strange 
charge is brought against them, which I scarcely know whether 
