374 OBSERVATIONS UPON THE PRESENT STATE OF HORSES 
bucket; whilst we are doing ourselves incalculable mischief by 
allowing some of our best material to pass out of our hands for 
ever. I should say, let foreigners take away our stallions as much 
as they please; but no mares. I would not suffer a single mare 
to leave the country; or, at all events, we should restrict the ex¬ 
portation to such as are under fifteen hands high. If the scar¬ 
city complained of in the northern districts continues to increase, 
as it has done of late years, gentlemen will begin to feel this 
rather a serious evil, and may think of adopting some legis¬ 
lative measure on the subject. But I would lock the door ere 
the steed be stolen. 
These causes, I think, have mainly tended to draw the best of 
the mares out of the farmers’ hands. But to these is to be 
superadded the “hard times”—the depression of the agricultural 
interest, so much felt and so much complained of, of late years. 
And here I cannot help repeating an excellent observation of my 
friend, Mr. Thomas Swan, of Bedale: “Thirty years ago,” said 
Tommy,“if a farmer had a good brood mare, he would as soon 
have thought of parting with his shirt; but the bad times makes 
them think of parting with any thing they have.” Nor is this 
to be wondered at; a man in embarrassed circumstances na¬ 
turally enough sells that which will fetch him most money. 
Th us the farmers, of late years, have been tempted to part with 
almost all their best mares; and, as I have said before, have been 
breeding from the refuse. This, in my mind, is sufficient to ac¬ 
count for the deterioration that is going on. It has produced its 
natural consequence. I took particular notice of the farmers 
riding into town on the last market day at Durham ; they were 
mounted, generally, upon little, bad mares, worth nothing. I have 
seen them infinitely better mounted, and hope to sec it again. 
We have still our race of thorough-bred horses, which are not 
only kept pure and distinct, but brought, perhaps, to the highest 
state of perfection. I never in my life, I think, saw a finer lot 
of young ones than those produced last year at Doncaster, to run 
for the St. Leger and the two years old stakes. They formed, 
indeed, together, a splendid constellation. Racing is the truest 
test of excellence; and so long; as this continues to be the fa- 
vourite amusement of our noblemen and gentlemen, so much en¬ 
couragement will always be given to breeding race-horses, that 
England must ever remain, at least with regard to the south¬ 
eastern blood, the Arabia of Europe. And as long as this is the 
case, there will be no danger of our losing the best of our stock 
of this kind. Any thing that has been found really superior will 
always be too highly prized amongst ourselves for foreigners ever 
to get from us: they will never pay the price of our first-rate 
