618 
ON BREEDING. 
bian horses, shews that their principal reliance in breeding those 
truly valuable animals is in the choice of their mares*. 
“ I like practical knowledge, and I care not where it comes 
from,” says Mr. Cast ley. “ Horses may be said to constitute 
the whole of their (the Arabs) property, their stock in trade. 
Breeding and rearing these animals is the business of their 
lives, and has been for many ages back.” Almost every page 
in the stud book bears witness to the influence of the female in 
* breeding; and proves that as much, if not more, depends on 
her good qualities than on the male. 
The influence of the mare in breeding is strikingly seen in 
the extraordinary qualities of Eclipse, which never could have 
sprung from Marske, his sire, who w as considered one of the 
worst racers of his day; but from his dam Spilleta, whose sire 
w as Regulus, got by the Godolphin Arabian. It is true that 
Marske got many excellent runners beside Eclipse ; but this 
may be chiefly attributed to his having had the best mares 
which the country possessed sent to him, after his son’s extra¬ 
ordinary performances. The extraordinary speed of Flying 
Childers, who never had an equal, is also supposed to be de¬ 
rived chiefly from his dam Rachel t. “ She w as likewise the 
dam of Mark Anthony, Muslin, Dunny, Antonia, Dorilas, &c. &c. 
Mark Anthony started twenty-eight times, and out of which he 
w r on twenty ; and the sums he won in stakes, matches, plates and 
forfeits amounted to eight thousand five hundred and forty- 
seven guineas. He broke down when six years old, and never 
ran but at Newmarket.” 
“ The compact between them” (the male and female) says 
Mr. Blaine, “ is mysterious, yet influential and intimate, as nu¬ 
merous phenomena in gestation shew it to be.” This gentleman 
strongly urges the necessity of the breeder to make his selec¬ 
tion of both sire and dam with equal care; and highly censures 
those who, careless about the dam, breed from any mare 
they happen to possess or can procure, though it may even be 
unfitted for work by disease or age; and expect, provided they gain 
a leap from a tolerable stallion, to procure a valuable progeny, 
“ Seu qtiis, Olympiacae miratus praemia palmae, 
Pascitequos, seu quis fortes ad aratra juveneos, 
Compora praecipue matrum legat.” 
il Who, for the Olympian palm the courser rears, 
Or breeds to bea'r the yoke, resistless steers ; 
With prescient care, the destined mother trace, 
And form'd like her , expect the promised race ;' } 
* An Arab sometimes vows that he.will sacrifice a camel to God, if his 
mare should bring forth a female : in this case he slaughters the camel, and 
its flesh serves as a feast to all his friends.— Burckhardt's Travels. 
t Nic s » Hanckey Smith’s observations on breeding. 
