SUPPLY OF HORSES ADAPTED TO THE ENGLISH ARMY. 233 
she may have a large head, ewe neck, upright shoulders, calf 
knees, long, crooked pasterns, long, slack back, weasel waist, 
short, drooping quarters, short thighs, curby or cow hocks, 
with dishing, speedy cutting, or slouching action. 
The selection of the sire will likewise be mainly determined 
by the small cost of service or along pedigree 5 though to 
the intrinsic merits of his race he may exhibit no personal 
claim whatever. A mongrel offspring is the result, and the 
breeder is led to the exercise of his British prerogative, and 
grumbles, not at his own mismanagement, but at what he 
calls capricious Nature, which drops a valuable foal in a 
neighbour's paddock, on the other side of his boundary fence. 
The farmer will not breed expressly for the army, but aim 
at getting either a weight-carrying hunter or a carriage-horse, 
with the further chance of receiving from £30 to £36 for his colt 
at four years old, for military service—no very bad alternative. 
When we take into consideration the wonders achieved of 
late years in our improved races of cattle, sheep, and 
pigs—their early maturity, their precocity in breeding—it is 
surprising that the same principles have not been generally 
applied to the horse, and attended with like results. In 
breeding for the turf alone has the new system been in any 
degree adopted. From the high and forcing diet afforded to 
the young thoroughbred, he has often, to all intents and pur¬ 
poses, as much arrived at maturity at four years old as the 
colt which has run loose on wild pastures at five. He is 
thoroughly furnished, and his bones are quite consolidated. 
In one respect only it would seem that Nature’s course can¬ 
not be accelerated, viz., the development of the teeth. What¬ 
ever be the extent to w'hich the young thoroughbred is forced, 
the dentition will not be forestalled, but the mouth will give 
a correct indication of his age. This circumstance promotes 
trickery among the breeders and dealers, which often produces 
prejudicial consequences; but from high-feeding, the young 
colt will now not only have a more fully developed frame, but 
greater fitness to stand work, than he would generally get- 
credit for if his age were honestly indicated by his teeth. 
This circumstance may explain, but not excuse, the cruelty 
to which young horses are so often exposed from extraction 
of milk teeth and cauterizing the gums and other such 
expedients to hasten the process of teething. It would seem 
then, that early maturity is as attainable in the horse 
as in other animals, and that not in appearance and stature 
only, but in fitness for bearing the strain of work. The same 
means Avill here be required which have been found so profit¬ 
able in the case of cattle, viz., a generous diet, such as proves 
remunerative not only in the market but in the manure-heap. 
