422 BREEDING OF HUNTERS AND HACKS. 
kcton, I can say from personal observation, is very remark¬ 
able ; while the Devonians must know better than I can tell 
them how much they in turn owe to the Dorsley Stud Farm, 
which I had the pleasure of inspecting a year or two since. 
1 have also seen the beauties of Mamhead, where a similar 
principle is upheld; for though the illustrious Gemma di 
Vergy may be beyond our reach, I am glad to hear that 
since I was there Sir Lydston Newman has provided a 
second horse with such good stout blood in his veins as the 
Dupe, who will, no doubt, come within the farmers figure. 
It will be gathered that the point of this paper is a re¬ 
liance on the use of the thorough-bred horse for improving 
our breed of hacks and hunters. Other crosses, with the 
sine qua non of purity on one side, are of course available, 
such as putting the cart-stallion on to the blood-mare ; but 
these extremes rarely meet or nick,^^ and are not to be 
recommended. A better plan would naturally be to associate 
the thorough-bred dam with the cocktail sire; but this, so 
far as the tenant-farmer is concerned, is practically impos¬ 
sible. It would require far too large an outlay to buy in the 
stamp of running mares fit to breed hunters from, and we 
must be content with what I believe, after all, to be the very 
best means for the purpose. No animal leaves a stronger 
imprimatur of himself than the racehorse; and though he 
may not be big and bulky, he will often throw back to more 
size and power. The cross put the other way is not common, 
neither can I remember any such striking examples of its 
success as, even if possible, to warrant its more general 
adoption. Nearly all our best steeple-chase horses, if not 
themselves quite thorough-bred, have claimed thorough-bred 
sires; and I may cite an example in this w’ay that came per¬ 
sonally under ‘my own observation very early in life. My 
father had for many years in his stud a thorough-bred mare 
called Pintail, by Pioneer, that, just tow’ards the close of her 
career, threw that famous steeple-chase horse, The British 
Yeoman,^^ by Count Porro. Her previous produce, however, 
had been anything but superior, and as a chance for imbuing 
them with a little more stoutness and substance, she was put 
one season to a good-looking three-parts-bred stallion that 
w^as travelling in the district, the result being unquestionably 
the veriest w^eed of the whole familv. As for the Yeoman 
himself, light, wiry horse as he was, nothing but his pure 
lineage could have carried him through dirt and under weight 
in the wav it did. 
[To he continued^ 
