204 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
JULV 
BREEDING HORSES—No. II. 
Since my former article on this subject was written ; 
I have met with a communication in the London Vete¬ 
rinarian for February last, written by William Good¬ 
win, Veterinary Surgeon to the Queen. Mr. G. begins 
by saying that “ it is an admitted fact by all those con¬ 
versant with the horse market in England, that good 
horses were never known to be so scarce as they now 
are.” The kinds of horses of which there is the great¬ 
est scarcity, are hunters and riding horses, “it being,” 
as he says, “ but too true that the superior riding horse, 
or valuable hunter, has become almost a rara-avis, as 
compared with former days.” His idea appears to be, that 
due regard has not been paid, in breeding, to substance 
and constitution. The following paragraph shows that 
the thorough-bred racer is not the kind of horse he is de¬ 
sirous of procuring for the purposes mentioned: 
“ Some years since, when the Earl of Albemarle was 
Master of the Horse, his Lordship sent me to Chelten¬ 
ham, to look at a carriage horse that had been reported 
to him as likely to make an acquisition to the royal sta¬ 
bles. On setting out, I had but little idea that I should 
find the required description of animal in that part of 
the country; but directly I saw the horse, I did not hesi¬ 
tate for a moment to make purchase of him, the price 
being but 110 guineas, [about $550.] He belonged to 
Mr. James, the livery stable keeper there, who informed 
me that an own brother to the horse., equally as fine an 
animal, had been sold the previous year to Mr. Elmore, 
who had sold him to the Master of the Horse to Queen 
Adelaide, for the royal stables. Two finer horses were 
never seen; and they were both about sixteen hands 
three inches high. Now, these horses were got by a 
thorough-bred horse out of a Welch pony mare, not 
more than fourteen hands high. Had these circumstan¬ 
ces occurred in a stud, the results obtained would have 
probably led to the repetition of the cross often enough 
to have elicited some highly important facts.” 
The first American authority to which I would refer, 
to show the degeneracy of the blood horse, is the late 
Cadwallader R. Colden, a gentleman eminently dis¬ 
tinguished in his day for his extensive knowledge of 
horses, and a devoted amateur of the turf. In the first 
volume of the New-York Sporting Magazine , (1833,) 
is a series of articles from his pen, under the signature 
of “ An Old Turfman,” entitled “ Blood Horses of the 
Olden Time." He observes— 
“ That the English [blood] horses of. the present day 
are very different in form, appearance, size, and in many 
instances those marks indicative of high breeding, from 
what they were seventy or eighty years ago, is certain. 
* * * That those bred of late years in America are 
running into the same extremes of height and length, as 
those now bred in England, there cannot be a question; 
and although it is possible, (which, by the by, admits 
of a doubt,) that they may have acquired some small 
addition of speed, this is overbalanced by their general 
want of endurance.” 
After having fully discussed and considered this point, 
he adds in conclusion—“ that there has been a falling 
off in the American-bred horses, in those essential requi¬ 
sites, form, substance, and durability, I am warranted 
from nearly forty years’ observation in asserting.” 
Mr. Colden considered the chief error in breeding, 
to be the same here that has prevailed in England— 
that is a passion for tall horses, with the ability to 
make a long stride. He says it is this fashion which 
has induced breeders to “ send their mares to some tall, 
lath-like made animal, sixteen hands, or sixteen hands and 
a half high, because he has what they term size; that 
is, nine times out of ten, very long and ill-shapen legs; 
nothing in his style or form indicative of stamina, 
strength, or continuance.” 
Such, he remarks, is the kind of animal which many 
breeders have selected, “ instead of one of moderate 
height, and of great muscular power and substance, 
which they will call a little horse." 
Gen. Thos. Emory, of Md., the breeder of the noted 
running mare Lady Clifden, in a letter to the American 
Turf Register , (vol. IX., March, 1838,) speaks of the 
horses which he had seen during a visit he had then lately 
made to England. After mentioning Camel , The Colonel, 
and Caccia Piatti, he says —“ I saw no other horses in 
England that I would breed from gratis, except the 
Black Arabian in the king’s stud, which they have al¬ 
lowed to be sold to the continent without, as I under¬ 
stood, having bred but few mares to him. This horse 
bears all the marks of the pure Arabian,—a high ra¬ 
cing form, silky hair, and legs that look as clean and 
flinty as those of the deer, with the finest game head, 
terminated by a muzzle containing nostrils which, when 
distended, you might thrust your fist in. The passion 
in England for breeding slapping colts to run in their 
two or three year old shakes, completely puts this noble 
horse under the ban. They will probably have occa¬ 
sion to regret his loss.” 
An idea seems to prevail -that a horse which exhibits 
the most speed upon the turf, must of course be best 
calculated for use as a roadster #r carriage horse. 
Without intending to discuss the point in detail, it may 
be well to inquire whether the form and proportions 
which confer the greatest power and speed in the gal¬ 
lop, would also enable the animal to move to the best 
advantage in the gait required for the carriage ? To 
my mind it appears evident that the different action in 
running and trotting, requires a corresponding difference 
of mechanism, to confer the greatest facility of move¬ 
ment in both cases. 
To illustrate this, take an example. Perhaps a better 
model of an animal for racing or galloping, could not be 
selected, than the hare. Its mode of progression, when 
pursued, is by a succession of rapid leaps, and the perfec¬ 
tion of its organization for such movements, is evinced by 
its astonishing performances—a space of from ten to 
twelve feet being passed over at a single bound.* But 
what sort of a figure would a hare cut at a trot ? Ob¬ 
serve the motion of horses whose shape approaches 
nearest the hare: a long, low, slouching gait, moving, 
as it were, “ a side at a time,” distinguishes them. 
Take, for instance, the celebrated English race horse 
Eclipse. 
Prof. St. Bell, in his u Essay on the Proportions of 
Eclipse," states that he was one inch higher from the 
top of the rump to the ground, than from the withers to 
the ground; and he observes that this form, together 
with the disproportionate size of the hind quarters, 
necessarily occasioned a degree of wavering in the croup, 
perceptible and somewhat unpleasant in his gallop.” 
It is a well-known fact that many horses which run 
well, are, when put to a trot, liable to stumble—a fact 
so generally acknowledged as to give rise to the trite 
expression,—“ a race horse is a stumbler.” 
Again, does it not frequently occur, that very dis¬ 
tinguished racing stallions, beget the most worthless do- 
* The animal here alluded to is the varying hare, Lepus varia- 
b'tiis, of naturalists. 
