THE HUNTER. 
PLATE III. 
OLD IRISH HUNTER, a Gelding, the property of D. L. Scully, Esq., Limerick; by Young 
Wot tie, dam by Be van’s Andrew, grandam by Sankey, greatgrandam by Merry Andrew, 
known as the Miltown Andrew. 
To the Horses which, in the British Islands, are peculiarly fitted for the exercise of the modern chase, it is usual to apply 
the term Hunters. These form a class rather than a breed of horses, because different varieties of horse may be used for the 
purpose of hunting, as the Race-Horse itself, or the superior class of saddle-horses of any kind. Yet, as the methods of hunting 
now pursued throughout the country are nearly similar, and as horses possessing a peculiar kind of properties are the best suited 
for this exercise, a certain similitude of characters has been established between all the members of the class, on which account no 
error will result from considering the Hunter as a variety or breed, in the usual acceptation of the term. 
The modern Hunter differs greatly in his characters and form from the horses formerly employed in the chase in this country, 
having partaken of that tendency to a lighter form of which all the larger horses used for the saddle have partaken, and this in an 
increasing degree, within the last half century.* The same means, although with certain modifications, have been employed to 
form the Hunter as those used for the Race-Horse. The lighter and more agile horses of the warmer countries have been mixed 
in blood with the pre-existing races, so that the form of the latter has been moulded to a new standard. But this has not been 
done with the same system in the case of the Hunter as of the Race-Horse, nor with the same exclusive reference to the 
properties of speed. No breed of distinct lineage has been formed, whose descendants, mixing only with one another, have at 
length approached to a common type. The Hunters have been mixed not only with one another, but with every other race which 
seemed fitted to give the conformation and characters required. The horses of Spain, Italy, and Turkey, nay of Barbary and 
Arabia, have been resorted to in the case of the Hunter as of the Race-Horse; but the greatest and most direct effect has been 
produced through the medium of the Race-Horse itself, which has been employed ever since the institution of the regular Course 
to communicate its properties to the Hunter, as to the other classes of saddle-horses of the country. This mixture of the blood of 
the Race-Horse with that of the horses designed for the chase has been continually increasing, so that the characters of the mo¬ 
dern Hunter have been more and more approximating to those of the thoroughbred horse. Yet a great distinction has hitherto 
existed, and ought still to be preserved, between them. The Race-Horse is designed essentially for the exercise of the property of 
speed : the Hunter is also required to possess a degree of speed sufficient for the uses to which he is destined, but with this he 
should be possessed of endurance, and of the strength required for carrying the weight of his rider over an unequal surface. We 
may, if we please, so alter the character of the chase as to render it a rapid gallop for a short space, so that fleetness and light¬ 
ness shall be more sought for than strength and the power of endurance; but even in this case a distinction will exist between the 
characters suited for the Course and those required for the Hunting-field. The Hunter should possess a good fore-end, that he 
may pass safely along the rough surface over which he is urged, and over the obstacles which he encounters. The low fore-end 
and elevated hind-quarters, which are suited to the power of rapid progression over a smooth surface, would, in the Hunter, be 
inconsistent with safety; and the tendency to the ewe neck, which, in the short and violent gallop of the Course is admissible, 
would, in the case of the Hunter, be inconsistent with sensitiveness to the rein and the ease of the rider. The neck of the Hunter 
should be sufficiently muscular, and his chest just so broad as to indicate strength without heaviness. The long stride of the 
Racer not being required in the Hunter, he should possess the conformation which indicates strength in the dorsal and lumbar 
regions, that is, he should be well-ribbed home, and have the back moderately short. In the length and development of the hind¬ 
quarters, in the formation of the limbs, muscular to the knee and hock, and below these joints tendinous; and indeed, in almost 
all the other characters which indicate a well-formed horse, the two classes may be said to agree, except that the Hunter should 
be shorter legged, according to the common expression, that is, should have the limbs bear a less proportion to the trunk than the 
* The figure in the Plate exhibits the form of one of the older families of Hunters, now nearly extinct, known as the Old Irish Hunter. The individual 
of which the portrait is given is of a line familiarly known as the Merry Andrew strain. He is amongst the last living descendants of the pure line, of which 
a fine carriage-horse, taken over to Ireland about a century ago by one of the O'Brien family, was the progenitor. 
