THE HOESE. 
35 
CLASSES OF BRITISH HORSES. 
very rarely, they are of the bright black common to the great Horses of the plains of Germany. They are of medium height, rarely 
much exceeding fifteen hands. Their form is that which an almost exclusive attention to the property of speed has tended 
to produce. They have the broad forehead, the brilliant eyes, the delicate muzzle, the expanded nostrils, and the wide throat 
characteristic of their Eastern progenitors. Their light body is comparatively long, and suited to the extended stride. Their 
chest is deep, so as to give due space to the lungs, but comparatively narrow, so as not to overload the fore extremities, and throw 
the limbs too far asunder in the gallop. Their shoulder is oblique, to give freedom of motion to the humerus, and their haunch is 
long and deep beyond that of any other known race of Horses, indicating the length of those bones of the hinder extremities 
on which the power of progression essentially depends. Their limbs are long and muscular to the knee and hock, and below flat, 
tendinous, and delicate, and their pasterns are long and oblique, so as to give elasticity to the limbs. The Stallions of this race 
afford the means of communicating the property of what is termed Blood to the common races. 
The Hunter, so named from the gay and exciting exercise to which he is destined, is rather to be regarded as forming a class 
than a breed, since different varieties of horses, if they possess sufficient speed and bottom, may be used for the chase. The 
modern Hunter, like the Race-Horse, is derived from the pre-existing races of the country; but, in place of a direct mixture with 
the Horses of the East, he has generally had the property of blood communicated to him through the intervention of the Race- 
Horse. This variety presents a greater diversity of characters than the Race-Horse. The individuals are made to breed less 
exclusively with their fellows, and a less jealous attention is paid, in the breeding of them, to purity of descent. They do not 
require the power of rapid progression in the same degree as the Race-Horse, but they demand the possession of properties in 
which he may be, and often is, greatly deficient; namely, action, and the power of enduring fatigue. Any good saddle-horse 
may be a hunter, and the Hunter therefore does not form an exclusive caste like the Race-Horse, but a class into which any 
kind of horse may be admitted which possesses the properties required. 
The increased speed of the modern chase, arising from changes in the practice of the hunting-field, tends, as was formerly 
explained, to produce a great change in the kind of horses devoted to this exercise. The older race of Hunters has been giving 
place to one of lighter form and higher breeding, and even the Thorough-bred Horse is now employed by numerous sportsmen. But 
the Thorough-bred Hoise, although he may be adapted to the short and fiery gallop of the modern chase, is not possessed of the 
same combination of useful qualities as the true Hunter. He is admirably fitted for the exercise of the powers of speed for a limited 
space, but he generally wants the strength and bottom which should characterize an animal suited for long-continued exertion. 
The true English Hunter must be regarded as a saddle-horse of the first class, combining, in the proportion required, the 
strength of the races of Northern Europe with the spirit and fleetness of those of the South and East. Not only are these 
strong and elegant horses employed in the exercise of the hunting field, but they are used for the ordinary purposes of the saddle, 
for military chargers, for the lighter wheel-carriages which luxury has multiplied, and even for many of the innumerable public 
vehicles which the improvement of roads has brought into operation in every part of the kingdom. 
From the Race-Horse, which occupies one extremity of the chain, and the Hunter, which, though inferior to him in speed, 
is superior in useful properties, down to the races in which either no admixture, or a slight one, of foreign blood exists, the 
varieties of horses used for the saddle, or for the lighter carriages of all kinds, are without definable boundaries. Each in¬ 
dividual, indeed, may be said to form a variety, according to the degree of crossing with those of higher breeding. A common 
mare with a thorough-bred stallion, a hunter, a coach-horse, or any male of an intermediate degree of breeding, will give birth 
to a different variety in each case, and each of these varieties again will produce another, according to the race or breeding of the 
male employed. Hence it is that we see in this country horses of such endless variety in size, form, aspect, and properties. In 
other countries, the horses of a large district usually present a certain similitude, which connects them together as a breed or 
family. In England, every kind seems to be collected, with no greater resemblance between the individuals than if they were 
brought from different parts of the globe. 
In general, the saddle and carriage horses of this country have been tending, for a period past, to the lighter form cha¬ 
racteristic of superior breeding, and many of the older varieties have either become rare or extinct. This change has been 
proceeding in an accelerated ratio since the commencement of the present century. It may be ascribed to the increasing taste 
for the lighter and more elegant forms of the Horse; but in an important degree also, to the improvement in the means of inter¬ 
nal communication, and a change in the modes of travelling. 
Within the last sixty or seventy years, a surprising revolution has taken place in the means of communication throughout 
the British Islands, by the extension and improved construction of roads. The increase of highways, now extending to upwards 
of 170,000 miles of carriage road, has accompanied the general improvement of the country ; and during the latter part of the 
period in question, the application of a few simple principles has rendered the roads better fitted for all kinds of wheel-carriages. 
