IMPROVEMENT OF HORSES. 
167 
lack of fine qualities may be made up in "weight and mere mus¬ 
cular power, sprightliness not being essential for such use; six¬ 
teen and a half hands would probably be a better height. If 
intended for the turf simply—as no horse ever should be—there 
should be as little weight as is consistent with the muscular 
development essential to the greatest locomotive speed. 
The farmer’s horse need not have so much of “blood,” as 
nothing extraordinary is required of him; still the blood can 
be of no disadvantage, and while it will be a satisfaction to the 
owner, will also render the animal so muGh the more saleable if 
a gelding, or more valuable for breeding, if a mare. 
IMPROVABILITY OP THE HORSE. 
Such, then, being the end to be sought, the ideal to be de¬ 
sired, it behooves us in the next place to consider its attaina¬ 
bility. Is it possible to so improve the horse that instead of 
the poor apologies which disgrace our country in the estimation 
of all who are ambitious of excellence, the fine horse shall be 
the rule, and the miserablethe exception. 
Analogy and experience both answer this question in the af¬ 
firmative. Indeed all organic beings are improvable within cer¬ 
tain limitations, but those limitations lie directly upon the line 
of the perfection of that species to which they belong. 
The analogy of grains, fruits, &c., is in point; which from 
very mean beginnings often develope themselves under the skill 
of man, into the possession of every desirable quality. Thus 
the potato, when first invented , as the Scotch divines used to 
say, was a miserable acid tuber, unfit for even swine ; and the 
apple with all its luscious varieties, had its origin in the sour 
and gnurly crab. 
So also has it been with numerous animals. But experi¬ 
ence has fully demonstrated the highest improvability of the 
horse. The matchless Arabian has already been referred to, 
as having probably had its origin among the ordinary breeds of 
Egypt. 
