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History of American Thoroughbred Thirtyseventh Installment Great power Is of course required to mount these ponderous masses but great speed is also required to move them for unless they an be launched at a tremendous rate all the horses being so equal in their pace and stride that the line Is kept perfectly dressed and even to the moment when the shock Is to be given the charge is a failure failureTo To attain the power of Immense speed for a short time under a crushing weight in the actual charge and to combine with it the power of staying long distances coming again quickly moving actively and enduring severe distress nothing but the highest possible de ¬ gree of blood that can be combined with bone size shape and action sufficient to endure such weights and all this capable of being furnished at a possible price can succeed This can be and is attained by the crossing of choice blood stallions of the proper build and style on properly selected mares to the second and third generation The light brig ¬ ade of Lord Cardigan which made that pro ¬ digious charge and retreat each of a mile and a half was mounted on three parts blood horses It is safe to assert that had they been halfbreds not one horse would have got back into the British lines had they possessed no blood at all they would all have stood still before they reached the Russian batteries batteriesThe The heavy brigade of Brigadier General Scarlet which rode through the Russian troopers in fourfold force as if they had been lines of pasteboard were mounted on charg ¬ ers having two crosses of pure blood or as nearly so as possible Nothing but blood could have accomplished either feat featHORSES HORSES DECIDE BATTLES BATTLESAnd And it is well to remember that when cavalry meets cavalry in the deadly shock both being equally brave and equally well led that cavalry which is horsed on charg ¬ ers of the same weight but of inferior blood and stride must go down like grass before scythe scytheThis This is the pride and triumph of blood that it can do everything for which It is Intended quite well and that nothing else can do so with the exception of pulling tons of weight at a foots pace and I have seen blood horses which could have done that too had they been put to it one in particular a gigantic stallion named Belshazzar which stood for country mares in the West Riding of Yorkshire in about the year 1830 He was above seventeen hands high and as large boned and generally powerful as any Cones toga horse I have ever beheld beheldThe The true utility of the thoroughbred horse therefore is the raising the standard of speed spirit and endurance which are blood n horses for all purposes the road the uinting field the shock battle for pomp for speed for courage for true service serviceWoe Woe to the country which aspiring to equestrian fame relies on any blood but Lhat or any mode of maintaining that at its acme but the assiduous encouragement and patronage of the race horse and the turf turfEXGLAXDS EXGLAXDS STAXDAHD STAXDAHDIt It was thus that England won centuries ago her admitted invincibility her immeas ¬ urable superiority over all European nations in her breed of horses not of one but of all castes not for use but for all conceivable purposes thus that she has preserved her prestige unaltered unalteredIt It is thus that we following her example can show one country the only one on earth to which it has been introduced in which the English horse has not degenerated degeneratedIn In the following description the points of the thoroughbred horse are so admirably laid down by Stonehenge and are so exactly those which I hold to constitute the perfection of a blood horse in high form not only for racing purposes but as a stallion for improving the breed of animals and for getting the best horses from any possible class of mare for all possible uses unless for the very slowest and most ponderous draught that I extract it entire endorsing it with all my strength from an excellent work on British Rural Sports to which I have here before recorded my indebtedness indebtednessaiEA aiEA raG OF THOROUGH BLOOD BLOODPurity Purity of blood In a sine qua non for rac ¬ ing purposes but it is necessary to under ¬ stand what is meant by the term blood It is not to be supposed that there is any real difference between the blood of the thorough ¬ bred horse and that of the halfbred animal no one could discriminate between the two by any known means the term blood is here synonomous with breed and by purity of blood we mean purity in the breeding of the individual under consideration that is to say that the horse which is entirely bred from one source is pure from any mixture with others and may be pure Suffolk or pure Clydesdale or a pure thoroughbred horse But all these terms are comparative since there is no such animal as a perfectly purely bred horse of any breed whether cart horse hade or race horse all have been produced from an admixture with other breeds and though now kept as pure as possible yet they were originally compounded from varying elements Even the best and purest thor ¬ oughbreds are stained with some slight im ¬ perfections and therefore it is only by com ¬ parison that the word pure is applicable to them or any others But since the thorough ¬ bred horse as he is called has long been bred for racing purposes and selections have been made with that view alone it is reasonable to suppose that this breed is the best for that purpose and that a stain of any other is a deviation from the clearest stream into one more muddy and therefore impure the consequence Is that the animal bred from the impure source fails in some of the essen ¬ tial characteristics of the pure breed and is in so far useless for this particular object Now in practice this Is found to be the case for in every instance it has resulted that the horse bred with the slightest deviation from the sources indicated by the stud book is un ¬ able to compete in lasting power with those which are entirely of that breed Hence it is established as a rule that for racing pur ¬ poses every horse must be thoroughbred that is as I have already explained of a sire and dam whose names are met with in the stud book bookThe The external form of the race horse is of great Importance but there Is no doubt that the axiom is correct that the horse can run in all forms The instances where this is so however arc the exceptional cases and the rule nevertheless is a good one which lays down that coeteris paribus the horse will be bethe the best runner which is formed in the mol most like that of the greatest number of good race horses Thus It Is found that out of fifty good horses fortynine have neat heads light necks deep chests oblique shoulders Ions racing hindquarters strong hocks etc tho presumption will be that a horse resembling those fortynine in shape will also resemble them in speed and endurance On the other hand it is admitted on the turf that high breeding Is of more consequence than exter ¬ nal shape and that of two horses one perfect in shape but of an inferior strain of blood and the other of the most winning blood but not so well formed in shape the latter will be the most likely to perform to the satisfac ¬ tion of his master on the race course On this principle the proverb has been framed and handed down to us that an ounce of blood is worth a pound of bone and with tho above explanation such is really the case But in spite of all this recognized superiority of blood it is indisputable that for the high ¬ est degree of success there must be not only high purity of blood and that of the most winning strains but there must also be a frame of the most useful character if not always of the most elegant form formMany Many of our best horses have been plain and even coarse looking as for instance most of the Melbournes and especially that very fast horse Sir Tatton Sykes but in spite of their plainness all the points aro good and useful and the deficiency is in elegance not in real utility Nothing can exceed the goodness of the frames of this horses stock and their width of hip and general roominess of make is such as to givo them enormous power and great substance of muscle which is particularly serviceable in the fillies bred by him a class of animals more often deficient in these points than colts From this it results that the distinc fion must always be made between elegance and utility and it must be remembered that while the former pleases the eye it is not really conducive to victory while on the other hand the ragged hips and general bony frames of some horses are not so elegant to the eye but they give strong attachment to the moving powers and also allow the mus ¬ cular system to be largely developed on their foundation The following are the generally admitted good points by which the race horso of high caste is distinguished from the com ¬ mon herd herdVARIATIONS VARIATIONS IN HEIGHT HEIGHTThe The height of the race horse varies from fifteen hands to sixteen and onehalf hands or even seventeen hands but the general height of our best horses is about fifteen hands three inches Few firstclass perform ¬ ers have exceeded the height of Surplice which is sixteen hands one inch as was also the Derby winner Wild Dayrell Sir Tatton Sykes was fifteen and onehalf hands and be ¬ tween his height and that of Surplice may bo ranged every great winner for the last ten or twelve years from 1S45 to 1857 This average therefore may be fairly laid down as the best height for the race horse though t cannot be denied that for some small and confined courses as for instance that of Chester a smaller horse of little more than fifteen hands height has a better chance as being more capable of turning round the con ¬ stantly recurring angles and bends bendsThe The head and neck should be characterized by lightness which is essential for this de ¬ partment Whatever is unnecessary is so much dead weight and we know the effect of seven pounds in impeding the horse over a distance of ground Now seven pounds are easily bestowed upon a neck which may dif ¬ fer in at least twenty or thirty pounds be ¬ tween the two extremes of lightness and ex ¬ cessive weight Thus it may be considered as indubitable that whatever is met with in the head and neck which is not necessary for the particular purposes of the race horso is so much weight thrown away and yet it must be carried by the horse horseSuch Such is the general character of this part but in detail the head should be lean about the jaw yet with a full development of fore liead which should be convex and wide so as to contain within the skull a good volume of brain Supposing the rullness to exist all the rest of the head may be as fine as pos ¬ sible the jaws being reduced to a fine muz ¬ zle with a slight hollowing out in front but with a width between the two sides of tho lower jaw where it joins the neck so as to allow plenty of room for the top of the wind ¬ pipe when the neck is bent bentThe The ears should be pricked and fine not too short eyes full and spirited nos ¬ trils large and capable of being well dilated when at full speed which is easily tested by the gallop after which they ought to stand out firmly so as to show the internal lining fully The neck should be muscular and yet light the windpipe loose and separata from the neck that is not too tightly bound down by the fascia or membrane of the neck The crest should be thin and wiry not thick and loaded as is often seen in coarse stal ¬ lions or even in some mares Between the two extremes of the eweneck and Its opposite there are many degrees but for rac ¬ ing purposes I should prefer of the two tho former to the latter for few horses can go well with their necks bent so as to draw tho chin to the bosom but here as in most other cases the happy medium is to be desired which Is that exhibited in the figure of King ¬ ston which is a horse as remarkable for his shape as for his exceedingly distinguished performances His head and general form are those whifh may be selected as tho pattern for the race horse for though he is often considered as too light in the irth he is In my opinion just what a race horsa should be in that department which is moro frequently too deep than tho reverse and his wellknown stoutness as well as that of his kith and kin verifies the opinion opinionDETAILS DETAILS ON CONFORMATION CONFORMATIONThe The body or middle piece should be mod ¬ erately long and not too much confined be ¬ tween the last rib and the hip bone So long as the last or back ribs are deep It is not of so much importance that they should be closely connected to the hip bone for such a shape shortens the stride and though it enables the horse to carry weight yet it prevents him from jtaining a high rat of speed The back Itself should be muscular and the hips too wi e so as to allow of a good development of tho muscular depart ¬ ment The withers may rise gently but not too high with that thin razorlike elevation which many people call a good shoulder but which really has nothing to do with that part and is only an annoyance to the saddler In preventing its being pinched by the saddle J Xo Be Continued
