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system, that all horses of Eastern blood were found to be superior to the old English breed, and little or no distinction made between them, many or most being called or considered as Arabs, although unworthy of the name; and although the immediate good result of the Darley Arabian, as shown by his sons (the only true Arabian so far as we can be certain), alone ought to have convinced us, if other data were wanting (which they are not), of his superiority, no efforts were made to collect more of that pure blood.

At the present time, in spite of the numerous engraftings of inferior strains upon the Darley Arabian line, notwithstanding the loss of the blood in direct male line from his best son, Flying Childers, and the advantage the Turk's line derived from the blood of Flying Childers, the descendants in direct male descent from the Darley Arabian may be unhesitatingly pronounced to keep their heads in front. If any data I have given, or any notes made, may tend to the support of a greater cultivation of this blood, I shall be amply rewarded. It may be said the blood of the three lines may be so intermingled, that even if we were to relinquish the two inferior ones we should never get rid of the blood. Granted, the mischief has been done; we shall no more quite get rid of it than we have of some particles or some of the characteristics of the old native breed; but from breeding from descendants of the Darley Arabian line alone, we might to a very great extent hold the inferior strains in abeyance.

Were this tried, and to a certain extent it has-and

many striking examples were shown and alluded to when the line Darley Arabian was under consideration— it would lead to a clearer view of what the results would now have been at this time, if such blood as that of the Darley Arabian had alone been used, and what they would be in a very short time were such pure Arabian blood only to be bred from.

There is one little incidence of breeding that will not have escaped notice-at least I think not-and whenever it has recurred, excellence in that individual, no matter of what family, is noticeable. I allude to the Vauxhall Snap mare and her son Shuttle, he being the produce of a great-great-grandson of the Darley Arabian, through Bartlet's Childers from a mare (the Vauxhall Snap mare), the daughter of a great-great-grandson of the Darley Arabian, through Flying Childers. This breeding, which is nothing more nor less than a union of or breeding back to the Darley Arabian through the two Childers, is seen among others in the pedigree of Sweetmeat, Kingston, Crucifix, Beadsman, Gladiateur, and The Black Doctor. The last-named, although not a distinguished horse at the stud, showed great stoutness and gameness as a racer.

CHAPTER III.

General opinion that impure stock may become pure in eight descents-A different opinion held by the Arabs-Not achieved in the case of the English horse-The breeding of the Eastern horses imported into this country discussed-Remarks on a review of 'Les Races chevalines de la Russie, par J. Morder'-Inferences drawn therefrom-Remarks on the horses that followed Flying Childers-Not so purely bred-Great size no proof that degeneracy has not occurred―The English thorough-bred horse not of pure Arabian blood - The excellence of the English horse attributable to Arabian blood-False system of breeding pursued after the time of Childers discussed-Greater results would have been gained if a different system had been pursued-The necessity of obtaining pure stock for the purpose of establishing a standard breed of horses.

IN the first chapter it was shown that in the Darley Arabian's time, and just previously to his importation, there really were racers of entirely Eastern blood and origin; but that since the days of his son Flying Childers, no such horses have been bred, but all subsequently have only been partially of Eastern blood, and have inherited many stains of base blood. Had only Eastern blood (instead of pure Arabian) been sufficient to have established a pure race, our horse might have been styled thorough-bred with far more truth then than now.

From the history of the English racer given in the last chapter, it will be seen that the breeding of our horse is very imperfect-that he is not entirely descended from pure blood. It is very commonly considered that,

in breeding, any stain that exists may be eradicated in eight generations; that in the eighth descent, there is not any difference to be detected in form and appearance between the newly formed breed and the pure parent stock. In other words, the pure blood infused into the impure or inferior stock will have washed away and obliterated all stains and flaws in eight descents. There are others, however, who hold a different opinion; among those the Arabs. It is impossible,' says the Emir Abd-el-Kader, we think, to get a pure race out of a stock the blood of which is impure.' On the other hand, it is a well-authenticated fact, it is quite possible to restore to its primitive nobleness a breed that has become impoverished, but without any taint in its blood. In a word, a race may be restored, the degeneracy of which has not been occasioned by any admixture of blood.

But allowing the opinion to be correct, that in eight descents impure blood may be obliterated, to arrive at the desired result it is necessary, in each and every descent anterior to the ninth, to return on the male side to the original pure blood. Now, certainly, as shown in Chapter II., our horse, since the days of Flying Childers, has not been so bred. I fail to trace any systematic return to Arabian blood for the prescribed period of eight generations; or, indeed, a return to horses of only Eastern blood. On the contrary, horses and mares only partially descended from Eastern horses have been bred from.

But, after all, this system of breeding-namely, that of

trying to eradicate base blood and defects by the engrafting of pure blood on the male side for eight descents, is a very unsafe one to rest upon. Its being open to question is unsatisfactory; it is opposed in principle to the experience of the Arabs, the most renowned horse breeders in the world; contrary to their practice, and, so far as I see, has nothing to recommend it.

Should the desired result be attained even in the eighth generation, and there should not be any appreciable difference from the original pure stock, it is quite possible that the eighth descent might not be capable of handing down to posterity through succeeding generations the primal characteristics of its originator. It is far more probable that in each succeeding generation, after the infusion of the pure blood on the male side had ceased, the attributes so derived would grow fainter and fainter. The greatest test of pure breeding is stoutness and endurance, combined with a high degree of speed.

'Look in a horse' (says Abd-el-Kader) 'for speed and bottom; one that has speed alone, and no bottom, must have a blemish in his descent; and one that has bottom alone, and no speed, must have some defect--open or concealed.'

It is often asserted, and very generally allowed, that our thoroughbred has deteriorated and become degenerate, and some have urged this degeneracy has taken place from the system of early training which has been pursued, rather than from any fault or deficiency in the breeding of our horses.

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