Since this little book was placed in the printers' hands, a work
published in 1836 has come under the writer's notice. This is entitled
_A Comparative View of the Form and Character of the English Racer and
Saddle Horse during the Past and Present Centuries_.[4] It was written
with the view of showing that the natural qualities of the
horse--endurance, weight-carrying power and speed maintained over long
distances, are found at their best in the horse which has been reared
under natural conditions and whose stature has not been increased by
"selection" in breeding and by artificial conditions of life. In the
opening words of the Introductory chapter;
[4] Illustrated by eighteen plates of horses.--Anon. Published by Thomas
Hookham, London.
"The main object of these pages is to investigate the results
of that structural enlargement of animals which is unnatural,
to point out those properties which may be acquired by certain
of them when fully reclaimed, and those which they are likely
to lose in this condition.
"The natural stature both of horses and cattle is small
compared with that which they acquire when domesticated. The
enlargement of their structure is effected by grass made by art
unnaturally rich, or by food yet more foreign to their nature.
Supplied plentifully with either throughout the year, horses
acquire an increase of stature in muscular power which enables
them to carry or drag a heavier weight...."
The author proceeds to observe that in enlarging the structure we seem
to modify rather than improve the vital powers of the animal; and by way
of illustrating his meaning points out with great truth that--
"In the human race any extent of skeleton or amount of muscle
which is unusually large is rarely allied with a full amount of
vital power. Still, the man who has most muscle can make the
greatest muscular exertion. If we change the nature of the
trial and render it one of time or privations, the greater
vital power of smaller but well-formed men is apparent."
Our author then proceeds to examine the properties which animals derive
from nature, comparing these with those they derive from art. In this
connection I have been much interested to observe that he cites the
greater strength, staying power and activity of the hare of the downs
over the hare of the park and low pasture-land. The same comparison was
made by me[5] as proof of the advantages to an animal of life-conditions
that compel the free use of limbs.
[5] "Young Race Horses," pp. 21-2, by Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart. Vinton &
Co., Limited, 1898.
Nature, observes this author, erects her own standard for measuring the
constitutional power of her creatures, and the individuals who no longer
come up to this perish prematurely. In other words, the constitutional
strength of animals is so regulated by, and adjusted to, the conditions
of feed and climate under which those animals pass their lives, that
they thrive vigorously. We do not, for instance, find the ponies of the
Welsh hills or of Exmoor, a feeble and delicate race; the feeble
individuals die off without perpetuating their weaknesses, and those
which come up to the standard of vitality Nature has prescribed survive
to reproduce their kind.
The following, which has direct bearing on the subject matter of the
foregoing pages, must be noted:--
"Many facts have been recorded showing the extraordinary power
of ponies for travelling fast and far, but these are so well
known as to make it unnecessary to specify them here."
Nevertheless on a subsequent page we find recorded a very striking
example of endurance, which compares favourably with any of those quoted
in the foregoing pages and in my little work on Ponies:[6]
[6] "Ponies: Past and Present." By Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart Vinton & Co.,
Ltd.
"The late Mr. Allen of Sudbury, in Suffolk, often during the
course of his life rode from that place to London and back (112
miles) in the course of a day upon a pony. This task was
performed by several which Mr. Allen had in succession. When he
returned home from these expeditions he was in the habit of
turning the little animal he had ridden at once into the lanes
without giving it a grain of corn. Mr. Allen, whose weight was
very light, rode at a smart canter. He always selected Welsh
ponies, saying that no others were so stout."
The author adds that if any one of our enlarged horses could be found
capable of performing this task it would certainly not be on a grass
diet; which is undoubtedly true.
At the date this book was published, 1836, the deterioration which our
race horses had undergone through the abolition of long-distance races
was a subject of comment. The author deplores the altered conditions of
the Royal Plates and the feebleness of the horses bred only for speed,
on the ground that the change was producing ill effects upon all
saddle-horses.
The author puts the whole case for a changed method of breeding in a
nutshell when he writes that "we want a class of horses bred under a
system which holds the balance even between speed, stoutness and
structural power." As proving that the balance can be struck, he points
to the uniformity of speed and stoutness which distinguishes a good pack
of foxhounds. None are markedly faster than the others; the aim is to
get the hounds as even in all respects as possible, and there are
numerous packs which prove to us that this aim can be achieved with
wonderful completeness. It goes without saying, however, that it is
infinitely easier to build up a level pack of hounds than it would be to
develop a given number of horses all of which shall be alike!
It is exceedingly interesting to find that sixty-four years ago this
author, with the improvement of horses in view, should advocate adoption
of the step which has been urged in the chapter (p. 36 and _seq._) on
"Breeding Small Horses." He is in favour of a National Establishment or
breeding stud, but that is a detail; he explains that his only reason
for making it a Government department is to secure that continuity of
policy which is otherwise unattainable. The nucleus of his scheme is to
"obtain from the East a considerable number of well selected ponies. The
better portion would be found to possess much natural speed, stoutness
under severe exertion, with limbs and feet peculiarly adapted for moving
rapidly on a hard surface." The persons commissioned to buy these ponies
"Would search in vain for these properties which are acquired
under a system of continued selection. Looking only for natural
qualities, they should select animals as nearly in a state of
nature as they could find them; having good symmetry, a full
amount of muscle and whatever natural speed the best animals of
the best race are found to possess."
He would have these horses tested for speed when brought home, the
standard being a natural degree of speed and not that of the Turf.
"The offspring of these small horses should be tried in each
succeeding generation; and we should be satisfied for a few
years to see the natural speed of the race gradually augment,
retaining only for breeding such as went through their trials
satisfactorily."
On a later page he suggests the propriety of crossing these Eastern
sires with our Forest and Moorland ponies. He cannot doubt that the
immediate offspring of the first cross will prove suitable for the
saddle:
"The best saddle horses we possess being now occasionally
produced by crossing the race horse with a pony mare. This
experiment often succeeding with one of the parents so ill
fitted for taking part in it as the modern racer, there is
every reason to conclude that, with parents properly
constituted on both sides, the breeding of the best class of
saddle horses might be accompanied with little uncertainty."
Thus far we find that the suggestions for breeding small horses set out
on pp. 36-43 were anticipated over sixty years ago. We must, before
taking leave of the author, glance at his plan for "renovating" our half
wild breeds of ponies. If it were practicable to carry out the
experiment he outlines, the results would be of undoubted interest.
"To experiment properly in this matter it is necessary that a
public establishment should appropriate some extensive district
of unreclaimed and bad pasturage to the maintenance of a large
body of ponies. These should be interfered with only to the
extent of severe selection, founded on annual trials; taking
the animals for this purpose from their pasturage for a few
days during the summer, and tying them to pickets. Here they
should be closely inspected, and after the best formed had
been selected from the rest, they should be taken ten or twenty
at a time by rough riders of light weight, and submitted to a
trial of some hours' duration. The animals which went through
this satisfactorily should be divided into two portions: one
should be returned to their old pasturage to remain at their
then stature; while the other portion should be made to occupy
a somewhat better pasturage in order that their offspring might
acquire greater stature, the rest to be drafted and sold. When
old enough the enlarged stock should be tried, and such as went
through it well should be kept, and turned out into a little
better pasturage than that in which they had been reared, while
those rejected should be drafted and sold. It is only in this
very gradual manner that the stature of a race can be increased
to the point required. Ponies of a pure race being so vigorous
as to be wholly unfitted for rich pasturage, they become upon
it balls of fat. None of our native ponies under the plan now
proposed would be enlarged or withdrawn from their miserable
pasturage unless their form and action were good; the only
change then effected would be a pasturage a little better. Any
further enlargement would be made to depend upon the manner in
which they had been found to bear the preceding one."
His plan has at all events the great merit that it proposes to seek the
limit of enlargement in the half-wild ponies without risking loss of
hardiness and other valuable qualities by pampering.