back to the reign of Charles the Second, and that the thorough-bred horse is derived exclusively from foreign horses and mares: and that this animal may be consequently defined to be one of a breed which was formed, or at least forming, in this Island between the years 1670 and 1700, produced by successive crosses of the best Southern and Oriental breeds; and that if there were any strain of Native blood in the composition, it was so trifling as to have been quite bred out by the year 1700. We find it stated in a work of high authority, namely, the Treatise to which we have so often referred," that there is much dispute with regard to the origin of the thorough-bred horse;" that "by some he is traced through both sire and dam to Eastern parentage; whilst others believe him to be the Native horse improved and perfected by judicious crossing with the Barb, the Turk, or the Arabian." If there really be such a dispute, it is certainly desirable to have it at length determined. Let us then inquire what is the evidence that can be produced in this controversy ? The same work goes on to say, "the Stud Book, which is an authority acknowledged by every English breeder, traces all the old racers to some Eastern origin; or it traces them until the pedigree is lost in the uncertainty of an early period of breeding." The authority of the Stud Book then is on the side of those who maintain the entirely Eastern origin of the English thorough-bred horse. What then are the authorities cited by the opposite party? None; for the Stud Book, and the Turf Registers, which are in fact another Stud Book, perfectly coincide, and these are the only evidence on the subject. As in this controversy the witnesses are all on one side, we may fairly nonsuit those who speak" of a Native breed improved by judicious crossing," and affirm that we possess an indigenous variety produced by crossing different Oriental breeds, selecting almost invariably animals tried to be good before being put to the stud; and this variety is not only a distinct one, but, under English training and feeding, is also superior to every other. We do not mean to affirm that there may not possibly be a strain of the Native horse in the pedigrees of some noted race-horses; but for this we must go back a hundred and fifty years, and consequently this very slight admixture of the aboriginal blood must have been bred out a hundred years ago. To establish this point, we shall give a few pedigrees of the most celebrated of our early stallions and race-horses. But first we will examine the pedigree of Wyndham. The only ancestor of doubtful blood up to 1680 is Bustler; but as he was bred by Place, was kept as a stallion, and was the sire of Merlin, acknowledged to be the best horse that had then appeared on the English Turf, and as his breeder possessed several mares exclusively of Oriental blood, it is highly improbable that he of all animals should be failing in pedigree: he might have been out of the Coffin Mare herself. Our next example is the Bald Galloway, one of the first English horses which as a stallion ranked as highly as the foreign ones, or as those out of foreign mares. He was, as his name imports, a small, white-faced horse, but of very remarkable powers; bred by Capt. Rider, in Whittlebury Forest. His sire was a Barb, called, after his French owner, the "St. Victor;" his dam was by Fenwick's Why-not out of a Royal Mare. Why-not was by a Barb of Mr. Fenwick's, and also out of a Royal Mare. There was therefore no strain of European blood in the Bald Galloway*. As another example we take Basto, of whom it is recorded that he was one of the finest, if not the very finest, handsomest, and strongest horse that had been seen at Newmarket in his day: he was foaled in 1702 at Byram near Ferrybridge, in the stud of Sir William Ramsden, and was on his dam's side very nearly connected in blood with Flying Childers. Basto was by the Byerley Turk, dam by the Leedes Arabian; grandam, by Spanker; great grandam, the "Old Morocco Mare," by the Lord General Fairfax's Morocco Barb; great-great grandam, by an Arab, also belonging to the Lord General, out of a Barb Mare. Spanker, the only English horse in this pedigree, was by the D'Arcy Yellow Turk out of the above-mentioned "Old Morocco Mare," and consequently did not possess any strain of our Native blood. In this early and remarkably fine specimen of the English thorough-bred horse, Basto, we find at least five descents in this Island, combining the blood of two Turks, one Barb, and three Arabians; of the aboriginal breed nothing+. The celebrated Flying Childers was eleven years junior to Basto, whose dam was the grandam of the former; and it is singular_that Childers was even more closely bred, what is technically termed in-andin he was by the Darley Arabian, dam by Careless (son of Spanker and a Barb Mare), grandam, as we have seen, by the Leedes Arabian, and great grandam by Spanker out of Spanker's own dam‡. He was the fifth descent bred in England, containing four crosses of Arabians, one of Turk, and two or three of Barbs, but no Native blood. We may here remind our readers that Lord Fairfax died in 1671. After his decease, many of his horses and mares above-mentioned fell into the hands of a celebrated breeder, Mr. Leedes, of North Milforth, Yorkshire. * PEDIGREE OF THE BALD GALLOWAY. Fenwick's Barb arbRoyal Mare. Fenwick's Why-not-Royal Mare. THE BALD GALLOWAY. In the commencement of the two latter pedigrees is a mare (by an Arab sire out of a Barb Mare) the property of Lord Fairfax, and bred by that Nobleman: she was called Old Bald Peg, and we conclude she was a superior animal, because for several generations the name of Peg was continued in the family. The original Arabians, from whom the invaluable strain proceeded, producing Basto and Flying Childers, having been the property of Lord Fairfax, who died, we repeat, 1671, appear to have been quite as ancient as the Helmsley, or as Place's White Turk. From the period of the Restoration, the breeding of race-horses entirely from foreign blood was cultivated with great spirit by King Charles, as well as by private individuals. The King himself was a great importer of foreign horses and mares, and bred largely. This surely was a better direction for the rival energies of the rich and powerful to take than the promotion of civil wars-a race-course, to say the least, being a place where a man may ruin himself without doing quite as extensive mischief as had so recently been wrought upon the field of battle. Charles built an excellent house for the accommodation of himself and suite on his sporting excursions to Newmarket. The Royal Plates are generally supposed to have been commenced in his reign. This may have been the case at Newmarket, but the major part of those of the present day were not given before the reign of Anne: that of York, one of the most famous of the early places of sport, has been a regular donation only from the year 1711. Charles the Second, about the middle of his reign, sent his studmaster, or the Master of the Horse, direct to Barbary in order to purchase in the royal name the highest bred horses and mares he could procure. In one history of the transaction, Sir Christopher Wyvill is mentioned as the officer thus employed. His family still exists, and also represents, in their native county, Scrope of Masham, a name embalmed not only in English history, but in the scenes of our immortal Shakspeare. Another account mentions Sir John Fenwick as the agent employed. Both were men of sporting celebrity, and from taste and habit well calculated to manage the business to the satisfaction of their Royal Master. We frequently find the term "Royal Mare" occurring in the pedigrees of the best of our early racers; and whenever this term is met with, it signifies one of the Barbary mares imported by King Charles, or one of the fillies bred between these mares and His Majesty's stallions. In the stud of the D'Arcy family there appears to have been more than one, and which, crossed by their celebrated Turks, the White and Yellow, produced several most valuable horses; as for example, Brimmer and Hautboy. Besides these, Old Royal, Fenwick's Why-not, Dodsworth, and others, were out of Royal Mares. We are about to mention several other horses which are certainly of the seventeenth century, and are of equal celebrity with the above, but purchased by Noblemen and Gentlemen on their own account: but as we have nearly reached the limits we have assigned to each Chapter, we shall conclude our list in that of the ensuing month. VOL. XIX.-SECOND SERIES.-No. 111. I i SAGO AS FOOD FOR HORSES. IN our July Number 1838, p. 153, and in our March Number of the present year, p. 427, we gave some valuable communications, recommending sago-jelly as a substitute for broth or meat-jelly as food for greyhounds and horses. It would further seem that sago is peculiarly well adapted to horses for fast work, since it is found to leave the wind unaffected; and in shewing the effects of this species of food on the constitution of the horse, Mr. T. Ritchie, V. S. of Edinburgh, has made some interesting experiments, which tend to inspire confidence in sago as a wholesome and hard food for horses urged to high speed : Being of opinion (says Mr. Ritchie) that few or none of those whom I have frequently heard speaking of sago (for and against it) as a food for horses had ever adopted a proper method of ascertaining the real value of the article, I purchased about two months ago a horse for the express purpose of experimenting on that species of food. He is eight years old, between fourteen and fifteen hands high, stoutly formed, of sound constitution, and chesnut color. His pulse, when I got him, averaged 35 in a minute during rest, and his respiration 8, and these have never varied much except when the animal has been put to exertion. Previously to his coming into my possession he had been kept on corn and hay, and was in good condition. He was several times trotted five miles within half an hour at as uniform a pace as possible. His pulse, at the end of that distance, averaged 67, and his respirations 42, and there was slight perspiration about the breast and the fore part of the thighs. The perspiration could not of course be numbered, weighed, or measured; but it was so very carefully attended to that any difference afterwards might be easily ascertained. The pony was then put upon sago feeding, which consisted of jelly made of three pounds of sago stirred into about two gallons of boiling water, and given in equal parts at morning, noon, and night. When he had been a few days on this feeding, with regular exercise, he was again trotted, and carefully attended to as before. There was little difference on the pulse or respiration, but the perspiration was sensibly more profuse the trials were repeated frequently with the same effects. I then, as I had from the first intended, gave him the sago in an almost dry state, having only moistened it with about four ounces of warm water to each pound of sago, that it might be the more easily masticated; and after a few days he was again subjected to trial-trotting, when he was found to have completely regained his former fine condition, and even to have improved upon it. He trotted with great spirit, the respiration was comparatively tranquil, and the perspiration scarcely sensible. I then gave him alternately moistened sago and sago-jelly for several successive days, and the effects were always the same as before; that is, the spirit and endurance increasing with the moistened sago, and decreasing with the jelly. In corroboration of this very important fact, which I think I have ascertained with great certainty, I now directed my attention to the circumstance that the stomach of the horse does not seem to be intended to retain water at all. In evidence of this I shall state a case which I believe I gave to the Highland and Agricultural Society in a prize essay some time ago, and which is peculiarly applicable to the present subject. I was called to attend a horse some years ago, which had an opening through the lower part of the belly and into the small gut, within about twelve inches of the large gut, and more than twenty yards from the stomach by the course of the intestinal canal. Whenever a pailful of water was given, the greater part of it could be received into the pail again from the hole in the belly within a few minutes after it had been taken in by the mouth, thus shewing how quickly water passes to a great distance from the stomach to where it is lodged in the great intestines. Besides this evidence of the quickness with which water passes through the stomach, may be mentioned the fact that the healthy stomach of the horse is never found to contain any flow of water when opened the contents are moist, but that is all. Within ten minutes after a draught of water, it would be impossible to tell, by opening the stomach, whether or not the horse had recently taken water; the food there would be just as moist as without it. I have frequently made the experiment, and found no difference. All food, before it is swallowed, is sufficiently moistened by the fluid of the mouth: after that, it receives the natural fluids of the stomach, and these seem to be sufficient for all the purposes of digestion. It is evident that water, in the healthy state of the stomach, has merely a passage from the recipient to the expellent orifice, but no lodgment there; nor does it pass through the contents of the stomach, but past them. It seems, then, that the healthy stomach of the horse does not retain water in the sensible form, and that when it is compelled to retain it in union with food, the effect is to debilitate the animal. In proof of this, let us consider green grass, which contains a large quantity of watery fluid, as is evinced by the great quantity of urine which the horse stales when using it, although he drinks but little. We find that it tends greatly to produce perspiration, and is not compatible with strength and endurance. But if the moisture be evaporated out of the grass, as when given in the form of hay, the animal can endure double the exertion, even though the original weight of it be fully made up by giving water by itself. Water passes quickly through the stomach, and does not remain there, either to dilute the gastric fluid or otherwise interfere with the process of digestion or respiration. Every experienced man knows this, and the case is quite analogous to that of soft sago jelly. But sago in a dry, or nearly a dry, state is far from being soft. It is the hardest food I know of. I use the terms hard and soft as applied by stable-men. By hard food, I mean that food which tends to promote high condition, that is, muscular strength and endurance. Sago, then, I affirm to be the hardest food that we have, and, at its present price, it is cheaper than corn. I have only farther to add, that sago seems to be so very free from all tendency to fermentation, that it may be given in large quantities when high condition is wanted. I have given it to nearly the entire exclusion of hay, and never could observe the slightest symptoms of flatulency or indigestion. It consists, too, almost entirely |