RIDING
CHAPTER I
BREEDING THE SADDLE-HORSE
The thoroughbred is universally recognized as the finest type of the horse, excelling all other races in beauty, in stamina, in courage, and in speed; and, further, it is capable in the highest degree of transmitting to its posterity these valuable qualities. Indeed, the greatest virtue possessed by this noble animal lies in its power of producing, upon inferior breeds, horses admirably adapted to many useful purposes for which the blooded animal itself is not fitted.
In England and upon the continent the thoroughbred is held in high esteem for the saddle; but, as General Basil Duke justly remarks, it has not that agility so desirable in a riding-horse, and because of its low action and extended stride it is often wanting in sureness of foot, and in America we prefer to ride the half-breed with better action. Occasionally the thoroughbred is found that fills the requirements of the most exacting rider, and the author has had at least six blood-horses that were excellent under the saddle. One of these, represented by a photograph in a previous work, in a gallop about a lance held in the rider's hand, gave sufficient proof of quickness and suppleness. However, it is admitted on all hands that the horse which most nearly approaches the thoroughbred, and yet possesses the necessary qualities which the superior animal lacks, will be the best for riding purposes.
Although every thoroughbred traces its ancestry in the direct male line to the Byerly Turk, 1690, the Darley Arabian, circa 1700, or the Godolphin Barb, circa 1725, and "it is impossible to find an English race-horse which does not combine the blood of all three," the experience of modern horsemen points to the fact that the blood-horse is as near to the Eastern horse as we should go with the stallion in breeding for the race-course or for ennobling baser strains.
In view of the great influence that these three horses had almost immediately upon English breeds, this present exclusion of the Eastern stallion is striking; but it means simply that the race-horse of our day has more admirable qualities to transmit than the sire of any other blood.
