New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-10-15

Sb.I
Without entering upon that full discussion O
the physiological relations which govern the
question of cross breeding-a discussion neces
aary to the scientific understanding of the subject
put TOO extensive to be attempted in this place
we may pronounce empirically and approx
mately that the sire and dam contribute the quail
ties OF their offspring in something like the follow
1ng ahare-the latter, size and general vigor Of
puttinf5forth the entire strength toward the acom
pllsh4tl of single end; while build and frame
ana besedlal disposition will be about equally
diVifr ,T -. Yeen them.
As-nprlstt of this distribution we may usually
PR atct, from our knowledge of the dam in the
case ola cross between widely dissimiar bloods,
the offspring's. weight-canying qualities, the
length of his stride (as separate from its mpetus)
The robustness of his frame, and the facility with
which he will respond to good nourishment and
training. What is technically known as "bottom''
netongs largely to the side of the colts pedigree,
though "stay" in race depends upon spirit as
well as mere stamina, and thus involves important
questions to his sire, who may be confidently re-
lied upon to impart to progeny all that we should
call his own mental characteristics in human be-
ing inclusive of courage in the presence of OBJ
stacles or dangers, and the will to concentrate
every material force in him for their conquest.
The speed of the animal, abstractly looked at,
is especially from the sire's side. Considered in
connection with the time of effort it involves itself
with the question both Of wind and bottom. The
former depends upon both parents almost
equally-being mainly matter of build, when the
morse has courageous father and robust mother.
Setting aside those whose business it is to be
expert in the knowledge of this country's best
racers and their pedigrees there are very few
men OF wide experience in American horses who
cannot recollect many fine mare, long bodied,
ample girthed, broad loined every way compact,
capable and healthy, standing sixteen hands or
over and gifted with admirable qualities of tug
ging endurance, which either had no lineage at
aL or one relying for its character upon some
combination between the happy chance-hits of
EtlblA9 bplOnpinp n nniOhburinp farmers. There
are numbers of such animals in every agricultu-
raj district of this country, but they are to be
found IN their perfection, perhaps, in the rural
parts Of Vermont, New York and Pennsylvania.
We are not speaking of such wonderful excep-
Sional geniuses as Flora Temple, though lack Of
pedigree holds true in her case; despite those
horse e-heraldry- -mongers who are as ready to fur
nish ancestors on short notice to self-made four
legged clients as are their brethren to human
ones. The little mare might be as much too
small figure to impart the maternal share of a
great racers characteristic as Conostoga dam
would be too heavy for the purpose.
In general, however, let US be understood as
speaking of quite nameess animals, far from rare
in this country, who yet possess every quality
which horsemen understand to have made up the
value of the mothers from whom sprung the
present English thoroughbred When we leave
this class to consider the magnificent daughters Of
the Messenger race, and such as have closer ORE
moter affiliations with 1.-THE Hambletonan races,
and those with partially pure pedgrees, who,
though never thought of for the parentage of a
thoroughbred, are still nobly framed animals-we
cannot fail to see that we have already in this
country the first maternal material for distinctive
race.
Is it not possible to create such race by a
cross with the horse of the plains and pampas
THE MUSTANG.
Let US compare the mustang, as found among
the Arapajos, Camanches, Navajos and other
equestrian Indians of the West, as well as among
the white settlers who have reclaimed but done
little to improve him, with the Arabian Aleppo
or Palmyrene stallions who sired the present race
of English thoroughbreds,
The mustang, in his ordinary state, stands from
fourteen hands two inches to fifteen hands one
inch in height Specimens of his class, stinted by
the brutaL7s of a race--the western Indian, as
much viler than the Arab of the desert as ia con-
sistent with the limits of barbarsm-may run
slightly below the former estimate. Other speci-
MEMS free on their own stamping ground, or sub
ject to comparatively civilized treatment, enjoy
ing abundant pasture and favorable climatic con.
ditions, as far surpass the latter measure. The
barley Arabian measured fifteen hands and one
inch, the Godolphin but fourteen and one-half.
The mustang, like the Arab, beneath the do
miniOn of DOmad masters, has endured many gem
eratiOns of irregular wearing TOLL over vast wastes
OF level country where ceaseess warfare of the
guerrilla sort has made necessary horse possess
ing marveous speed and eduranGe-where, for
days together, both fodder and water must be
scantily supplied or even utterly withheld. These
circumstances have combined to form what Oar.
win would call principle of natural selection,
eliminating from each stock all but its hardest
scions and creating races which possess the
power of self-preserVatOnu under the most adverse
circumstances Of scanty fare-of living, even act
ually thriving upon a minimum of food and atten
ton, with maximum of climatic exposure and
nervous as well as muscular work.
The mustang has had no Oriental imagery tC
cloak the gauntness of his hips-poets are moi
plentiful either among Indians or trappers more
over, the requirements of the present day are
much more vigorous respecting the points of fine
fbaTyT if,4 4ho pfT T,n iCrb
teenth century, all of which goes far to account
for the fact that by the side of our splendid
Eastern State specimens of the thoroughbred, the
mustang has not only received no such admiration
as was won by the imported Arab standing for the
first time among sleeker and slower English pure
breeds, but has had his great virtues as the pro
genit0r of a cross almost entirely overlooked
Travellers have fully established the further fac
that not all "Arab steeds' are Darleys and Godol
phins and we are willing enough to own tha
there are plenty of poor animals among the Indi
ans, as in every other race of horses. But grant
ing in both cases the same privilege of selection
and the picked horses of the Western nomad
would disgrace no company of the Oriental fellte
1t would be hard to ask of a pure Arab perform
ances more ardu0us than are habitually furnished
by the war-horse of the plains Indian. 1t is NJ
unusual thing for him to travel fifty miles da.
for six or seven days in succession-oyer arit
tracts where water is as scarce as in the Sahara
and when found, not the clear spring of the po
etc oasis, but bitter, brackish, or alkaline an
stagnant pool--with no fodder but the wool
leaves of the " "shoe-string weed" the wild mari
gold, scanty patch Of grdned, or tuft of mes
quit. Even these he must forage for himself
turned loose without grooming or tending, afte
fifteen hours of incessant toll upon sand barrer
where any horse but himself or the Arab might b
excused for lying down in despair. No petting G
his masters children for him. no entr6e to th
family tent; no share in that poetic bag of drie
dates, or g measure of dhhrra," by which trad
ton gives encouragement to the oriental steed
He knows no food but pasture, and that of til
poorest sort, from the time he is foaled into th
Indian camp, until his carcass is left to the CO
yote., Yet, in times of exigency, when his maste
must flee or pursue, he is adequate to doing h
seventy, eighty, even one hundred miles a day
and there are cases, when, without food he hf
travelled ,.nne hundred and twenty. Like til
Arab-J9SSGS{ SSGS{eVery animal habitually thrown upo
his own fr6sources-he possesses an intelligenc,
q courage, self-reliance, spirit and will whic
approach the human. His quickness of eye an
sureness of foot, his ability to measure distance
his promptness in the adaptation of means to end
have been solong cultivated by absolute indepeI
dence and the habit of riding with loose rein ,
not at all, INDUCED in by all the tribes who hay
reclaimed him, that it is scarcely possible to pl
him into position of peril and difficulty, where
deer could help himself from which he cannot e.
tricate both himself and rider,
1t has repeatedly been our lot to hunt astride
him, across countries which would have baulke
any steeple chaser (the horse, not the manl wi