The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-02-08
yuRo,YIA nACERs.
whore 60 Rear the thoroughbred
Horse-Some Of the raEsous Horses
of Otd vtrxiWta~-Lestew from Sudge
uun~hcS.

thoroughbred, wherein Virginia was prac-
,ic,iIy Ignored, Snd hsving asked the
.Judce's opinion on the matters discussed,
the following letter Wa written. III wa,
nuhlisbed in The last issue OF the 1Wf,
Field, ard Farpt;
V>,rrp STATES Court Rooms.
NORFOLK. VA, January 70, 1881
.uoior Thomas ". 3leSwth'
Nv Dear sir,--You ssk nv views on Tue
;mror,ant nucs,iou, "Wbat is the best re-
zion for rearing the th0t oughbred iuoblhs'
Sorse ia tie United S;stesl" Other occu'
na,,ons and suhjed's have drawn ny
ibougbts so long awas from ioe morse 'nS '
fear INV views will SC cruue anu rus! ,
hut I will give tbcm for wbat tney arc
worth. ,,,. 80, ,,,,s
AZ The borse IL Eot indigenous on ,bis
continent. ste has 40 Bstural hdOlto mere
Tie is an immigraat; ana the question:
where on this side the ocean ne DesJ thtNes
IL one 20 Dc dctcrmiiSed chiefly ny expert
epoe- .,,..o,,.,,.
Nor must we foiSo that the thorough
hrcd running boise a. not indigenous ~
Tnc,snd whence we derived him. There
Is moi n thousandth paIt OF the blood OF any
thoroughbred In EnglEud which is from the
original English horse. The English ana
American thorOughbreSs have all been Oreu
ciosnk, and ey cltIsiveiy { rom OricntafstocR-
frou, horses OF the deserts Of w est ASA anO
North Africa, Turker. Arabia, syria, ana
the Ear barg, aud other uo9thefn STATES OF Tue
African Continent. The Crusaders brought
back 10 England the hfet Oriental horses
ever directly introduced there; out lhr!
were small, and could not I've used Tor knlghl
service. the equestrian warriors OF that age
beinp too heavy laden with arms and armor
uhese and the knight himself weighing
more than 90 pounds TO BE- carried aDol'
by the Eastern horse.
But alter the armOr was h2hiened, Tue
horse of The desert, because ol MS cIean
limbs, his feotneSs, his 200d VIVA, Ms 40
cility Of temper, and bis beauty Oh Ioru'
became more aud more faV0fit WIN Eng
Iish h0rsclucn. and We read that EdWard
III. imported r9iy select Spanish horses at
n cost freduced 10 our present aOney) oi
$1,000 a head, for the Improvement OF the
stock IN England. Now, The Spanish horse
was in fact the horse Of the MOOrs or BaTbS,
who had crossed over from the Barbary
States (now Morocco OF North Africa, under
the banner OF Islam, and bad hcld spain IN
conquest for several centuries. 20 great
pains had these cOnqueriOg BaIbs or Moors
taken with their Oriental horses That they
were long the best sIsc'mcns OF the morse
OF the desert in Europe, making true what
wa, said by the Duke Of Newcastle in his
book or The thoroughbred horse, The first OF
any value ever published: "Thc BarbS are
the gentlemen Of the horse kind, and The
Spanish horses the princes
TIE ENGLISH HORSE,
a. he was about the year 1900, at the end Of
Queen Elizabeth's reign. was already large
" crossed with the Oriental 6lo0dS but
then began, and throughout The seventeenth
century was continued, system OF carCfui
breeding TO newly.mpOrted eastern horses
and mares--a work which was done 50
thoroughly that by 1900 the English race
horse had been dIvesled Of the slightest
trace OF old native blood and bad become IN
his pedigree thoroughbred horse ci the
desert. for that j. the rruc and only meaning
Of the term thoroughbred, applied TO the
horse.
The names Of Oriental horses imported
into England for breeding purposes IN that
century number more than q hundred, and
there was 10 racer OF repule on the English
tuf OF that day thit did not have crosses
from more than half dozen Of these i'm
por,ed animals. Places White TUX, the
Helmsley Turk, D'Arcey's Turk, Listers
or the Strad1ling TUX, the SeIabv Turk,
the Byerly TURK, the Ankasler Turk, the
Morocco Barb, Curwan'S Bay Barb. Lay
tons Barb, and the ROYAL mares imported
by Charles ii. from Tau9ier in Morocco,
were among The impOrtations made during
the first half or tbrce.q quarters Of the seven
teenth century; ana upon their get was
crossed the barley Arabian. imported in the
reign Of Queen Anne, about 100; and the
G0dolphin Arabian (who was really BarG),
imported in the reign OF George H., think
about 1881.
IL is true that the small size of
TIE EASTERN HORSE
was complained Of in England, and great
pains taken to increase il by good handling
and The forcing processes; but no great sue
cess attended these efforts, and it was not
until the great Godolphin was found TO have
impaired increased size TO his progeny that
the English became satisfied with the size
OF their desert breed Of horses. The Go
dolphin and his sons increased the general
height Of the English improved thorough
bred TO IL g.: which j. height enough, and
fully as much as the thoroughbred will on
an average bear. TO give him more height
by artificial methods Is to put too much day
light under his belly, and to produce 'ceedS,
and not horses capable Of great perJOrm-
dnceS on The field and in the stud.
so YOU see, the English thoroughbred is
nothing but pure descendant by unadul-
teraied strains from the desert hOrse-a
horse that did cot derive his qualities from
pastures like those of Kentucky, or from
Iuxurlant ,lable.kecp like that which the
modern horse enjoys in England and New
York.
Now, what has been said Of the purity of
descent Of the English horse from the
Orienal bloodS is equally true Of the Amer
lean thoroughbred. In Virginia, Mary
land. and the CarOlinaS, the cavalier
colonies Ia distinguished from the Pufi
tam, the planters were little behind their
English cOmpatri0ts in time, and none III
caIe, IN breeding from pure Oriental hons :.
Spark. son OF the Darcy Arabian; the Col.
Vile Mare, granddau. hter Of the D'Arcy
Turk; Tasker's SELMA, daughter Of the
great GOdolph,n; Monkey, by Lonsdale's
Bay Arabian, dam bv Caravans BAY Barb
second dam by the Byeriy TUX, out OF
royal mare Jolly Roger, closely dc .eended
from the Godoip3in; Wild AR. grandson
oil the Godolphin; Feirnought fun Of
fresh desert bi0cd; Mortou's Traveller,
equally full of The same. These were sGew
OF the many early i0pOriatiSns made by
our ancestors for the purpoee Of founding
race OF
AMERICAN THOs0nGHBrgDS,
and there l. no borse BOW in America de.
serving 10 be ciissed as a thoroughbred that
does not trace back by eiesl pedigree eitbef
10 the horses shove named. OF to ether Eng
ISh imponsiions more or bssS recent, that
beio9s 10 the e iue sliains OF Oriental blood
And our American thoroughbred II as em.
phaties,Iy the Oriental horse In his blood
aud general form, make. iein,,eg. ana quail
ties As the tboroug hDred ~ England, Ell the
pure Oriental horse hims elf. Roaming now
IN his native desert.