University of Edinburgh Archive and Manuscript Collections

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Two photographs of horses for comparison - the top image is of the Thoroughbred Arab horse, "Nimr" of the Hunington Stud and directly descended from the desert Arab "Kismet"; and the bottom image is of the type of lightly built Thoroughbred horse, "Pretty Polly" which is an extreme example of the racing type.

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Photograph of the Thoroughbred stallion, "Hanover", who ran in fifty races and won thirty-two securing $120,912 in prize money. He sired the prize winners of 1896-1898 and is in stud at McGranthia, Lexington, Kentucky, United States of America in the early 20th century.

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Photograph of the three-fourths Arab and one-fourth Thoroughbred stallion, "Kingfisher" that finished second in the long distance test in 1919. He completed the test in 53 hours and 21 minutes and received the condition mark of 48 and 88.8% for total merit. Col. Tompkins of the U.S. Army rode this horse into Mexico for the expedition of 1916covering 575 miles over desert and cold mountains.

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Willoughby, who signs himself 'Middleton', provides details about his hunting and steeplechase horses and the differences between half-bred and throroughbred horses.

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Willoughby, who signs himself 'Middleton', writes concerning his Highland ponies which went from him last year for the War. He reports that the ponies, now based in the Dardanelles, are all faring well, except the pony by Ewart's stallion, which has been killed by a shell. Willoughby is now breeding hunters from Highland ponies, using a thoroughbred horse 'Red Eagle'.

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Lort-Phillips criticises the conduct of the Board of Agriculture for their collaboration with the Hunters Improvement Society in the army horse breeding scheme. He disparages the emphasis that has been placed on the Premium Thoroughbred horse, 'the wretched brutes that have done more harm to Light Horse Breeding than anything else.'

There are also two typed copies of the letter, presumably made at a later date.

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Wrench explains that at his stud farm they have 15 Connemara pony mares (nine of which are in foal to an Arab and two to a Connemara stallion) and two Erris ponies (in foal to a thoroughbred). This season they plan to mix the pairings and the results of the couplings will be carefully monitored. He believes that the Arab is an exceptional horse, bettered only by the winner at the Paris Exhibition. He adds that Wilfred Blunt's pony that competed against it looked quite plain in comparison.

Scope and Contents Wilson provides some notes on the '1,000 gallon' cow, remarking that most breeds have the milk but few have the fat and that the 'pedigree fetish' currently restricts much crossing of breeds. He remarks that this line of work could have a claim on the Development Commission, to which Ewart could add 'the horse question': namely, to breed a horse that can do farm work and produce an army service corps horse when crossed by a thoroughbred. He does not believe that the Development Commissioners...

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Robertson writes that he had come to the same conclusion as Ewart that a slender horse played an important part in the ancestry of the English thoroughbred. He has compared various fossilised remains and concluded that although the shaft of the central portion of the large metacarpal bone is broad, the shapes of the first three phalanger are indicative of a slender race. He makes several observations on the significance of the metacarpals.

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Robertson comments on Ewart's paper on the development of the horse, particularly on the 'three-toed phase' in early embryonic life. He wonders whether there is any appreciable difference between the embryo of an Arab or thoroughbred mare and a Shire. He imagines that the three-toed stage would persist for two or three days or longer in the case of heavy, coarse breeds.