Classes and Breeds of British Horses. 193 



ing employed in carrying loads when young, they are gene- 

 rally bent in the back, and otherwise thrown out of shape. 

 No care is bestowed in selection, and the best of them being 

 picked up by dealers, those that remain suffer continued de- 

 terioration, so that it is now difficult to obtain a tolerable 

 pony in places where a few years ago they were numerous. 

 It will scarcely be credited, that numbers of them have been 

 recently bought by dealers to be fattened and sold as Irish 

 beef. Yet the demand for a better class of them exists, suf- 

 ficient to induce attention to the breeding of them, and they 

 would become a valuable production of the country, were the 

 most ordinary care bestowed on their improvement. But it is 

 painful to state, that the condition of the greater part of these 

 lonely islands is far from being one of much advancement, 

 notwithstanding that the extended communication by steam 

 is eminently calculated to promote their industry and pros- 

 perity. The proprietors are generally non-resident ; the 

 farms, as in Ireland, are divided into miserable possessions, 

 at excessive rents ; and the mass of the people accordingly 

 are in such a state of penury as to preclude a beneficial em- 

 ployment of their industry. 



The same kind of horses extends to the neighbouring parts 

 of Argyleshire, and, with some change of characters, depend- 

 ent on the greater elevation and productiveness of the heathy 

 pastures, through all the central and northern Highlands. 

 The prevailing colour is a dull brownish-black. They have 

 abundant hair, stout limbs, and short pasterns. They have 

 good feet, and are sure-footed and hardy in the highest de- 

 gree. They are well suited for climbing mountains, and 

 manifest great sagacity in making their way through swamps 

 and bogs ; but they are lazy and slow, and altogether desti- 

 tute of the fire and mettle distinctive of the Arabs, the 

 Barbs, and other horses of warmer climates. They are car- 

 ried in considerable numbers to the low country, where they 

 are valued for their power of subsisting on scanty food, and 

 enduring careless treatment. 



The mountains of Wales, in like manner, give birtli to a 

 race of small horses, adapted to an elevated country of scanty 

 herbage. The Cambro-Britons necessarily depended for pro-., 

 tection on their foot soldiers, and not on their cavalry, and 



VOL. XL. NO. LXXIX. — JAN. 1846. N 



