STUD BOOK. 65 



pact, and having a little, and but a little, of the blood-horse 

 in him. A good judge of the horse has said, and it sums up 

 the character of the animal, that "he should have weight 

 enough to throw into the collar, and sufficient activity to go 

 over the ground." The farmer's horse may not be often 

 over-fed, but he is seldem overworked, and, except in the 

 hay and corn harvest, his employment is easy. 



The colors of the horse are very variable, the principal 

 being as follows: Bay, of many shades, but always distin- 

 guished by black manes and tails. Gray, of seven or eight 

 varieties. Dun, of several shades, having for the most part 

 a black list along the spine. Roan, is bay, black, or sorrel, 

 intermixed with white hair. Chestnut, light or dark Pie- 

 bald, of two colors, one being white. Besides the colors 

 enumerated, there are many others, as grissel, sorrel, cream- 

 color, black, ivhite, fleabtften, &c., &c. 



White and cream-colored horses were formerly much es- 

 teemed by persons of high rank. The temper of the horse 

 and his moral qualities vary as much as does his color, but 

 no doubt these qualities are much influenced by his early 

 treatment; yet are good and bad qualities sufficiently hered- 

 itary to be guarded against in breeding, and some men even 

 go so far as to state that they are the characteristics of dis- 

 tinct breeds; but for this there is, perhaps, no valid founda- 

 tion. 



EARLY TRAINING. 



Opinions are divided, whether it is conducive to imper- 

 fection in the race-horse to persevere with the prevailing 

 fashion of running them at two years old, and many argu- 

 ments may be adduced on both sides. Those who are op- 

 posed to the practice, contend that the limbs of young ani- 

 mals are not sufficiently matured to sustain the ordeal of 

 training, and that running them at so early an age shortens 

 the period of their services on the turf; moreover, that it is 

 calculated to establish constitutional defects, which they 

 transmit to their progeny. The treatment adopted with 

 yon ng racing stock is such as to create an early maturity of 

 the system, and there can be no doubt that in this important 

 respect vast improvements have been made on the practice 

 of our forefathers. 



The supposition that early racing reduces the period of 

 a horse's career on the turf is not established by fact; in- 

 deed, there is very conclusive evidence to the contrary, which 

 will be seen on reference to the table of the comparative 



