COLOUR. 479 



the frame, is to a great degree determined to the skin, and the animal is languid, 

 and unequal to much hard work. He perspires greatly with the least unusual 

 exertion, and if he is pressed beyond his strength becomes seriously ill. 



The treatment which the groom in this case adopts is most absurd and 

 dangerous. The horse, from the deranged distribution of vital power, IB 

 disposed to fever, or he labours under a slight degree of fever, sufficiently in- 

 dicated by the increased quickness of pulse, redness of nose, and heat of mouth. 

 The lassitude and want of appetite which are the accompaniments of this 

 febrile state, are mistaken for debility ; and cordials of various kinds, some of 

 them exceedingly stimulating, are unsparingly administered. At length, 

 with regard to the hunter, the racer, and even in the hackney and the carriage 

 horse, the scissors or the lamp are introduced, and a new method is estab- 

 lished of guarding against this periodical debility, setting at defiance the 

 occasional exposure to cold, and establishing a degree of health and strength 

 previously unknown. Friction may be allowed, to assist the falling off of the 

 old hair, and to loosen the cuticle for the appearance of the new hair, but it is 

 somewhat more gently applied than it used to be. The currycomb is in a 

 great measure banished, and even the brush is not applied too hard or too long. 

 The old hair is not forced off before the young hair is ready to take its place. 



Nature adapts the coat to the climate and to the season. The Sheltie has 

 one as long and thick as that of a bear ; and, as the summer is short and cold 

 in those northern islands, the coat is rough and shaggy during the whole of the 

 year. In the southern parts of our country the short and light and glossy coat of 

 summer gradp lly yields to the close and heavy, and warm clothing of winter. 

 In the deserts of Arabia, where the winter is rarely cold, the coat remains 

 short and glossy throughout the year. These are wise and kind provisions of 

 nature, and excite our admiration. 



COLOUR. 



The colour of the hair admits of every variety, and each colour becomes in 

 turn fashionable. Like that of the skin, it is influenced by, or depends on, 

 the mucous mesh -work under the cuticle. There are comparatively few per- 

 fectly white horses now remaining. The snow-white palfrey, with its round 

 carcass, and barb head, originally from Spain, or perhaps from Barbary, and 

 rarely exceeding the size of a galloway, is nearly extinct. Some however yet 

 remain in the possession of the Duke of Montrose. They are of good consti- 

 tution and pleasant in their paces. The majority of white horses are those 

 that have become so. Light-grey colts begin to grow white before they 

 are, five years old, especially if they have not much dark mixture about 

 the joints. 



Grey horses are of different shades, from the lightest silver to a dark iron- 

 grey. The silver-grey reminds the observer of the palfrey, improved by an 

 admixture of Arab blood. He does not often exceed fourteen hands and a half 

 in height, and is round carcassed thin-legged with oblique pasterns, calcu* 

 lated for a light carriage, or for a lady's riding seldom subject to disease but 

 not very fleet, or capable of hard work. 



The iron-grey is usually a larger horse ; higher in the withers, deeper and 

 thinner in the carcass, more angular in all his proportions, and in many cases a 

 little too long in the legs. Some of these greys make good hackneys and 

 hunters, and especially the Irish horses ; but they are principally used for the 

 carriage. They have more endurance than the flatness of their chest would 

 promise ; but their principal defect is their feet, which are liable to contrac- 

 tion, and yet that contraction not so often accompanied by lameness as in many 

 other horses. 



