480 COLOUR. 



The dappled grey is generally a handsomer and a better horse. All the angu- 

 lar points of the iron grey are filled up, and with that which not only adds to 

 symmetry, but to use. Whether as a hackney, or, the larger variety, a carriage 

 horse, there are few better, especially since his form has been so materially 

 improved, and so much of his heaviness got rid of, by the free use of foreign 

 blood. There are not, however, so many dappled greys as there used to be, 

 since the bays have been bred with so much care. The dappled grey, if dark 

 at first, generally retains his colour to old age. 



Some of the greys approach to a nutmeg, or even bay colour. Many of these 

 are handsome, and most of them are hardy. 



The roans, of every variety of colour and form, are composed of white mixed 

 with bay, or red, or black. Ill some it seems to be a natural mixture of the 

 colours ; in others it appears as if one colour was powdered or sprinkled over 

 another. They are pretty horses for ladies or light carriages, and many of them 

 easy in their paces, but they do not usually display much blood, nor are they 

 celebrated for endurance. If they should have white fore legs, w T ith white 

 hoofs, they are too often tender-footed, or become so with even a little hard 

 work. 



The strawberry horse is a mixture of sorrel with white ; usually handsome 

 and pleasant, but more celebrated for these qualities than for strength and 

 endurance. 



The pied horse is one that has distinct spots or patches of different colours, 

 but generally of white with some other colour. They are not liked as hackneys, 

 on account of their peculiarity of colour, nor in teams of horses ; but they look 

 well when tolerably matched in a phaeton or light carriage. Their value must 

 depend on their breed. Of themselves they have no peculiar character, except 

 that a white leg and foot is as suspicious in them as it is in the roan. 



The dun, of the Galloway size, and with considerable blood, is often attached 

 to the curricle or the phaeton. The larger variety is a true farmer's or miller's 

 horse, with no great speed or extraordinary strength, yet a good-tempered, 

 good-feeding, good-constitutioned, useful horse enough. Varieties of the dun, 

 shaded with a darker colour, or dappled, and with some breeding, and not 

 standing too high, are beautiful animals, and much sought after for light 

 carriages. 



The cream-colour, of Hanoverian extraction, with his white iris and red 

 pupil, is appropriated to royal use. Attached to the state- carriage of the mon- 

 arch, he is a superb animal. His bulky, yet perfectly-formed body, his swell- 

 ing crest, and his proud and lofty action, as if conscious of his office, qualify 

 him for the service that is exacted from him, but we have little experience how 

 far he would suit other purposes. 



Of the chestnuts there are three varieties the pale red or the sorrel, 

 usually with some white, either on the face or the legs generally lightly made, 

 yet some of them bulky enough for the heaviest loads. Their colour is gene- 

 rally objectionable, and they are supposed to be somewhat deficient in endurance. 



The light chestnut, with less red and a little more bay or brown, is considered 

 a preferable animal, especially if he has little or no white about him ; yet even 

 he, although pleasant to ride, is sometimes irritable, and generally weak. We 

 must except one variety, the Suffolk punch ; a heavy horse, and adapted for 

 slow work, but perfect of his kind whom no labour can daunt, no fatigue 

 overcome. This is a breed now, unfortunately, nearly extinct. The present 

 variety, however crossed, is not equal to the old Suffolk. 



The dark chestnut is as different a horse from the hackney -like chestnut as 

 can be well imagined ; round in the carcass ; powerful in the quarters, but 

 rather fine in the legs possessed of great endurance, and with a constitution 



