HEIGHT COLOR COAT, MANE, AND TAIL. 75 



HEIGHT. 



IN HEIGHT the race-horse varies from fifteen hands to sixteen 

 and a half, or even seventeen hands ; but the general height of our 

 best horses is about fifteen hands three inches. Few first-class 

 performers have exceeded the height of Surplice, who is sixteen 

 hands one inch, as is also another Derby winner, Wild Dayrell. 

 Sir Tatton Sykes was fifteen and a half hands ; and between his 

 height and that of Surplice may be ranged every great winner for 

 the last ten or twelve years. This average, therefore, may fairly be 

 laid down as the best height for the race-horse, though it cannot 

 be denied that for some small and confined courses as, for in- 

 stance, that of Chester, a smaller horse of little more than fifteen 

 hands height has a better chance, as being more capable of turn- 

 ing round the constantly recurring angles or bends. 



COLOR. 



THE COLOR of the thorough-bred horse is now generally bay, 

 brown, or chestnut, one or other of which will occur in ninety- 

 nine cases out of a hundred. Gray is not common, but sometimes 

 appears, as in the recent case of Chanticleer and many of his stock. 

 Black also occasionally makes its appearance, but not more fre- 

 quently than gray. Roans, duns, sorrels, &c., are now quite ex- 

 ploded, and the above five colors may be said to complete the list 

 of those seen on the race-course. Sometimes these colors are 

 mixed with a good deal of white, in the shape of blazes on the 

 face, or white legs and feet; or even all these marks may occur, 

 and the horse may have little more than his body of a brown, bay, 

 or chestnut. Most people, however, prefer a self color, with as 

 little white as possible ; and nothing but the great success of a 

 horse's stock would induce breeders to resort to him if they were 

 largely endowed with white. Gray hairs mixed in the coat, as 

 in the Venison's, are rather approved of than otherwise ; but they 

 do not amount to a roan, in which the gray hairs are equal, or even 

 more than that, to those of the other color mixed with them. 



COAT, MANE, AND TAIL. 



THE TEXTURE of the coat and skin is a great proof of high 

 breeding, and in the absence of the pedigree would be highly re- 

 garded ; but when that is satisfactory it is of no use descending to 

 the examination of an inferior proof; and, therefore, except as a 

 sign of health, the skin is seldom considered. In all thorough- 

 bred horses, however, it is thinner, and the hair more silky than 

 in common breeds; and the veins are more apparent under the 

 skin, partly from its thinness, but also from their extra size and 

 number of branches. This network of veins is of importance in 

 allowing the circulation to be carried on during high exertions, 



