THE COLOUR QUESTION 271 



THE COLOUR QUESTION. INDIFFERENCE OF BRITISH 



BREEDERS 



The importance of producing horses of the colour that 

 the public desire to possess is a matter that has been 

 much more ignored by British breeders than by those 

 of other countries. In England it is almost an 

 unknown thing to be told of experiments having been 

 made with the object of discovering the rules, if any, 

 which regulate the colour of foals ; but a good deal 

 appears to have been attempted in that direction 

 elsewhere. 



Whether much has been positively learned from 

 such experiments as have been made beyond what was 

 already known is, perhaps, a little doubtful ; but that 

 there must be some controlling influence is certain, and 

 if this were to be generally known and applied the 

 demand for British-bred harness horses would be far 

 larger than it is, and the incomes of foreign breeders 

 would be proportionately reduced. 



Rightly or wrongly, the taste of the public so far as 

 big harness horses is concerned is opposed to chestnuts, 

 and the correctness of this statement is made evident 

 by ocular demonstration if people will only take notice 

 of the colour of the expensive horses which are to be 



