370 



THE HORSE. 



noss of the chest vvou promise; but their princival defect is their feet, 

 wnich are liable to contraction, and yet that contraction not so often accom- 

 panied by lameness as in many other horses. 



The dappled grey is generally a handsomer and a better horse: all the 

 angular 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 hia 

 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. In some it seems to be a natural mix- 

 ture 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, with 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 hand- 

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

 and endurance. 



The pied iiorse is one that has distinct spots or patches of different 

 colours, but almost invariably 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 io a phaeton 

 or light carriage. Their value must depend on their breed ; but of them- 

 selves 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; but the larger is a true farmer's 

 or miller's horse, with no great speed, and not always extraordinary 

 strength, and sometimes a little of a drone, 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 very beautiful, and are sought after for light-carriages, 

 and particularly for ladies to drive. 



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

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

 monarch, he is a superb animal. His bulky, yet perfectly-formed body, 

 his swellnig crest, and his proud and lofty action, as if conscious of his 

 office, qualify him for the service which is exacted from him, but we have 

 no ex-perience how far he would suit other purposes. 



Of the chesnuts there are three varieties — the lightest red or the 

 sorrel, usually with white about them, either on the face or the legs — • 

 generally lightly made, yet some of them bulky enough for the licaviest 

 loads. Their colour is generally considered objectionable. Many of them 

 nave no breeding at all, and the best bred are supposed to be somewliat 

 deficient in endurance. 



The light chesnut, with less red and a little more bay or brown, is con- 

 sidered as a preferable horse, especially if he has no white about him, or 

 only a small portion of it; yet even he, although pleasant to ride, is some. 



