Book VII. 



VARIETIES OF THE HORSE. 



883 



or Flemish extraction, which horses were very early imported to enlarge our smaller breeds, and to ten. 

 der them equal to the heavy loads they were accustomed to carry as pack-horses ; and of which kind the 

 old English road horse unquestionably is. {fig. 607.) 607 



Neither is it at all impossible, that in the more fer- 

 tile parts of the island, an original breed existed of 

 considerable power and bulk. Athelstan expressly 

 prohibited the exportation of English horses, and 

 the " scythed cliariots drawn by fiery steeds" of the 

 ancient Britons struck terror even into Caesar's 

 legions. These accounts of the antiquity of the 

 English horse, receive additional strength from the 

 notices we obtain of the fossil bones of horses hav- 

 ing been found, according to Parkinson, in various 

 parts of the island. The old English road horse 

 possessed great power, with short joints, a moderate 

 shoulder, elevated crest, with legs and feet almost 

 invariably good. The heights varied from fifteen 

 hands to fifteen hands two inches ; and the colors 

 were frequently mixed. 



5.566. The objection, however, to English horses 

 both of the original and of the more early improved breeds, and which is even still seen among 

 them, is, that they want grace or expression in their figure and carriage; that they are obstinate 

 and sullen, and that a certain stiffness in their shoulders, and want of suppleness and elasticity in 

 their limbs, renders them unfit for the manege. As this is an important charge against the 

 excellence of our breeds, it may be worth consideration how far it is founded in truth. Commerce 

 requires desjjatch, and England as a great commercial country makes every thing subservient to ^ 

 economical use of time. Conformable to these ])rinciples, many of the qualities of our horses, but 

 principally those of flexibility and safety in progression, are certainly sacrificed to speed, in which t-hev 

 undoubtedly excel all horses in the world. It is well known that all animals intended by nature for quick 

 progression, are formed low in their fore parts, and have usually narrow upright shoulders ; and which 

 defects are too common in English horses in general. On the contrary, in most of the improved breeds 

 of continental horses, the fore hands are elevated, and the shoulders wide and oblique ; by which, flex- 

 ibility and safety in progression are gained at some expense of celerity ; for the strong lumbar muscles of 

 such formed horses, operating on the lengthened spinous processes of the dorsal vertebrae with increased 

 advantage, elevate the fore parts higher; and even in default of this form in the fore parts, yet a corres- 

 ponding effect is produced in foreign horses by the great strength and expansion of their haunches and 

 croups, and by the greater inclination in their hinder extremities towards the common centre of gravity 

 of the body : for as speed depends first on the extent to wiiich the angles of the limbs can be opened, and 

 secondly, on the efforts of the body in its transit to counteract the tendency to the common centre of, 

 gravity, the earth ; .so it is evident that the form which is the most favorable to speed, is less so to ' 

 safety or flexibility in progression. 



5567. The Irish road horse, or hunter, coeval with, or probably in some measure subsequent to the 

 culture of the old English road horse, was a still more, excellent breed. "With similar properties, but 

 an improved form, with a great acquired aptitude for leaping, it gained the name of the Irish hunter ; and 

 when the dogs of the chace were less speedy than they now are, this horse was equal to every thing 

 required of him as a hunter; even now the possessors of the few which remain find, particularly in 

 an enclosed and deep country, that what others gain by speed these accomplish by strength to go through 

 any ground, and activity sufficient to accomplish the most extraordinary leaps. As roadsters, these 

 horses have ever proved valuable, uniting durability, ease, and safety with extreme docility. In form 

 thev may be considered as affording a haj)py mixture of an improved hack with our old English roadster. 



5568. The British varieties of saddle horse of n}ore inferior description are very numerous, as cobs, 

 galloways, and ponies. Cobs are a thick, compact, hackney breed, from fourteen hands to fourteen hands 

 two inches high, in great request for elderly and heavy persons to ride, or to drive in low phaetons, &c. 

 Gallowavs and ponies are lately in much request also for low chaises ; a demand which will lead to a 

 cultivation of their form; the number bred requires little increase, as several waste districts or moors 

 throughout England are already appropriated principally to the purpose of rearing ponies. 



5569. The British varieties of war or cavalri/ horse, and of carriage and cart horse, are considered to 

 have been derived from tRe German and Flemish breeds, meliorated by judicious culture. Most of 

 the superior varieties contain a mixture of Arabian or Spanish blood. Cavalry horses are found 

 amongst the larger sort of hacknies ; and the observations made in the late wars sufficiently shew the 

 justice of the selection. Except in a few unhappy instances, where a mistaken admiration of the Hulans 

 had led to selecting them too light, the English cavalry horse possessed a decided superiority over the 

 best French horses in .strength and activity, as well as over the Germans, whose horses, on the other 

 hand, by their bulk and heavy make, were incapable of seconding the efforts of the British dragoons. The 

 coach, chariot, and stage horses are derived, many of them from the Cleveland bays, further improved 

 by a mixture of blood. Others are bred from a judicious uniim of blood and bone, made by the breeders 

 in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and other midland counties. 



5570. The vririefies of draught horse were originally as numerous as the districts from whence they 

 were bretl, each having its favorite breed ; but since the intercourse among farmers and breeders has 

 been greater, those in common use are so mixed as to render it difficult to determine of what variety 

 they partake tlie most. At present, the principally estecmtd draught horses are the Suffolk punch, the 

 Cleveland bay, the black, and the Lanark or Clydesdale. The native breeds of draught horses of England, 

 Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, are much too small for 

 the puri>oses of agricultural draught as now conducted ; 

 but by cultivation, the improved breeds pointed out, have 

 furnished such animals as are equal to every thing re- 

 quired of them, 



5571. The black horse [fig. 608.), bred in the midland 

 counties of England, is a noble and useful animal ; and 

 furnishes those grand teams we see in the coal, flour, 

 and other heavy carts and waggons about London ; 

 where the immense weight of the animal's body assists 

 his accompanying strength to move the heaviest loads. 

 But the present system of farming requires horses of less 

 bulk and more activity for the usual agricultural pur- 

 poses, better adapted for travelling, and more capable of 

 endurmg fatigue; consequently this breed is seldom 

 seen in the improved farms. The black cart horse is un- 

 derstood to have been formed, or at least to have been 

 brought to its present state, by means of stallions and 



mares imported from the low countries ; though there 



appears to be some difference in theaccounts that have been preserved, in regard to the places from whence 

 they were originally brought, and to the persons who introduced them, {Cullei/ or* Live Stock, p. 32., and 



3 L 2 



