HACKNEY PONY— HAIR, OR FEATHER 



horse has been depreciated by the favour extended by 

 breeders to the Denmark family, amongst which chestnuts 

 predominate, the result being that such popular colours as 

 bay and brown are comparatively rarely seen, whilst blacks 

 are practically extinct. 



In shape the hackney should be a powerfully - built, 

 short-legged horse, with a fair-sized but well- finished head, 

 a rather wide chest, a short back, big middle, and long, 

 level quarters. He should have plenty of nice flat bone and 

 rather large feet, and carry himself well and gaily when he 

 moves. His superb trotting action is, however, the great 

 characteristic of this horse, who is capable of using his knees 

 better than any other member of the equine race, whilst 

 the manner in which he flexes his hocks is remarkable. 

 The hackney, moreover, is not merely a high goer, as he 

 can make fine use of his shoulders and pasterns, a very 

 beautiful characteristic of his action being the momentary 

 pause with the fore-foot just off the ground, when the horse 

 is moving at full speed. In short, the true hackney action 

 is a combination of high-stepping, liberty, and pace such as 

 is possessed by no other breed of horse. 



Hackney Pony. — This pony is in many instances merely 

 a hackney horse which, by a system of inbreeding, has been 

 reduced to pony proportions, that is, does not exceed 14 hands 

 2 inches in height ; others are produced by crossing a full- 

 sized hackney stallion with a pony mare ; but in either case, 

 though the hackney action is conspicuous, the true pony 

 character which is so great an attribute of the real pony is 

 entirely missing. Still, the hackney pony, even in those cases 

 where he is nothing more than a dwarf hackney, possesses 

 legions of admirers, and is perhaps the most saleable of all 

 horses, the thoroughbred alone excepted. 



Hair, or Feather, is the term applied to the hair which 

 all horses carry to a greater or less extent on the back of 

 their legs. In the case of Shires and Clydesdales the growth 



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