MARTINGALE 



merits which no owner of a well-turned-out equipage would 

 countenance for an instant. Chestnuts are by far the greatest 

 offenders in the way of bad markings, the old adage of " One 

 white leg, buy him ; two white legs, try him ; four white 

 legs and a white nose, cut his throat and throw him to the 

 crows," being ignored by the vast majority of modern 

 hackney judges. A white heel, or perhaps two, may be 

 passed in a chestnut, but when the white runs up above the 

 hocks, and the star on the forehead increases into a hideous, 

 irregular blaze down the face, no self-respecting man who 

 takes a pride in his carriage would give the possessor of 

 such markings stable room. A little white on the heel of a 

 bay is tolerated, but it does not improve the value of a horse, 

 and a star on the forehead is not a serious subject for 

 objection as a rule, but the correct thing in the case of bays 

 is black markings up to the knees and hocks, whilst, of course, 

 the mane and tail must be black. In Clevelands, black, 

 zebra-like stripes often appear on the thighs and are not 

 objected to, whilst there is frequently a dark stripe, or list 

 or eel mark, running the length of the back from the withers 

 to the tail. This list is also to be seen in some varieties 

 of ponies, notably Exmoors and their descendants, and is 

 regarded as a proof of the correctness of the theory that 

 the horse and ass sprang from the same root. (See Blaze, 

 Colours^ Eel Mark, Snip, Star.) 



Martingale. — A standing martingale is a strap fixed to 

 the nose-band and passing through the breast-plate between 

 the legs to the girths, the object of its use being to prevent 

 the horse throwing his head up and to give his owner con- 

 trol of him. Hunting martingales have double reins, each 

 terminating in a ring which is run along either the curb or 

 snaffle-rein, there being a check at the cheek so that the 

 rings cannot get over the bit. A Cheshire martingale is 

 used with a breast-plate, to which it is connected, whilst its 

 two other ends are fixed by spring hooks to the rings of 

 the snaffle-bit. 



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