CARRIAGE HORSES AND COBS. 193 



The next type of carriage horse to be considered 

 is the French coach horse. A great antiquity is com- 

 monly set up for this family by its admirers, but 1 

 have never been able to find any evidence in support 

 of their assertions. Moreover, it is difficult to dis- 

 cover exactly what was the origin of the French coach 

 horse. It is commonly said to have been a cross be- 

 tween the English thoroughbred and the Arab. It is 

 certain that the English thoroughbred figures largely 

 in the pedigree, and there may have been infusions of 

 Arab blood ; but the French coach horse has a bulki- 

 ness of form and a mildness of temper that indicate 

 some other element, and it is probaly that of the an- 

 cient and admirable Percheron family. The French 

 coachers are large, handsome horses, usually chestnut, 

 sometimes bay, and occasionally black in color. They 

 have very fine, intelligent heads, rather short necks, 

 broad chests, good sloping shoulders, and the best of 

 legs and feet. 



In one respect, that of speed, they are far superior 

 to any strain of English coach horses. In order to 

 satisfy the government test in France, a coaching 

 stallion must trot two miles and two fifths at the rate 

 of a mile in three minutes, and this on a turf track. 

 They are also, as a rule, more gentle and docile than 

 the English carriage horses, but a little inferior to the 

 latter in point of " quality," and not possessed of so 

 proud a carriage. Very few French coach horses have 

 been imported to the Eastern States, but there are 

 many in the West. 



The action of a carriage horse should be bold and 

 free ; but excessively high action, being incompatible 

 with speed or endurance, is a fault in the true coacher. 



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