202 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



ambiguous that many stanch horsemen exclude it 

 from their categories. Generally speaking, any small- 

 ish, chunky horse, especially if his tail be cut short, is 

 a cob. The modern hackney usually stands a little 

 too high to be called a cob. The old Morgan horse 

 — of the small type — was a perfect cob, powerful, 

 speedy, docile, enduring, and possessed of great style. 

 He was a saddle as well as a harness cob. The Mor- 

 gan race has lately been revived, largely with the 

 object of using it as a trotting cross. This purpose- 

 is a laudable one, and yet the Morgan cob should also 

 be preserved. 



Not long since, in a small Xew England village, I 

 came by chance upon a perfect specimen of this 

 variety. It was a little bay mare, with a rather long 

 body and round barrel. She stood on short legs, and 

 must have been less than fifteen hands high, but she 

 had the strength, in all the moving parts, of a sixteen- 

 hand horse. Her neck was thick but not coarse, her 

 head small and Arabian in shape, with fine, aristo- 

 cratic, intelligent ears, and an eye flashing with spirit 

 and courage. She was nineteen years old when I saw 

 her, and hollow-backed, but still so spirited as to re- 

 quire a man's hand upon the reins. A cob of this 

 kind is capable of an immense amount of work, and 

 will perform it upon half the food required by a big 

 horse. 



The ordinary cob is fat and faint-hearted, well fitted 

 to draw a village cart gently about a village, but likely 

 to go to pieces if put to any severe task. He has the 

 bulkiness of a small cart horse, but lacks the nervous 

 energy needed to make him a good roadster or a good 

 saddle horse. He shines at horse shows, his broad 



