CARRIAGE HORSES AND COBS. 20-3 



back being admirably adapted for the display of trap- 

 pings and caparisons ; and he is a source of wealth to 

 fashionable dealers. A small " blocky " horse with a 

 rather pretty head, weak legs perhaps, and no speed, 

 will go a-begging in the country for $125 or $150 ; 

 but in the hands of the city dealer, clipped, docked, 

 and hogged, he easily brings $250 or $300. He is 

 no longer a " little horse,' 7 but a " cob." 



The modern fashion of using cobs and small horses 

 generally for carriage purposes is an improvement in 

 several ways, and chiefly because it is more humane, 

 the wear and tear of their feet upon the pavements 

 being considerably less than it is in the case of a large 

 horse. Formerly the London job-masters had no 

 horses in their stables under sixteen hands high ; now 

 they have many, chiefly for single brougham use, from 

 fifteen hands upward, and the same tendency prevails 

 in this country. In fact, the use of small carriage 

 horses followed the introduction of those less bulky 

 and lighter vehicles that are due chiefly to the skill and 

 originality of American builders ; but it is doubtful if 

 heavy carriages, even, are not drawn more easily, as a 

 rule, by horses that weigh from nine hundred to ten 

 hundred than by those that weigh from ten hundred 

 to twelve hundred pounds. Such, I have found, is the 

 common opinion of American horsemen, and such 

 seems to be the experience of English coach drivers. 



" In these days," writes the Duke of Beaufort, 

 "when the road coaches only carry passengers, and no 

 luggage to speak of, even if there is any at all, we 

 should prefer, for all sorts of roads, short-stepping 

 and small, though thick horses. They are infinitely 

 pleasanter to drive. Anybody who has had the ex- 



