218 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



horses, he sports curls of hair on his fetlocks ' ; ' he 

 is of good substance, deep-bodied, and set off by those 

 powerful yet sloping shoulders,' etc. ; ' he has also a 

 deep body, with great muscular development in his 

 rump, quarters, thighs, and gaskins,' — although they 

 might equally apply to certain cart horses, were one 

 and all written of race horses. . . . An excellent 

 judge, again, once wrote that horses ' with strong 

 backs and loins, wide hips, and great muscular quar- 

 ters, with sound and well shaped hocks, generally 

 win,' — not prizes at agricultural shows, as cart stal- 

 lions, but races at Ascot." 



Another English breed of cart horses, or, in this 

 case, more properly farm horses, was the Suffolk 

 Punch, which once became almost extinct, but has 

 lately been revived in a somewhat different form. 

 These were sorrel horses, smaller and more active 

 than the shire horse, and noted for their docility. 

 They stood low in front, and were disfigured by very 

 upright shoulders ; but they were round and stout, 

 and had good heads. Readers of " Sandford and Mer- 

 ton" will recall the delight of Harry when his father, 

 Farmer Sandford, received the present of a span 

 of Suffolk Punches from Mr. Merton, father of the 

 wicked but repentant Tommy. Harry rushes into 

 the house to announce the arrival of two strange and 

 beautiful horses, whereupon, says the tale, the elder 

 Sandford, who in all other respects is represented as 

 a sedate and even phlegmatic person, "started up, 

 overset the liquor and the table, and, making a hasty 

 apology to Mr. Merton, ran out to see these wonderful 

 animals. Presently he returned in equal admiration 

 with his son. ' Master Merton,' said he, ' I did not 



