PERIODICAL MOULTING 17 



twenty-five years. Instances of greater longevity are recorded on good 

 authority, and there is reason to believe that occasionally he has reached 

 to thirty-five or even forty years, bub these are rare exceptions, and there 

 are few which live beyond the twenty-eighth year, while a large proportion 

 die before the twenty-fifth. Stallions are over-fed and under-exercised 

 in proportion, so that it is no wonder they become diseased, and seldom 

 die from old age ; but brood-mares are not so mismanaged, and it is found 

 that they become quite worn out soon after their twentieth year ; and 

 even if allowed to live they waste away and die by degrees, generally 

 somewhere between their twenty-third and twenty-eighth year. The 

 charger ridden by the Duke of Wellington at the battle of Waterloo is 

 said to have attained to the age of forty-eight years. 



In 1872 there was a horse at Arundel, in Sussex, which made two daily 

 journeys to and from the town to the railway-station in a single-horse 

 omnibus, and he was well known at that time to be thirty-nine, the 

 greatest age the editor has been able to find that any horse actually did 

 serviceable work. There can be no doubt that many horses attain to a 

 good age, but the difficulty of getting accurate information on the subject 

 is owing to the fact that old horses are destroyed by the merciful, and 

 those not so disposed of, fall into the hands of poor men and low-class 

 dealers who do not sell them as older but younger than when they bought 

 them. An examination of dead horses at the great slaughterers' reveals 

 the fact that the majority die young, the middle-aged are comparatively 

 few, while the very old constitute a considerable proportion. 



PERIODICAL MOULTING 



THE HORSE SHEDS HIS COAT once a year in all countries, and in our 

 climate a second half-moult is performed in the autumn, when the summer 

 short coat is partially shed. This second change consists, however, chiefly 

 in a growth of the already existing hairs, which become coarser and longer, 

 especially about the legs and under-parts of the body. At the same time 

 the coat loses its gloss, and the colour is less rich, blacks becoming rusty 

 brown, and bays more yellow or sandy-coloured than before. The hair of 

 the mane and tail is constantly in a state of growth, and is not shed 

 periodically. 



MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 



IN MENTAL DEVELOPMENT the horse ranks below the dog, but he is 

 capable of a considerable degree of education, though in countries where he 

 is kept constantly confined he does not appear to great advantage in this 

 respect. That he may be made to understand what is said to him is clear 

 enough from the mode of managing farm-horses, which are all taught to 

 obey the voice. I have on one occasion seen a circus-horse walk, trot, and 

 gallop at the word of command, and change his paces on the instant ; but 

 this feat I have never known performed by any other exhibitor, nor do I 

 think it would easily be imitated. It requires a high order of intellect to 

 distinguish between the three paces and change them on the instant, and if 



o 



