BREEDS OF HORSES 41 



CARRIAGE HORSES. 



This class includes Coach, Cob, Park, and Cab horses. As the 

 name carriage implies (a vehicle for conveying people) this class 

 of horses is used on the various heavy weight vehicles. In contra- 

 distinction to light harness horses of the Road class they are often 

 spoken of as heavy harness horses. They are smoothly turned, full 

 made, up-headed horses with an unusual amount of quality and 

 must possess to a marked degree, high action, with a fair amount of 

 speed. The neck should be long and arched, the head small and 

 clean cut with a neatly set ear. The shoulder should be oblique in 

 order to enable the horse to bring his knees as high as possible. 

 The width of breast should be in keeping with the conformation of 

 the horse, too much width being undesirable as well as too little. 

 The body should be of good depth and length ; the length being in 

 a long croup rather than a long back. The back should be short 

 and well muscled, the ribs springing well from the spine, giving a 

 round barrel. The hips should be rounding, the croup well mus- 

 cled, the tail set high, and the quarters deep. The limbs should 

 be free from blemishes or unsoundness and possessing an abundance 

 of quality with plenty of substance. In addition to being well 

 muscled, the limbs should be well proportioned in length of fore- 

 arm to cannon and joined to olique pasterns and good feet. 



COACH HORSES. 



Typical Coachers are smoothly turned, full made horses, with 

 a little more size and length of neck than other horses of the Car- 

 riage class. The principal requirement is high action combined 

 with beauty of form. The whole outline of the horse should be 

 carried out in easy, graceful curves, pleasing to the eye. 



Conformation, Height, and Weight. Coach horses should 

 stand from 15-1 to 16-1 hands high and weigh from 1100 to 1250 

 pounds. The weight is not of such great importance with Coach 

 horses as with Draft and Wagon horses. The essential thing is to 

 get a horse that looks right and proper before the vehicle to which 

 he is hitched; for instance, the most desirable height for a park 

 drag, body break or heavy coach is 15-3 to 16 hands and weighing 

 around 1150 to 1200 pounds. For a light brougham a pair of 

 15-2 hand horses and weighing 1100 pounds is more appropriate. 

 A hearse requires a horse from 15-3 to 16-1 hands and weighing 1200 

 to 1250 pounds. The Coach horse should have a small, neat head, 

 well set on a nicely arched neck, free from stagginess. He should 

 have high, thin withers to which are smoothly joined oblique 

 shoulders. The forearm should be well muscled, the cannon of me- 

 dium length and broad, to which is joined a long sloping pastern 

 with a good foot. The foot should not be so rounding as the foot 

 of the Draft horse, the heel should be high and wide, giving sufficient 

 room for a large frog. The back should be short, the body deep, 

 round and closely coupled ; the loins short and broad. The hips should 

 be nicely rounded, the croup wide, muscular and not drooping; 

 the tail is often docked and ot for fashionable trade, but when left 

 long should be carried gracefully. A common fault with many 



