120 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



American thoroughljreds, practically the same stock and de- 

 scendants from the Arabs, incline to chestnuts and browns. 



There have been some famous gray race horses. Imported 

 Messenger was gray. The Lindsay and Winter Arabs were 

 gray ; also Medoc, Lightning, Blue Bonnet, and many more. 



Blacks have been rare on the turf, though Imported Albion 

 was a black, and some of his descendants had the color. 

 Black is not a favorite color with grooms. It goes with 

 coarse hair and skin ; it fades in summer, and usually before 

 moulting turns a dull foxy color. 



The French family of Percherons, descended from the 

 Arabs, rarely produces other than gray horses. 



In the last century, when travel all over Europe w^as per- 

 formed by means of posting, a team of gray or white horses 

 was preferred, as being more cheerful and safer in the night. 

 The traveller in the darkness could better see the post-boj^s 

 on white horses. Consequently grays were only used for 

 breeding, and the result is seen in the almost fixed color of 

 the Percherons. Many people object to white feet and quote 

 stupid old sayings al)out them, but the best horses that ever 

 lived have had white feet and stockings. 



I never use the check rein in driving single horses, but I 

 am inclined to leave that to the judgment of each horseman. 

 I have seen horses that seemed to require it and to travel 

 better with it, but the great majority go easier and happier 

 and look better without it. The arg-ument ao-ainst blinders 

 is not a good one. They are not necessary on free, cheerful 

 drivers, but many horses are lazy and some are both lazy 

 and curious ; such horses need blinders to keep them from 

 watchino; the driver. 



That it is not of great importance to know a horse's age 

 is demonstrated by the fact that no one can tell a horse's 

 age after he has passed eight years. If a horse is sound and 

 has been well used the average staljleman may not guess 

 within half a dozen years of his true age when he is past 

 fifteen. An eminent veterinary surgeon examined a pair of 

 horses twice at an interval of four years. He was mistaken 

 four years the first time. He forgot the horses, and at his 

 second examination he was mistaken seven years. The 

 greater part of our horses are In-oken down Ijy bad manage- 



