THE IMPROVED ART OF FARRIERY. 589 



nearly with the rest of his carcass, his loins wide, and 

 his croup gently curved only, to allow of a graceful 

 setting on of the tail. For this variety of horse, a good 

 foot ought never to be dispensed with. Height is not 

 so essential in the hackney as in the hunter ; it need 

 never to exceed fifteen hands two inches ; in most cases 

 it may, with more propriety, range between fourteen 

 hands three inches, and fifteen hands one inch. Al- 

 together, his frame should be compact, without being 

 in the least clumsy ; and with this form, the more 

 breeding he shews, short of full blood, the better. 



Coach-horses should be nothing more than very large 

 hackneys ; and whoever is at the pains to consider the 

 matter attentively will agree with me, although it is 

 not usual to regard the matter exactly as I have stated 

 it. Horses for two-wheeled carriages should be the 

 same, but something smaller. The former are perfect 

 between fifteen hands three inches and sixteen hands 

 one inch ; the latter between fifteen hands one inch 

 and fifteen hands two inches. No horse is so adapted 

 for quick draught as a powerful hackney : w^hy, other- 

 wise, do we take such pains to lunge and rein up our 

 carriage horses, but to lighten them before ? When 

 we again go back to old times, and read advertisements 

 holding out safe and expeditious travelling from Lon~ 

 don to York in six days, then we may safely resume 

 the old Flanders breed. 



The heavy draught-horsey usually called the cart- 

 horse, has likewise submitted to improvement, many 

 being now purposely bred with lighter and higher fore- 

 hands ; by which their motions are much accelerated, 

 to the advantage of the transit of light loads, as in fiy- 

 wagons, and on railroads, and likewise to some agri- 

 cultural purposes. The horse called the Suffolk punch, 

 by this alteration, is enabled to plough one-sixth more 



