98 THE HORSE. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE COAT. 



The colour of the hair of the horse is denoted 

 by the word coat, which is synonymous with robe. 

 Without forming the characteristic of a breed, a hue 

 may nevertheless be more frequently found in one 

 country than another. Preference will be accorded 

 to tints frankly indicated rather than to those of horses 

 with washed hair, with indecisive tones, whitish, or 

 marked with several colours. 



The term simple coat is applied to hair of uniform 

 colour, and that of composite coat where several hues are 

 mingled. 



White, black and sorrel are the simple coats. 



White, either silver, or ordinary, or pale. The 

 employment and description of horses of this coloured 

 hair goes back to the reproductions and accounts 

 of the most ancient times. 



The absolutely white horse, without any mixture 

 of colour, does not exist. It is light gray, but may 

 appear to be really white, especially at an advanced 

 period of life. 



It is much found in the East, and this hair has more 

 persistency in reproduction than the others. Silvery 

 white has brilliant and nacreous reflections ; the pale is 

 lacteous and dull. 



Brilliant, or jet black ; the ugly black, which is 

 rusty and reddish, and the dull black. 



The sorrel. The horse termed sorrel has reddish 

 hairs, even at the extremities and the mane. Among 

 its varieties are the light sorrel, golden sorrel, cherry 

 sorrel, copper-coloured sorrel, chetsnut sorrel, burnt 

 sorrel, and dark sorrel. 



The second category contains the composite coats. 

 These are the day, the Isabella, and the mouse colour. 



