THE CANADIAN IIOBSE. 63 



what straight, and a little inclined to be heavy ; his back broad, 

 and his croup round, fleshy, and muscular. His ribs are not, 

 however, so much arched, nor are they so well closed-up, as his 

 general shape and build would lead one to expect. His legs 

 and feet are admirable ; the bone large and flat, and the sinews 

 big, and nervous as steel-springs. His feet seem almost un- 

 conscious of disease. His fetlocks are shaggy ; his mane 

 voluminous and massive, not seldom, if untrained, falling on 

 both sides of his neck; and his tail abundant; both having a 

 peculiar crimpled wave, never seen in any horse which has not 

 some strain of this blood. 



He cannot be called a speedy horse in his pure state ; but 

 he is emphatically a quick one, an indefatigable, undaunted 

 traveler, with the greatest endurance, day in and day out, 

 allowing him to go his own pace — say from six to eight miles 

 the hour — with a horse's load behind him, oi an animal one 

 can derive. He is extremely hardy, will thrive on any thing, 

 or almost on nothing; is docile, though high-spirited, remark- 

 ably sure-footed on the worst ground, and has fine, high action, 

 bending his knee roundly, and setting his foot squarely on the 

 ground. As a farm-horse and ordinary farming roadster, there 

 is no better or more honest animal ; and, as one to cross with 

 other breeds, whether upwards by the mares to thorough-bred 

 stallions, or downwards by the stallions to common country 

 mares of other breeds, he has hardly any equal. 



From the upward cross, with the English or American tho- 

 rough-bred on the sire's side, the Canadian has produced some 

 of the fastest trotters and the best gentleman's road and saddle- 

 horses in the country ; and, on the other hand, the Canadian 

 stallion, wherever he has been introduced, as he has been largely 



