386 THE SKIN AND ITS DISEASES. 



ally yields to the close and heavy, and warm clothing of winter. In the deserts ot 

 Arabia, where the winter is rarely cold, the coat remains short and glossy throughout 

 the year. These are wise and kind provisions of nature, and excite our admiration. 



COLOUR. 



The colour of the hair admits of every variety, and each colour becomes in turn 

 fashionable. Like that of the skin, it is influenced by, or depends on, the mucous 

 mesh-work under the cuticle. There are comparatively few perfectly white horses 

 now remaining. The snow-white palfrey, with its round carcass and barb head, 

 originally from Spain, or perhaps from Barbary, and rarely exceeding the size of a 

 galloway, is nearly extinct. Some, however, yet remain in the possession of the 

 Duke of Montrose. They are of good constitution, and pleasant in their paces. The 

 majority of white horses are those that have become so. Light-grey colts begin to 

 grow white before they are five years old, especially if they have not much dark mix- 

 ture about the joints. 



Grey horses are of different shades, from the lightest silver to a dark iron-grey. 

 The silver-grey reminds the observer of the palfrey, improved by an admixture of 

 Arab blood. He does not often exceed fourteen hands and a half in height, and is 

 round carcassed — thin-legged — with oblique pasterns, calculated for a light carriage, 

 or for a lady's riding — seldom subject to disease — but not very fleet, or capable of 

 hard work. 



The iron-grey is usually a larger horse; higher in the withers, deeper and thinner 

 in the carcass, more angular in all his proportions, and in many cases a little too long 

 in the legs. Some of these greys make good hackneys and hunters, and especially 

 the Irish horses ; but they are principally used for the carriage. They have more 

 endurance than the flatness of their chest would promise ; but their principal defect is 

 their feet, which are liable to contraction, and yet that contraction not so often accom- 

 panied by lameness as in many other horses. 



The dappled grey is generally a handsomer and a better horse. All the angular 

 points of the iron-grey are filled up, and with that whicii not only adds to symmetry, 

 but to use. Whether as a hackney, or, the larger variety, a carriage horse, there are 

 few better, especially since his form has been so materially improved, and so much of 

 his heaviness got rid of, by the free use of foreign i)lood. There are not, however, so 

 many dappled greys as there used to be, since the bays have been bred with so much 

 care. The dappled grey, if dark at first, generally retains his colour to old age. 



Some of the greys approach to a nutmeg, or even bay colour. Many of these are 

 handsome, and most of them are hardy. 



The roans, of every variety of colour and form, are composed of white mixed with 

 bay, or red, or black. In some it seems to be a natural mixture of the colours; in 

 others it appears as if one colour was powdered or sprinkled over another. They are 

 pretty horses for ladies or light carriages, and many of them easy in their paces, but 

 they do not usually display much blood, nor are they celebrated for endurance. If 

 they should have white fore legs, with white hoofs, they are too often tender-footed, 

 or become so with even a little hard work. 



The strawberry horse is a mixture of sorrel with white ; usually handsome and 

 pleasant, but more celebrated for these qualities than for strength and endurance. 



Tlie pied horse is one tlint has distinct spots or patches of different colours, but 

 generally of white with some other colour. They are not liked as hackneys, on 

 account of their peculiarity of colour, nor in teams of horses; but they look well when 

 tolerably matched in a })haeton or light carriage. Their value must depend on theii 

 breed. Of themselves they have noijjeculiar character, except that a white leg and 

 foot is as suspicious in them as it is in the roan. 



The dun, of the Galloway size, and with considerable blood, is often attached to 

 the curricle or the phaeton. The larger variety is a true farmer's or miller's horse, 

 vvith no great speed or extraordinary strength, yet a good-tempered, good-feeding, 

 good-constitulinnod, useful horse enough. Varieties of the dun, shaded with a darker 

 colour, or dappled, and with some breeding, and not standing too high, are beautiful 

 animals, and nuich sought after for light carriage.;. 



The cream-colour, of Hanoverian extraction, with his white iris and red pupil, is 

 appropriated to royal use. Attached to the state-carriage of the monarch, he is a 

 superb animal. His bulky, yet perfectljMormed body, his swelling crest, and his 



