02 THE DIFFERENT BREEDS OF EXGLISH HORSES. 



other for a distance of sixty-two miles, and both, are run to a complete 

 standstill, the one at thirty and the other at eighty yards from the 

 ■panning point, and, both being still urged on, they drop down and die — 

 Avhen we peruse records like these, we envy not the feelings of the owners, 

 if indeed they are not debased below all feeling. We should not have 

 felt satisfied in riding an animal, that had done much and good service, 

 seventy miles when he was thirty-six years old ; nor can we sufficiently 

 reprobate the man, who, in 1827, could ride a small gelding from Dublin 

 to Nenagh, ninety-five miles, in company with the Limerick coach ; or 

 that greater delinquent who started with the Exeter mail, on a galloway, 

 under fourteen hands high, and reached that city a quarter of an hour 

 before the mail, being 1 72 miles, and performed at the rate of rather more 

 than seven miles an hour. The author saw this pony, a few months 

 afterwards, strained, ringboned, and foundered — a lamentable picture of the 

 ingratitude of some human brutes towards a willing and faithful servant. 



THE farmer's horse. 



The Farmer's Horse is an animal of all luorh : to be ridden occasionally 

 to market or for pleasure, but to be principally employed for draught. 

 He should be higher than the road-horse, aboiit fifteen hands and two 

 inches may be taken as the best standard. A horse with a shoulder 

 thicker, lower, and less slanting than would be chosen in a hackney, will 

 better suit the collar ; and collar work will be chiefly required of him. A 

 stout compact animal should be selected, yet not a heavy cloddy one. 

 Some blood will be desirable ; but the half-bred horse wall generally best 

 suit the farmer's purpose. He should have weight enough to throw into 

 the collar, and sufficient activity to get over the ground. 



Farmers are now beginning to be aAvare of the superiority of the moder- 

 ately-sized, strong, active horse, over the bulkier and slower animal of 

 former days. It is not only in harvest, and when a frosty morning must 

 be seized to cart manure, that this is perceived, but in the every-day work 

 of the farm the saving of time, and the saving of provender too, will be 

 very considerable in the com^se of a year. 



It has often been said, that a horse used much for draught, is neither 

 pleasant nor safe for the saddle. The little farmer does not want a showy, 

 complete hackney. He should be content if he is tolerably well carried ; 

 and — if he has taken a little care in the choice of his horse — if he has 

 selected one with sound feet, shoulders not too thick, and legs not too much 

 under him ; and if he keeps him in good condition, and does not scandal- 

 ously overweight him, the five days' carting or harrow- work will not, to 

 any material degTee, unfit him for the saddle ; especially if the rider bears 

 in mind what we have termed the golden rule of horsemanship, always a 

 little to feel the mouth of the animal he is upon. 



A farmer, and more particularly a small farmer, will prefer a mare to a 

 gelding, both for riding or driving. She will not cost him so much at 

 first ; and he will get a great deal more work out of \iex- There can be 

 no doubt that, taking bulk for bulk, a mare is stronger and more lasting 

 than a gelding ; and in addition to this, the farmer has her to breed from. 

 This, and the profit which is attached to it, is well knowai in the breeding 

 counties ; but why the breeding of horses for sale should be almost ex- 

 clusively confined to a few northern districts, it is not easy to explain. 

 Wherever there are good horses, with convenience for rearing the colts, 

 the farmer may start as a breeder with a fair chance of success. 



If he has a few useful cart mares, and crosses them Avith a well-knit 

 half-bred horse, he will certainly have colts useful for every purpose of 

 agiiculture, and some of them sufficiently light for the van, post-chaise. 



