THE COACII-IIORSE. c,j 



form and liiglier breeding ; and many of the superior Cleveland currielu 

 and four-in-liand horses are now nearly thoroughbred. The hay colour 

 is in the most general estimation, but the grey are not unfrequently used.' 

 From less height and more substance we have the hunter and better' 

 sort of hackney ; and, from the half-bred, we derive the machineer, the 

 poster, and the common carriage-horse : indeed, Cleveland, and the 'vale 

 of Pickering in the East Riding of Yorkshire, may be considered as the 

 most decided breeding countries in England for coach-horses, hunters, and 

 hackneys. The coach-horse is nothing more than a tall, sti-ono-, over-sized 

 hunter. 



Whether we are carrying supposed improvement too far, and sacrificing 

 strength and usefiihiess to speed, is a question not difficult to resolve" 

 The rage for rapid travelHng was introduced by the improvement in the 

 speed of the racer, and for a while it became the bane of the postmaster, 

 the destruction of the horse, and a disgrace to the Eno-Hsh character. 



The stages were then twelve, sixteen, or even twenty miles ; the horses 

 stout and true, but formed for, and habituated to, a much slower pace ; 

 and the increase of two, and even four, mile^ an hour, rendered every 

 stage a scene of continuous barbarity, and speedily thinned the stables of 

 the post and stage master. The post-horse has not to the present moment 

 altogether escaped from the system of barbarity to which he was subjected. 



He is not expressly bred for his work — that work is irregular the pace 



is irregular-— the feeding and the time of rest uncertain— and the horse 

 himself, destined to be the victim of all these means of annoyance and 

 suffering and impairment of natural power, is not always or often either 

 speedy or stout. The coachmaster, on a large scale, has, however, learned, 

 and, generally speaking, follows up, a system at once conducing to his o-rti 

 profit, and the health and comfort and prolonged labour of his horse. He 

 buys a good horse, says Nimrod, ' one that has,' in the lang-uage of the 

 highest authority in these matters, ' action, sound feet and legs, p°ower and 

 breeding equal to the nature and length of the ground he will have to 

 Avork upon, and good wind, without which no other qualification will lono- 

 avail in fast work.' He feeds him well — he works him but little more 

 than two or three hours out of the four-and-twenty — he rests him one 

 day out of every five — he has everything comfortable about him in his 

 stable — and by these means, that which was once a life of torture is one 

 of comparative enjoyment. This is now the case in large and well-con- 

 ducted concerns, and where the eye of the master or the confidential 

 manager overlooks and directs all. 



In other establishments, and in too many of them, there is yet much 

 animal suffering. The public has to a very considerable extent the power 

 to distinguish between the two, and to uphold the cause of humanity. 



Reference has been made to the dreadfal operations which the new 

 system of horse management has introduced. The cautery lesions are 

 more numerous and severe than they used to be, in too many of our estab- 

 lishments. The injuries of the feet and legs are severe in proportion to 

 the increased pace and labour ; for where the animal machine is urged 

 beyond its power, and the torture continues until the limb or the whole 

 constitution utterly fails, the lesions must be deep, and the torture must 

 be severe, by means of which the poor slave is rendered capable of return- 

 ing to renewed exertion. 



There is no truth so easily proved, or so painfully felt by the postmaster 

 at least in his pocket, as that it is the i)ace that kills. A horse at a dead 

 pull, or at the beginning of his exertion, is enabled, by the force of his 

 muscles, to throw a certain weight into the collar. If he walks four miles 

 in the hour, some part of that muscular energy must be expended in the 



