THE HEAVY DRAUGHT HORSE. 101 



and showy action to tlie better class of the draiiglit horses of Northuniber- 

 land and Dui'hani, yet possess properties which render them exceedingly 

 valuable for all ordinary uses. On the road they perform tasks that can 

 scarcely be surpassed, and in the fields they are found steady, docile, and 



The Heaty Black Horse is the last variety it may be necessary to 

 notice. It is bred chiefly in the midland counties from Lincolnshire to 

 Staffordshire. Many are bought up by the Surrey and Berkshire farmers 

 at two years old, — and, being worked moderately until they are four, 

 earning their keep all the while, they are sent to the London market, and 

 sold at a profit of ten or twelve per cent. 



It would not answer the breeder's purpose to keep them until they are 

 fit for town work. He has plenty of fillies and mares on his farm for 

 every pui^pose that he can require : he therefore sells them to a person 

 nearer the metropolis, by whom they are gradually ti-ained and prepared. 

 The traveller has probably wondered to see four of these enormous ani- 

 mals in a line before a plough, on no very heavy soil, and where two 

 lighter horses would have been qu^ite sufiicient. The farmer is training 

 them for their future destiny, and he does right in not requiring the ex- 

 ertion of all their strength, for their bones are not yet perfectly forraed, 

 nor their joints knit ; and were he to urge them too severely, he would 

 probably injure and deform them. By the gentle and constant exercise of 

 the plough, he is preparing them for that continued and equable pull at 

 the collar, which is afterwards so necessary. These horses are adapted 

 more for parade and show, and to gratify the desii'e which one brewer has 

 to outvie his neighbou.r, than for any peculiar utility. They are certainly 

 noble-looking animals, with their round fat carcases, and their sleek coats, 

 and the evident pride which they take in themselves ; but they eat a great 

 deal of hay and corn, and, at hard and long-continued work, they Avould 

 be completely beaten by a team of active muscular horses an inch and a 

 half lower. 



The only plea which can be urged in their favour, beside their noble 

 appearance, is, that as shaft-horses, over the badly-paved streets of the 

 metropohs, and with the immense loads they often have behind them, 

 great bulk and weight are necessary to stand the unavoidable battering and 

 shaking. Weight must be opposed to weight, or the horse Would somo- 

 times be quite thro-\vn off his legs. A large heavy horse must be in the 

 shafts, and then little ones before him would not look well. 



Certainly no one has walked the streets of London Avithout pitying the 

 poor thiU-horse, jolted from side to side, and exposed to many a bruise, 

 unless, with admirable cleverness, he accommodates himself to every 

 motion ; but, at the same time, it must be evident, that bulk and fat do 

 not always constitute strength, and that a compact muscular horse, 

 approaching to sixteen hands high, would acquit himself far better in 

 such a situation. The dray-horse, in the mere act of ascending from the 

 wharf, may display a powerful effort, but he afterwards makes little 

 exertion, much of his force being expended in transporting his own over- 

 grown carcase. 



This horse (see engraving in next page) was selected from the noble 

 stock of dray-horses belonging to Messrs. Barclay, Perkins, and Co., 

 London, by the author's friend, Mr. E. Braby. While he is a fine specimen 

 of this breed, he affords a singular illustration of the mode of breeding 

 often practised with respect to these horses and the education which they 

 undergo. He was bred in Leicestershire, — his grand-sire was a Flanders- 

 bred horse, and his grand-dam a Wiltshire mare, — his sire was a Wiltshire 

 horse, and his dam a Berkshire more. At two and a half years old h<> 



