VARIETIES OP THE HORSE. 53 



democi'atic oratory, and in that case the occupation of 

 the park hack will indeed be gone (1867). 



THE COB. 



THIS is essentially a fancy article. A cob is, compared 

 to other horses, much what a " concentrated luncheon " 

 lozenge is to a vol au vent. He must have as much breed- 

 ing as possible, combined with the power of a carthorse. 

 It is not everyone that is a judge of a cob. An under- 

 bred, under-sized, thickset punchy horse is not of neces- 

 sity a valuable cob, though the owners of such beasts 

 (when they are for sale) are sometimes very hard to per- 

 suade of this fact. Cobs are usually ridden by a class of 

 men who can afford to pay for them ; and as the demand 

 is always in excess of the supply of these animals, they 

 generally have to be paid for pretty freely, supposing 

 them to be really good. But without a long list of 

 virtues, a cob, however powerful, and in its own gro- 

 tesque style handsome, will never fetch a price. To 

 begin with, he must be perfectly quiet on all occasions ; 

 not inclined to shy; and possessed of a certain sedate- 

 ness of character and demeanour, as it is his peculiar 

 province to carry gentlemen of a certain age and weight, 

 and usually of a position in life which renders their 

 personal safety a matter of interest to the community at 

 large. 



The cob's mouth must be good, not hard or deadened, 

 as many gentlemen like a snaffle bridle for this descrip- 

 tion of animal ; and none like to be pulled or bored at. 

 No horse with a badly see-on head can have a really 



