284 



NEW ENCLA^D FARiMER, 



Mar. 26, 1830. 



LlSajiRY OF L'SBFUIj KXOWLKDGIi:. 



[C«xlil<i<«< A*" JWJ' 2">0 

 CHAPTER IV. 



Tin: niFIERRNT BREEDS OF ENGLISH 



HORSES. 



THE coACii-HOBsr..' 



Tills aiiitiial Ima fully shared in tlie [irogress of 



improvcaieiil, and is os different from what he wn.s 



fifty years ugo ns it is |iussible to conceive. Tlie 



chiiiisy-harrellcd, cloddy-shoiil krcd, rounJ-leg- 



ed, hlack ra:nily horse, neither a coach M'tr u 



dray-horse, but sonie:hiiig between both, as fat ns 



an ox, and, with all his pride and [irancitig at first 



starting, not equal to more than six miles an hour, 



'Wheel carriages, bearing any resemblance lochariols, 

 firnt came into use in the icign of Riclmri] II. about the 

 year 1381 ; they were called wliirlicolis, and were lillle 

 better than litters or cotes (cots) placed on wheels. We 

 are ti!d by Mister JohnStowc, that ' Richard II beinrr 

 throatonod by the rebels nf Kent, rode from the Tower 

 of London to the .Miles End, and with him his mother, 

 because she was sick and weak, in a whirlicote ;' and 

 this is described as an ugly vehicle of four board.^ put 

 together in a clumsy manner. 



In the following year ho married Anne of Lu.xem- 

 bourg, who introduced the riding upon side-saddles ; and 

 »o ' was the riding in those whirlicotcs forsaken, except 

 at coronations and such like spectacles.' 



Couches were not used until the lime of Glizaneth, 

 when wo are told (Stnwc's Survey of London and West- 

 minister, book i.) ' divers great ladies made tliem coach- 

 es, and rode in them up and down the countries to the 

 great admiration of ail the beholde.-s.' The fashion 

 boon spread, and he adds, what is often too true in the 

 present day, ' the world runs on wheels with many 

 whose parents were glad to go on foot.' 



These coaches were heavy and unwieldy, and proba- 

 bly bore sonic rough resemblance to the state coaches 

 iu>w us'jd occasionally in court procession.? 



The rate of travelling was as slow as tlie clumsiness 

 of the horses and vehicle would naturally indicate. — 

 King George II. died c.irly on Saturday morning, Octo- 

 ber 21, 17C0 ; the Duke of Devonshire, who was lord, 

 chamberlain, arrived in town from Chatsworth in three 

 days ; but a fourth and a fifth day passing over, and the 

 lord steward, the Duke of Rutland, not making his ap- 

 pearance, although he had not so far to travel by more 

 than thirty miles, Mr Speaker Onslow made this apology 

 for him, that ' the Duke of Devonshire travelled at a 

 prodigious rale, not less th-\n fifty miles a dav -^ 



To travel in a stage-coach from London to Kpsom, six- 

 teen miles, then tooK nearly the whole day, and the pas- 

 sengers dined on the road. The coach from Edinburgh 

 to London started once a month, and occupied sixteen 

 or eighteen days on the journey. ,\ person may now 

 start from Edinburgh on Saturd.iy evening, have two 

 spare days in London, and hn back again at the Scotch 

 metropolis to breakHist on the no.xt Saturday. Inclu- 

 ding short stages, one thousand four hundred coaches 

 now set out from London every day ; the expense of 

 each of which, with four horses, cannot be loss than two 

 shillings and sixpence per mile. 



IIicKncy coaches first appeared in London in lOS-'i, 

 the first year of the reign of Charles I. : sedan-chairs 

 had been introduced by the duke of Buckingham six 

 years before. 



Among the numerous benefits arising from the servi- 

 ces of the horse,and the improvement of public roads and 

 carriages, is the speedy and regular correspondence by 

 post. The invention id' this useful ostnblipnmcnt is as- 

 cribed to Cyrus the (>reat. It was adopted by the Greeks 

 and Romans. It was introduced into France by Louis 

 XL in \i62, and wc first read of it in English history 

 about tho year I.'>.")0, under Edward VI., when pust- 

 hnuses were ostabliFed, and horses provided at the rale 

 of one penny per mile. Under Elizabeth a post- 

 master was nominated hy|rovernment, and under Charles 

 I., in ICS-l, the system imsuniod its present form. Tho 

 charge of postage was iImo n\ed at two pence, if under 

 eighty miles ; four ponce belwi'cn oiKhty and one hun- 

 dred and forty ; and six ponce if under two liundred and 

 forty miles ; l>)it this charge rapidly increased with llio 

 incroasing price of horses, and the other rxpe lies ol 

 conveyance, and afterwards it was t'urtlier raised by 

 taxation, liko almost everything else 



and kiiockiiig-up with one hard day'd work, ia no 

 more seen ; and wo have, instead ol him, an 

 animal as tall, dee|i-rlie.sled, rising in the withers, 

 slanting in the Khoulderii, flat in the lege, with 

 even more Htrenglh, and wiih treble tl:e miecj. 



There ia a great deal of deception, however, 

 even in the best of these improved coach-horses. 

 They prance it nobly through the streets ; ami 

 they have more work in them than the old clum- 

 sy, sluggish breed ; but they have not the endu- 

 rance that could be wished, — and a pair of poor 

 post-horses would, at the end of the uecood day, 

 beat them hollow. 



The knee-action, and high lifting of the feet in 

 the carriage horse is deemed an excellence, be- 

 cause it adds to the grandeur of his appcarace : 

 but, as )ias already been stated, it is necessarily 

 accompanied by much wear and tear of the legs 

 and feet, niid this is very soon ap|)arcnt. 



The principal points in the couch-horse ure, 

 substance well placed, a deep and well proporlion- 

 ed !)ody, bone under the knee, anil sound, oii3n, 

 tough feet. 



The origin of the better kind of roach-horse is 

 the Cleveland Bay, confined principally to York- 

 shire and Durham, with, perhaps, Linoolnshiroon 

 one side, and Northumberland on the other, but 

 difficult to meet with pure in either county. — 

 The Cleveland mare is crossed by a three fourth, 

 or thoroughbred horse of sufficient substance and 

 height, and the produce is the conch-horse most 

 in repute, with his arched crest and high action. 

 l''iom the thoroufjiibred of suflicient height, but 

 not of so much substance, we obtain the four-in- 

 hand, and superior curricle-horse. 



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 post- 

 er, and the common carriage-horse: indeed, 

 Cleveland, and the Vale of Pickering, in tho East 

 Riding of Yorkshire, may be considered as the 

 most decided breeding county in England for 

 coacli-bor.scs, hunters, and hackneys. The coarh- 

 horse is nothing more than a tall, strong, over- 

 sized hunter. Tho hackney ho3 many of the 

 qualities of the hunter on a small scale. 



How far wc are carrying supposed improve- 

 ment too fur, and sacrificing strength and useful- 

 ness to speed, is a question not difficult to resolve. 

 The rage for rapid travelling is the bane of the 

 post-master, the destruction of tho horse, and n 

 disgrace to the English character. 



There is no triilli so easily proved, or so pain- 

 fully felt by the post-master, at least in his pocket, 

 as that it is the pact that kills. A horse at n dead 

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

 the force of his muscle--, to throw a certain weight 

 into the collar. If be walk four miles in the 

 hour, some part of that muscular energy must be 

 expended in the act of walking ; and, consequent- 

 ly, tho power of drawing must bo propurtionahly 

 diminished. If he trot eight miles in Ihi: liimr, 

 more animal power is expended in the trot, and 

 less remains l<>r the draught ; but the draught 

 continues the same, and to enable liim to accom- 

 plish his work, ho must tax his energies to u de- 

 gree that is cruel in itself, ond thot must speedily 

 wear him out. 



Let it be supposed — what every horse cannot 

 acconiplisli — that he shall be able, liy fair exer- 

 tion and without distre.«.s, to throw, at n iload pull, 

 a weight into bis collar, or exert a t'orco equal to 

 two hundred and sixteen jiounda ; or, in other 



words, let him be able to draw a load wbicliL. 

 quires a force of two hundred and sixteen pob 

 to move. Let him next walk at the rate of i 

 ; miles in an hour : what force will he then hi' 

 1 to employ .' \Vc have taken away some !■ , 

 ' sist him ill walking, and we have left him • 

 I ninelysix pounds, being not half of that whici ^ i 

 \ could e.vert when he began bis pull. He s ^• 

 ' quicken his pace to six miles an hour — more ^u 

 I ergy must be exerted to carry biin over thia ^ 

 ' ditinnal ground. How much has be remaiiiin r)i: 

 I apply to the weight behind him ? Fiftyfi.ur pot f,\ 

 1 only. Wc will make the six miles an hour I ^ 

 ! for it seems now to be the fashion for the „-. 

 coach, and for almost every coach, and every ^j 

 hide to attempt this pace. How Biands the «,;. 

 j count with the poor beast r We have left hi ,1,,; 

 I power equal to thirtytwo pounils only to he ■ - • 

 I ployed for the purpose of draught. „ 



The load which a horse can draw is about y 

 I teen limes greater than the power exert<'d, su| ■ , 

 , sing the road to he bard and level, and the carr j 

 to run with little friction ; and the horse wl ^ 

 at starting can throw into the collar a wciL'hr 

 force equal to two hundred and sixteen p 

 will draw a load of three thousand two huv , 

 Let him, however, be urged on at the rate ol 

 miles in the hour — deduct the power usee 

 swiftness of pace from the sum total of that wl 

 he possesses, and what remains ? — not a s 

 part — not that which is equal to a quarter i 

 ton — or, if it be a stage-coach, the energy exe 

 in draught by the four horses will not be equi 

 a ton. 



The coach, and its pas.'jengers and its lugg 

 weigh more than this, and the whole is still dn 

 on, and must be so. Whence comes the po\» '. 

 From the over-strained exertion, the injury, 

 torture, the destruction of the horse. That w, 

 is true of the coach-horse, is equally true of e 

 other. Let cacb reader apply it to his own 

 mal, and act as humanity and interest dictate. 

 Many a horse used en our public roads is i 

 bio to throw all bis natural power or weight 

 the collar. He is tender-footed — lame ; but 1 

 bought at little juice, and he is worked on 

 brutal and abominable principle, that he iiia 

 <■ whipped sound.' Ami so apparently he i-. 

 first he sadly halts ; but, urged by the tortur 

 the lash, he acquires a peculiar habit of g< ,,, 

 The faulty limb appears to keep |)acc with ^ 

 others, but no stress or labor is thrown iipot t- 

 and he gradually contrives to make the sound li - 

 P'rform among them all the duties of tlieniiso ^ 

 one ; and thus he is barbarously ' whipped soi ^.. 

 and cruelty is undeservedly rewunlcd. Aftei ^^ 

 however, what has been done ? Three legs f . 

 made to ilo that which was almost too har j. 

 task fur four. Then they must be most injuri i^ . 

 ly straineil, ami soon worn out, and the gel y, 

 power of the ani%ial must be rapidly exham ■ 

 and, at no great distance of time, exhaustion 

 death release him from his merciless persecii: 

 It IS said that between Glasgow and FAliiifpii 

 a carrier in a single horse ran, weighing al , 

 seven huinlred weight, will take a load of a l-^. 

 and at the rale of twentytwo miles in a day. 

 Normandy carriers travel with n team off 

 horses, and fiom fourteen to twentytwo niilM 

 a day, with a load of ninety hundred wrii;hl.' 

 .\n unparallrled instance of the power of a bl 

 when assisted by art, was shewn near <"roj| 

 The Surrey iron railway being complcled, a ' 



