292 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Ajtril 2, 1830 



LIBRARV OF CSEFITL. KNOVVt^KDCE. 



[ C*tiliaii«< frm paf SM.) 

 CHAPTER IV. 



TUK 1)11 TKRENT BRKEDS OF ENGLISH 

 HORSES. 



llEWr DRAUGHT lIOBStS. 



The CIcavciand horses have hceii known to 

 carnj nioro than seven hundred pounds sixty 

 miles in twcntyfoiir Lours, und to perform tliis 

 journey four times in a week ; and mill horees 

 liavc carried nine lumdred and ten pounds two 

 or three miles. 



Horses for slower draught, and sometimes even 

 for the carriage, .-ire produced from the Suffolk 

 Pc.NCH, so called from his round piuichy make, 

 and descended from the Norman staHion and the 

 Suffolk cart mare. The true Sulfulk, like the 

 Cleaveland, is now nearly extinct. It stood from 

 lifteen to -sixteen hands hi^'h, of n sorrel color ; 

 v.'as large headed ; low shouldered ; and thick on 

 the top : deep and round chested ; lori',' hacked; 

 high in the croup ; large and strong in the quar- 

 ters ; full in the flanks ; round in the legs ; and 

 short in the pasterns. It was the very horse to 

 throw his whole weight into the collar, with suf- 

 ficient activity to do it effectually, and hardihood 

 to stand a long day's work. 



The present hreed po.ssesses many of the jjccu- 

 liarities and good qualities of its ancestors. It is 

 more or less inclined to a sorrel colour ; it is a 

 taller horse; higher and finer in the shoulders; 

 .'ind is a cross with the Yorkshire half or three 

 fourths bred. 



The excellence, and a rare one, of the old Suf- 

 folk (the new breed has not quite lost it) consisted 

 in niinbleness of .nclion, and the honesty and con- 

 tinuance with which ho would exert himself at a 

 dead pull. Many a good draught horse knows 

 well -what he can effect ; an.l, after ho has at- 

 iLvnpted it and failed, no torture of the whip will 

 indiici; him to strain his powers beyond their nat- 

 ural extent. The Suffolk, however, would tug at 

 a dead pull until he dropped. It was beautiful to 

 see a team of true Sutlblki, at a signal from the 

 driver, and without the whip, down on their knees 

 in a moment, and drag every thing before them. 

 IJrutal wagers were froc|uently laid as to their 

 power in this re.opect, and many a good team was 

 injured aii<l ruined. The inmiense power of the 

 Suffolk is accounted for by the low position of the 

 shoulder, which enables liiui to throw so much of 

 his weight into the collar. 



.\lthough the Punch is not what he was, and 

 the Suffolk and Norfolk farmer can no longer 

 boast of ploughing more land in a ilay than any 

 one else, tliis is undoubtedly a valuable breed. 



The Duke of Richmond obtained many excel- 

 lent carriage horses, with strength, activity, and 

 figure, by crossing the Suffolk with one of his 

 best hunters. 



The Suffolk breed is in great request in the 

 neighboring counties of Norfolk and Essex. Mr 

 Wakefield, of Karnham in Essex, had a stallion 

 lor which he was offered four hundred guineas. 



The Ci.TOKSDAi.K is a good kind of draught 

 horse, and particularly for farming business anil in 

 a hilly country. It di;rives its nanie from the dis- 

 trict on the Clyde in Scotland, where it is princi- 

 pally bred. The Clydesdale horse owes its origin 

 to one of the Dukes of Hamilton, who crossed 

 some of the bisst Lanark mares with stallions 

 which ho had brought over from I'lnnders. The 



Clydesdale is larger than the Suffolk, and has a 

 better head, a longer neck, a lighter carcase, and 

 deeper legs ; strong, hardy, pulling true, and rarely 

 restive. The southern parts of Scotland are prin- 

 cipally supplied from this district ; and many 

 Clydesilales, not only for agricultural purposes, 

 but for the coach and the saddle, find their way 

 to the central, and even southern counties of En- 

 gland. Dealers from almost every part of the 

 United Kingdom attend the markets of Glasgow 

 and Rutherglen. 



The Heavv Black IIorse is the last variety it 

 may be necessary to notice. It is bred chiefly in 

 the midland counties from Linconshire to Stafford- 

 shire. Many are bought up by the Surrey and 

 Berkshire farmers at two years old, — and being 

 worked moderately until they arc four, earning 

 their keep all the while, they are then sent to the 

 London market, and sold at a profit of ten or 

 twelve per cent. 



It would not answer the bretdcr's purpose to 

 keep them until they are fit for town-work. He 

 has i)lcnty of fillies and mares on bis farm for 

 every purpose that he can require ; he therefore 

 sells them to a person nearer the metropolis, by 

 whom they arc gradually trained and prepared. 

 The traveller has probably wondered to see four 

 of these enormous animals in a line before a 

 plough, on no very heavy soil, and where two 

 lighter horses would have been quite sufficient. 

 The farmer is training them for their future des- 

 tiny ; and he does right in not requiring the exer- 

 tion of all their strength, for their bones are not 

 yet jicrfectly formed, nor their joints knit ; and 

 were he to urge them too severely, he would prob- 

 ably 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 shew, 

 and to gratify the ambition which one brewer has 

 to outvie his neighbor, than for any peculiar utili- 

 ty. They are certainly noble-looking animals, 

 with their round fat carcases, and their sleek coats, 

 and the evident pride which they take in them- 

 selves ; but they eat a great deal of hay and corn, 

 and at a hard and long continued work they woulil 

 be completely beaten by a team of active muscu- 

 lar horses an inch and a half lower. 



The only plea which can be urged in their fa- 

 vor, beside their fine appearance, is, that as shaft 

 horses, over the badly-paved streets of the metro- 

 polis, and with the immense loads they often have 

 behind them, great bulk and weight are necessary 

 to stand the unavoidable shaking and battering. 

 Weight must be opposed to weight, or the horse 

 would sometimes be quite thrown 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 walke<l the streets of Lon- 

 don without ])ityiiig the poor thill-horse, jolted 

 from side to side, and exposed to many a bruise, 

 unless, with admirable cleverness, he acconiino- 

 dales himself to every motion ; but, at the same 

 lime, it must be evident, that bulk and fat do not 

 always constitute strength, and that a compact 

 muscular horse, approaching to sixteen hands 

 high, wouhl nc<|uil himself far better in such a 

 situation. The dray-horse, in the mere act of as- 

 cending from the wharf, may display a powerful 

 effort, but he afterwards makes little exorlion, 

 much of his force being expended in transporting 

 his own overgrown mass. 



Those heavy horses are bred in the highest 



perfection, as to aize, in the fens of Liticoloshirf p< 

 and few of them are less than seventeen Iihii.I 

 high, at two ami a half yeai-s old. Neither r . 

 si.il, nor the produce of the soil, is better than i , 

 other counties; on the contrary, much of thj 

 lower part of Lincolnshire is a cold, hungry ehi\( 

 The true explanation of the matter is, that ihcri 

 are certain situations belter suited than others t') 

 different kinds of fanning, and the breeding c , 

 different animals ; and that not altogether depcr 

 iiig on richness of soil or pasture. The priiicii>^ 

 art of the farmer is, to find out what will best sui 

 his soil, and tho produce of it. 



-V dray-liorse should have a broad breast, aui 

 thick and upright shoulders, (the more upright th 

 collar stands on him the belter ;j a low furehant 

 deep and round barrel, loins broad and high, am 

 pie <|uarters, thick fore-arms and thighs, shoi 

 legs, round hoofs, broad at the heels, and soles nc 

 too llal. The great fault of the large dray-horsi t, 

 is, his slowness. This is so much in the breec 

 that even the discipline of the ploughman, wh 

 would be better pleased to get through an ad! 

 tional rood in the day, cannot permanently quici; 

 en him. Surely the breeder might obviate thl:! 

 Let a dray-mare he selected, as perfect as can b 

 obtained. Let her be put to the strongest, larg 

 esl, most com|)act, thorough-bred horse. If th 

 jiroduce be a filly, let her be covered by a su|>e 

 rior dray-horse, and the result of this cross, if 

 coll, will be precisely the animal required to bre» ^ 

 from. 



The largest of this heavy breed of black horse , 

 arc used as dray-horses. The next in size are sol 

 as wagon-horses, and a smaller variety, and witi 

 more blood, constitutes a considerable part of oj 

 cavalry, and is likewise devoted to undertaker 

 work. 



All our heavy draught horses, and some eve< v 

 of the lighter kind, have been lately much crosse 

 by the Elanders breed, and with evident improvi 

 ment. Little has been lost in depth and hulk < 

 carcases ; but the fore-hand has been raised, tin 

 legs have been flattened and deeiicned, and ver 

 much has been gained in activity. The slo* 

 heavy black, with his two miles and a half a 

 hour, has been changed into a lighter, but yet ot 

 ceedingly powerful horse, who will sicp four inil- 

 in the same time, with perfect ease, und has rm 

 siderably more endurance. 



THE DRAY IIORSE. 



The drny-horsc is the Suffolk crossed, with •' 

 Flanders. 



This is the very system, as wc shall prescnti 

 describe, which has been adopted with such siicl 

 cess in the blood-horse, and has made the Encliall 

 racer and hunter, and the English horse general^ 

 what it is. As the racer is principally or pur 

 of Eastern origin, so has the English druui 

 horse sprung chiefly from Flemish blood, and] 

 that blood the ngriculturalist has recourse for i 

 perfection of the breed. For the dray, the s]'- 

 wagon, and not too heavy loads, and for rua 

 work generally, a cross with the Flanders will U 

 advanlagcous ; but if in London, the cnormou.' 

 heavy horse must be used in the coal-«ai;oi' 

 or the heavier load of tho wharf, we must li-.n 

 our midland black, with all his unwieldly Imi 

 untouched. 



.\s an ordinary beast of lighter draught, ^i: 

 particularly in the neighborhood of London, li 

 worn out liackncy and the rsfuse of the con. : 

 and even of the hackney-coach is used. In il 



tf:'" 



