140 



THE GENESEE PARMER 



May 14, 1831- 



From Loudon's Encycl 'pedis of Agnculiurp. 

 XATURAL HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 



Concluded from page 142. 

 The British varieties of saddle horse of 

 more inferior description are very numerous, 

 as colts, galloways, and ponies. Cobs are a 

 tliick, compact, hackney breed, from four- 

 teen hands to fourteen hands two inches high, 

 in great request for elderly and heavy per- 

 sons to ride, or to drive in low phaetons, k.c. 

 Galloways and ponies are lately in much re- 

 quest also for low chaises ; a demand which 

 will lead to a cultivation of their form ; the 

 number bred requires little increase, as sev- 

 eral waste districts or moors throughout Eng- 

 land are already appropriated principally to 

 the purpose of rearing ponies. 



The British varieties of war or cavalry 

 horse, and of carriage and cart horse, are con- 

 sidered to have been derived from the Ger- 

 man and Flemish breeds, meliorated by ju- 

 dicious culture. Most of the superior vari- 

 eties contain a mixture of Arabian or Span- 

 ish blood. Cavalry horses are found amongst 

 the larger sort of hacknies ; and the obser- 

 vations made in the late wars, sufficiently 

 show the justice of the selection. Except 

 in a few unhappy instances, where a mista- 

 ken admiration of the Hulans had led to se- 

 lecting them too light, the English cavalry 

 horse possessed a decided superiority over 

 the best French horses in strength and ac- 

 tivity, as well as over the Germans, whose 

 horses, on the other hand, by their bulk and 

 heavy make, were incapable of seconding 

 the elforts of the British dragoons. The 

 coach, chariot, and stage horses are derived, 

 many of them from the Cleveland bays, fur- 

 ther improved by a mixture of blood. Oth- 

 ers are bred from a judicious union of blood 

 and bone, made by the breeders in York- 

 shire, Lincolnshire, and other midland coun- 

 ties. 



The varieties of draught horse were origi- 

 nally as numerous as the districts from whence 

 they were bred, each having its favorite breed; 

 but since the intercourse among farmers and 

 breeders has been greater, those in common 

 use are so mixed as to render it difficult to 

 determine of what variety they partake the 

 most. At present, the principally esteemed 

 draught horses are the Suffolk punch, the 

 Cleveland bay, the black, and the Lanark 

 or Clydesdale. The native breeds of draught 

 horses of England, Scotland, Wales, and 

 Ireland, are much too small for the purpo- 



whence they were originally brought, and to 

 the persons who introduced them, (Culley on 

 Live Stock, p. S2, and Marshal's Economy 

 oj the Midland Comities, vol. i. p. 306.) — 

 Marshal, under too confined a view, and 

 probably prejudiced against the breed on ac- 

 count of its fancied want of spirit, as well as 

 for the alleged tendency to become flat and 

 pommiced in the feet, is most unreasonably 

 severe on it, when he says, " the breed of 

 grey rats, with which this island has of late 

 years been overrun, are not a greater pest 

 in it than the breed of black fen horses ; at 

 least while cattle remain scarce as at pres- 

 ent, and while the flesh of horses remains 

 to be rejected as an article of human food." 

 (Marshal's Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 164.) The 

 present improved sub-variety of this breed 

 is said to have taken its rise in six Zealand 

 mares, sent over from the Hague by the late 

 Lord Chesterfield, during his embassy at 

 that court. 



The Cleveland bays, which owe some of 

 their most valuable properties to crosses with 

 the race horse, have long been celebrated 

 as one of the best breeds in the island ; but 

 they are said to have degenerated of late. — 

 They are reared to a great extent in York- 

 shire, the farmers of which county are re- 

 markable for their knowledge in every thing 

 that relates to this species of live stock. Jn 

 activity and hardiness, these horses, perhaps, 

 have no superior. Some capital hunters 

 have been produced by putting full-bred 

 stallions to ip»rcs of this sort ; but the chief 

 object latterly has been to breed coach hor- 

 ses, and such as have sufficient strength for 

 a two-horse plow. Three of these horses 

 carry a ton and a half of coals, travelling 

 sixty miles in twenty-four hours, without any 



repute in Scotland and the north of Eng 

 land ; and, for the purposes of the farmer, 

 is probably equal to any other breed in Brit- 

 ain. Of the origin of this race, various ac- 

 counts have been given, but none of them 

 so clear, or so well authenticated as to mer- 

 it any notice. They have got this name, 

 not because they are bred only in Clydes- 

 dale or Lanarkshire, for the same descrip- 

 tion of horses are reared hi the other west- 

 ern counties of Scotland, and all over that 

 tract which lies between the Clyde and the 

 Forth, but because the principal markets at 

 which they are sold. Lanark, Camwath, 

 Rutherglen and Glasgow, are situated in 

 [that district, where they are also preserved 

 in a state of greater purity than inmostoth- 

 ler parts. They are rather larger than the 

 | Suffolk punches, and the neck is somewhat 

 longer; their color is black, brown or grey, 

 land a white spot on the face is esteemed a 

 mark of beauty. The breast is broad ; the 

 shoulder thick, with the reaching cartilagi- 

 nous portion of the blade-bone nearly as high 

 ias the withers, and not so much thrown 

 backwards as in road horses; the hoof round 

 I and usually black, with wide heels ; the back 

 I straight and broad, but not too long; the 

 bucks visible, but not prominent, and the 

 j space between them and the ribs short; the 

 ■tail heavy, and well haired ; the thighs meet- 

 ling each other so near as to leave only a 

 small groove for the tail to rest on. One 

 most valuable property of this breed is, that 

 they are remarkably true pullers, a restivr 

 horse being rarely found among them. 



The Jf'elch horse bears a near resemblance, 

 in point of size and hardiness, to the best of 

 the native breed of the highlands of Scot- 

 anil, and other hilly countries in the north 



other rest but two or three halts upon the II of Europe. j It is too small for the present 

 road: and frequently perform litis labor four!, two-horse ploughs; but few horses are equal 



times a-week. 



The Suffolk punch is a very useful ani- 

 mal for rural labor, and is particularly es- 

 teemed by the farmers of Norfolk, Suffolk, 

 and Essex, but the merit of this breed seems 

 to consist more in constitutional hardiness 

 than in any apparent superiority of shape. — 

 " Their color is mostly yellowish or sorrel, 

 w ith a white ratch or blaze on their faces ; 

 the head large, ears wide, muzzle coarse, 

 fore-end low^ back long, sometimes, but al- 

 ways very straight, sides flat, shoulders too 

 far forward, hind-quarters middling, but ra- 

 ther high about the hips, legs round and 



ses of agricultural draught as now conduct- 1 short in the posterns, deep-bellied, and full 



ed ; but by cultivation, the improved breed 

 pointed out, have furnished such animals as 

 are equal to every thing required of them. 



The black horse, hied in the midland coun- 

 ties of England, is a noble and useful ani- 

 mal ; and furnishes those grand teams we 

 .see in the coal, flour, and other heavy carts 

 and wagons about London ; where the im- 

 mense weight of the animal's body assists 

 his accompanying strength to move the hea- 

 viest loads. But the present system of farm- 

 ing requires horses of less bulk and mote ac- 

 tivity for the usual agricultural purposes 

 better adapted for travelling, and more ca- 1 

 pable of enduring fatigue ; consequently 

 this breed is seldom seen in the improved 

 farms. The black cart horse is understood 

 to have been formed, or at least to have been| 

 brought to its present state, by means of 

 stallions and mares imported from the low 

 countries; though there appears to be some 

 difference in the accounts that have been! 

 preserved, in regard to the places from 



in the flank. Here, perhaps, lies much of 

 the merit of these horses ; for we know, from 

 observation and experience, that all deep- 

 bellied horses carry their food long, and con- 

 sequently are enabled to stand longer and 

 harder days' works. However, certain it is, 

 that these horses do perform surprising days' 

 works. It is well known, that the Suffolk 

 and Norfolk farmers plow more land in a 

 day than any other people in the island ; and 

 these are the kind of horses every where us- 

 ed in those districts." (Culley on Live Stock, 

 p. 27.) Since Culley's time much pains have 

 been taken to improve this useful breed, and 

 to render them, by cultivation, fitted not on- 

 ly for heavy but for light work. So great 

 has been the estimation of this breed in Ire- 

 land, that Beresford of — — , procured from 

 Suffolk a cart stallion, for which he gave a 

 hundred guineas; and which he allowed to 

 cover all the Suffolk mares brought to him 

 gratis. 



The Clydestiale /torse ha? been long in high 



to them for enduring fatigue on the road. — 

 |"I well remember," says Culley, "one that 

 1 1 rode for many years, which, to the last, 

 i would have gone upon a pavement by choice, 

 in preference to a softer road." (Observa- 

 tions on Live Stock, p. 35.) 



The galloway, so called from its being 

 found chiefly in that province of Scotland, 

 | has now become very rare ; it is a little horse, 

 of much the same size as the former, or ra- 

 ther larger ; the breed having been neglect- 

 ed from its unfitness for the present labors 

 of agriculture. The true galloways are said 

 to resemble the Spanish horses ; and there 

 is a tradition, that some of the latter, that 

 had escaped from one of the vessels of the 

 Armada, wrecked on the coast of Galloway, 

 were allowed to intermix with the native 

 race. Such of this breed as have been pre- 

 served in any degree of purity, are of a light 

 bay or brown color, with black legs, and are 

 easily distinguished by the smallness of then 

 head and neck, and the clearness of their 

 bone. 



The still smaller horses of the Highlands 

 and isles of Scotland arc distinguished from 

 the larger breeds by the several appellations 

 of ponies, shelties, and in Gaelic of garrons 

 or gearrons. They are reared in great num- 

 bers in the Hebrides, or western isles, where 

 they are found in the greatest purity. Dif- 

 ferent varieties of the same race are spread 

 over all the Highland district, and the north- 

 ern isles. This ancient breed is supposed 

 to have been introduced into Scotland from 

 Scandinavia, when the Norwegians and 

 Danes first obtained a footing in these parts. 

 " It is precisely the same breed that subsi«rj 



