2IO 



CHAPTER X. 



USEFUL HORSES AND PONIES. 



A First-class Brougham-horse, Description of — Brilliant Action, to preserve— Prince Esterhazy's Steppers — Ponies — What is 

 a Pony in Leicestershire, in Suffolk, in Nottinghamshire, in Devonshire ? — The Shetlantler — The Exmoor — A Visit to 

 Exmoor — The Modern Exmoor not thoroughbred — Competition of Scotch Sheep — Sir Thomas Acland's Ponies — New 

 Forest Ponies — Fancy Ponies — Mr. Milward's Ponies — How Bred — His Ideas of Size — The Pannier Pony — Instructions 

 for Saddles of — Harness Ponies— Breaking to Harness — Riding Ponies — Galloways and Cobs — The Cob of Luxury — 

 The Cob of Util ty — The Country Hack or Roadster — Boswell on Riding Post — Description of a Roadster's Form 

 and Action — The Cover Hack — Pace and Easy Motion not Beauty — Diminished Numbers — Lavengro's Irish Cob. 



A MAN who has risen from the ranks generally opens his stable with one horse, and, if 

 married, with a strong animal capable of drawing a family brougham or landau, or other 

 covered carriage. Some begin at once with everything in the most correct style — carriage, 

 horse, harness, coachman — others work up by degrees, and are contented to commence with 

 the simply useful. Perhaps it will be better to take it for granted that the best is required, 

 and describe the brougham-horse as he should be where a lady is to be pleased and economy 

 is not an object. 



A BROUGHAM-HORSE. 



A first-class brougham-horse (according to a great authority at Knightsbridge, who long 

 had the exclusive selection of the late Emperor Napoleon's harness-stud) should be long and 

 low, full-barrelled, and from 15 hands to 15 hands 3 inches high, according to the size and 

 weight of the carriage. Nothing looks worse than a horse too small or too tall. In the one 

 case he seems buried in the shafts and harness ; in the other he is constantly pulling up the 

 wheels, and by his size dwarfs the brougham. He should have a broad chest, a lofty crest, 

 a broad back (if rather hollow it is no objection), a flowing mane, a full tail, well carried, 

 presenting a combination of breeding and power. His action should be grand, stately, machine- 

 like, forward action all round, each foot keeping time as truly as Sir Michael Costa's baton. 

 Champing his bit, arching his neck, and bending his knees, he should trot eight miles an 

 hour, and be able to do twelve ; for although the brougham is not intended, when drawn by 

 one horse, to be rattled along like a hansom cab, there are times when you are really 

 hurried — late for an appointment with a lady, or a Secretary of State — then it is very pro- 

 voking to have your coachman whipping, and your two-hundred-guinea purchase see-sawing like 

 a rocking-horse, "all action and no go." 



There is no mistake greater than selecting horses too large for single harness — 15 hands 

 3 inches is high enough for any brougham ; above that height they may do for parade purposes, 

 but they wear themselves out with their own weight on anything like a journey, say from 

 Kensington to Highgate. 



There is another point that ladies who admire a sensational horse should remember. In 

 harness, as in many other conditions of life, ornament and hard work do not agree well. 

 That rare and costly quality, high action, requires as much care as a tenor singer's voice or 



