226 The Book of the Horse. 



The cob proper of modern England is of two kinds — the priceless animal of grand 

 symmetrical form, short legs, a round barrel, well ribbed up, a well-bred, intelligent head and 

 a neck beautifully set on and carried, a tail to match; in a word, the strength of a dray-horse, 

 the quality of a race-horse, the manners of a perfect gentleman, and at least two good paces, 

 both easy — a square walk over four miles an hour, and a square trot of eight miles an hour — 

 or a very perfect slow canter, performed quite on the haunches. With these merits, a cob of 

 proper sober colour is worth at least two hundred guineas to a dealer — and to the dealer when 

 a heavy-weight millionaire comes to him in despair any price he chooses to ask. I have 

 known £ipo given for a perfect cob, to carry a timid seventeen-stone man. But such cobs 

 are the few and far between exceptions — more difficult to find than even a heavy-weight 

 hunter, because they are only bred by chance. 



The vulgar idea of a cob is a diminutive cart-horse, and such, even without action, if 

 very fat and not absolutely hideous, are constantly sold to ignorant people with plenty of 

 money in their pockets at double their worth, because they fancy that thick legs (perhaps 

 carefully shaved) and a fat body imply strength. One of the safest tests of a weight- 

 carrying cob is to try if he can walk down a steep hill with weight on his back and a 

 loose rein. 



The other, the ordinary cob, which may be worth anything between ;^5o and ;^ioo, if 

 it is sound, has substance, can carry fourteen stone, move at a fair pace, with useful not 

 showy action, and nine times out of ten will go well in harness. It is in consequence of their 

 bone and girth that cobs are of the generally useful class, as distinguished from light blood 

 hacks, their weight enables them to pull a loaded carriage. Those riders who are fastidious 

 will not, if they know it, buy a cob that has ever been in a collar ; but as such animals are, 

 in nine cases out of ten, bred by chance, and work their way by degrees into good society, 

 after graduating in country bakers' or butchers' carts, the odds are in favour of their being 

 accustomed to the collar, even if they do not bear its blemishing mark. 



The already-quoted statistics of the Agricultural Hall shows prove that harness " is the 

 badge of all their tribe." 



In 1872 a cob 14 hands 3 inches high, five years old, rather plain than otherwise, which 

 won a leaping prize, was purchased by a heavy-weight financier at eighty guineas, for use as 

 a constitutional park hack ; he was disfigured by a collar blemish, yet was sold a year later 

 at a profit. 



This sort of cob decidedly comes within the list of useful family horses. He may carry 

 any of the family, including the girls, except the small, short-legged boys ; he may run in 

 single harness ; two cobs will afford more riding and driving than any other class of animal. 

 He may be used by the servants or the master ; his size, his strength, his constitution, make 

 him fit for anything or anybody's use. Placid, not to say stolid, and in the worst form stub- 

 born temperaments, arc more frequently found amongst weight-carrying cobs than amongst light- 

 weight blood hacks. 



A hunter, or a covert hack, and many kinds of harness horses may not be able to walk 

 well ; but a cob that cannot walk at a good pace and in good form is not worth feeding with 

 oats. To describe what a cob ought to be would be only to confuse the readers who do not 

 know — a live original is the best guide, and next to the real thing a good picture. The 

 engraving at page 231 represents what may be called a blood cob, very old when he was 

 painted. In his own county (Hertfordshire) he was a good hunter and hack ; and he looks 

 fit for every useful purpose, his one fault being his colour — grey — but some people do not 



