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CHAPTER XIX. 



MILITARY HORSES. 



Military horses vary much in colour, for we have 

 them of every shade, from the renowned and aristo- 

 cratic Scots Greys to the beautiful and dashing 

 Queen's Bays, and the sombre and imposing Horse 

 Guards. (It may be noticed, in passing, that the 

 War Office has just issued an order, on the grounds 

 of utility, to discontinue using grey horses in the 

 first-named regiment in future.) But, while there is 

 unlimited diversity in their colour, there is more 

 uniformity in their size and breeding than in most 

 other classes of horses, which, in a great measure, 

 counterbalances the bad effect of their inequality of 

 colour, together with the general accoutrements and 

 uniform of the troopers. They are generally from 

 fourteen hands two inches to sixteen hands one inch 

 high, and very nearly about three-parts bred. Light 

 cavalry horses are generally about fifteen hands two 

 inches, and heavy cavalry horses about fifteen hands 

 three inches, while officers' chargers generally stand 

 from fifteen hands three inches to sixteen hands one 

 inch high. The latter horses are very often thorough- 

 bred, numbers of them being discarded racers and 

 steeplechasers which have proved themselves too slow 



