256 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. 



importations of both stallions and mares from 

 Flanders were by no means uncommon. 



At this time the black color was still a char- 

 acteristic and distinguishing feature of the 

 heavy horses of England, as it was of the parent 

 stock from across the channel. They were of 

 immense size, with great strength, but were 

 heavy, dull and sluggish in temperament, and 

 slow and awkward in motion. Prof. Low, writ- 

 ing of these horses in his " Domesticated Ani- 

 mals of the British Islands," says: 



The modern English Black horse retains the general char- 

 acteristics of the pre-existing 1 race, but greatly modified. 

 His color is usually a sooty black, with frequently a white 

 lozenge-shaped mark on the forehead; and he has very gen- 

 erally one or more of the fee't and part of the legs, and not 

 unfrequently the muzzle, white. His body is massive, com- 

 pact and round; his limbs are stout, his chest is enormously 

 broad, and his neck and back are short. His mane is thick 

 and somewhat frizzled, and his legs below the knee and hock 

 are hairy down to the heels. His whole aspect conveys the 

 idea of great physical power without corresponding action. 

 The main defects of his conformation and temperament are 

 his too great bulk of body and want of action and mettle. 

 For a pull with a heavy weight he is admirable; but he steps 

 out short, and is slow in all his motions. 



These powerful horses are in extensive demand, not only 

 in the midland counties, where they are reared, but over all 

 the south of England, for the labors of the field, and for 

 wagon and heavy carriages of all kinds. They are every- 

 where to be seen, moving at a slow pace, in the numerous 

 heavy wagons by which merchandise is conveyed inland, and 

 in great numbers in all the larger cities and seaport towns, 

 where they are used for transport of heavy goods at wharves, 

 for the carriage of coal, timber, building materials, and for 



