260 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. 



very considerable extent with white upon the legs and face. 

 In Derbyshire the white facial markings often gave rise to 

 the names of horses; for instance, the numerous "Blazes" 

 were undoubtedly so called from the possession of a blaze 

 face; other appellations, as "Ball," "Bald horse," "Balled- 

 faced horse," more rarely met with, possibly implied a 

 greater suffusion with white than the title "Blaze." 



In Staffordshire the prevailing color appears to have been 

 brown; as early as 1806 horses are described as descendants 

 of the "old brown Staffordshire breed." Grey horses appear 

 to have been more common in counties south of Derbyshire 

 and Staffordshire, but it is probable that the coats of many 

 of the so-called black horses had interspersed therein a con- 

 siderable sprinkling of white hairs, and that .they were occa- 

 sionally described as greys; there is one instance, about fortj 

 years ago, of an Oxfordshire horse being sometimes described 

 as a black and at another period a grey. 



The head was large in all its dimensions, well placed or 

 the neck by strong, broad and deep attachment; the forehead 

 and face wide, expressive and intelligent; a side view of th 

 jaws and muzzle represented those parts to be remarkabk 

 for depth; the ears were small and carried slightly outward 

 the eyes somewhat small, not prominent, but generally mile 

 and moderately intelligent in expression; the nostrils anc 

 mouth large, firm and well closed; the neck was long, archec 

 and remarkable for its depth, and for the strength of its in 

 sertion between the shoulder-blades, not as it is now fre 

 quently seen, badly placed, by having the appearance o 

 being fused, as it were, upon the front edge of the blade 

 bones, a conformation affording insufficient room for the col 

 lar, ajid therefore one most defective for the purposes o 

 heavy draft. The shoulders were massive, muscular, up 

 right, low and thick at the withers, thrown well outwarc 

 beyond the insertion of the neck by the front ribs bein^ 

 properly arched. The fore arm was long, strong and muscu 

 lar; the knee broad and flat in all its aspects; the fore an< 

 hind cannons short and thick, frequently measuring upwarc 

 of twelve inches in circumference, covered with coarse skin 

 and having a "beefy" appearance and touch, more marked ii 



