HORSES OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS 129 



Of late years the tendency has been to render 

 the Cleveland bay and the Yorkshire coach-horse 

 lighter in make than formerly ; and in consequence 

 of this it is difficult to find a sufficient number of 

 horses of the type required for use in the royal 

 stables of this country, so that the stud of carriage- 

 horses has to be recruited from foreign sources. 



In this place it may be mentioned that the 

 famous cream-coloured horses kept in the royal 

 stables for use in processions of full state are a 

 Hanoverian breed. Although frequently referred 

 to as the ''cream ponies," they are in reality horses 

 of large size and great muscular power, the biggest 

 standing fully 16 hands, and the smaller ones an 

 inch or two less. The black Drenthe horses em- 

 ployed at royal funerals are another Hanoverian 

 breed, mainly reared near Osnabruck. 



Of the heavy draught horses of Great Britain 

 one of the most famous is the Suffolk (pi. xii. fig. i ), 

 frequently known, in allusion to its compact and 

 "punchy" build, as the Suffolk punch, whose range 

 extends from its native county into Norfolk and 

 Essex. The original breed was noted for its hardi- 

 ness and the capacity for exerting its utmost strength 

 at a dead pull. A true Suffolk punch, it is written, 

 would draw almost till he dropped ; and a team at 

 a given signal would, without a whip, bend in a 

 moment to their knees, and drag everything along. 



When Low wrote his Domesticated Animals of 



i 



