780 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



c. The ordinary gray, which presents an almost equal mixture 

 of white and dark or black hairs. 



d. The dark gray, characterized by the predominance of dark or 

 black hairs. 



Relative to its particular tint or color, the gray is also called : 



e. Iron gray, when it has the bluish shade of a piece of iron 

 recently brokeu. This horse is vulgarly called blue or grayish-blue. 



/. Slate-colored gray, when it resembles the dull blue of slate. 

 It is a shade darker than the preceding, and varies from light to dark, 

 according to circumstances. 



g. Clayey gray, when it has a very light yellowish tint. It 

 much resembles the clayey white. 



h. Isabella gray, when it is constituted b}^ a mixture of white, 

 yellow, and dark hairs. According to the intensity of the yellow and 

 the relative abundance of the dark and the black, it becomes light or 

 dark ; but its general tint always recalls that of the Isabella. 



i. Roan gray when it is constituted by an intimate mixture of 

 white, dark, red, or reddish hairs, the latter ordinarily less abundant. 

 It may be light or dark. When the red or reddish hairs predominate 

 over the others, and particularly over the dark, it acquires a more 

 marked red tint ; it is then called wine gray. 



k. Gray, called " thrush gray," when it has the aspect of a light 

 roan gray, upon which are disseminated small patches of whitish or 

 yellowish hairs (Brivet). 



I. Flea-bitten gray, when it is constituted by a dark roan gray 

 intermixed with small patches of whitish hairs (Brivet). 



The last two varieties are very rare. 



Gray horses have darker extremities, and become more and more 

 light as they advance in age. They even change from year to year, 

 which necessitates a frequent modification in their description. Finally, 

 they are subject to numerous and special peculiarities, which we will 

 study farther on. 



2d. The white or white coat, being a color so universally recog- 

 nized, needs no definition. 



This coat exists, with very rare exceptions, only at a more or less 

 advanced period of life. Hence we will consider it, essentially, as 

 being derived from the gray, or again as a primitive color, such as the 

 black, the sorrel, the Isabella, or the bay, in which the primary black, 

 blond, yellow, or red hairs have almost totally disappeared. But 

 in examining such horses, we find, in most instances, some of these 



