THE COATS. 773 



1. PRIMITIVE COATS. 



We will divide these coats into three groups : 



a. The simple coats, formed by hairs of a single color. 

 Examples : black, sorrel. 



b. The composite coats, formed by hairs of two colors ; the 

 one, black, for the mane, tail, and extremities ; the others, yellow, red, 

 or gray, for the body. 



Examples : Isabella, bay, mouse-color. 



c. The mixed coats, formed in great part by dark hairs, upon 

 each of which are found two different colors, the yellow more or less 

 light at the base, and the black at the summit. 



Example : fox-color. 



A. Simple Coats. 



We will class among the simple coats all those which are con- 

 stituted by hairs of the same color. They comprise the black and the 

 sorrel. If we do not include the white here, as nearly all authors have 

 done, it is because this color does not belong to the primitive coats. 

 Besides, the true white, that which, in the strict sense of the word, pre- 

 sents no dark-colored hairs, is so rare that many doubt its existence. 

 The horses which are described white are, in reality, only very light 

 grays, upon which some dark hairs of the coat are discovered in the 

 mane or tail, if they are carefully examined. Moreover, we apprise 

 the reader of a different opinion, according to which it will be easy for 

 him to classify this coat in the various groups of which we will speak 

 presently. 



1st. The black coat needs no definition. It is the darkest of all 

 the coats. Its varieties are two in number, as follows : 



a. The true or ordinary black, dark, dull, uniform, and with- 

 out any reflection. 



b. The rusty black, dull, reddish in the sun, with a gradation 

 of tints, less dark, and sometimes almost washed, at the elbows, the 

 axillae, the flanks, the abdomen, the thighs, and the buttocks. It is 

 often difficult to distinguish it from the brown, especially in summer ; 

 we will, nevertheless, show how to differentiate between them in 

 speaking of the latter coat. 



The black may possess a brilliant reflection which is proper to it. 

 This is designated by the names coal black, jet black, extremely black, 

 on account of its brilliant aspect analogous to that of sparkling 



