BREEDS AND VARIETIES OF HORSES 19 



and hocks well, and is an excellent mover both at 

 the walk and the trot. In colour he is, of course, a 

 bay of either a lighter or a darker shade, and occa- 

 sionally curious-looking zebra-like stripes are visible 

 on the arms and thighs. Sometimes in the darker 

 bays similar stripes or marks are found upon the 

 quarters^ and not unfrequently there is a dark stripe 

 down the back. The presence of a few white hairs 

 are visible about the pasterns, but although these are 

 not regarded as disqualifications, they are much 

 objected to by many judges. The Cleveland Bay, 

 it may be added, is a very powerful and active horse, 

 and may be used, when there is no other work for 

 him, for ploughing, though if the soil be extra heavy 

 clay he is scarcely heavy enough for such an under- 

 taking. 



The Yorkshire Coach Horse, 



although not so old a variety as the Cleveland Bay, 

 is asserted by its supporters to be a breed possessing 

 an existence of a hundred years. There is room for 

 believing that the Cleveland Bay had a good deal 

 to do with the origin of the Yorkshire Coach Horse, 

 but the precise origin of the latter breed is decidedly 

 obscure, and in hazarding a conjecture regarding its 

 establishment a good deal must be left to imagina- 

 tion. Taken all round, the Yorkshire Coach Horse 

 may be described, as Mr. W. S. Dixon puts it very 

 happily in " Light Horses," " as a Cleveland Bay with 

 more quality, i.e. with more Thoroughbred quality." 

 The head of the former is smaller and more blood- 

 like than that of the Cleveland, and the crest is more 

 arched. He is also a narrower horse, with less heavy 

 bone, and, generally speaking, possesses more style 

 in his action than the latter horse. In colour the 

 Yorkshire Coach Horse must be either a bay or a 

 brown, and a stallion heavily marked with white would 

 be rejected by a careful breeder. 



