40 THE HORSE. 



district on the Clyde in Scotland, where it is principally bred. The 

 Clydesdale horse owes its origin to one of the Dukes of Hamilton, who 

 crossed some of the best Lanark mares with stallions which he had brought 

 over from Flanders. The Clydesdale is larger than the Suffolk, and has a 

 better head, a longer neck, a lighter carcase, and deeper legs ; strong, 

 hardy, pulling true, and rarely restive. The southern parts of Scotland are 

 principally supplied from this district ; and many Clydesdales, not only for 

 agricultural purposes, but for the coach and the saddle, find their way to the 

 central, and even southern counties of England. Dealers from almost 

 every part of the United Kingdom attend the markets of Glasgow and 

 Rutherglen. 



The Heavy Black Horse is the last variety it may be necessary to 

 notice. It is bred chiefly in the midland counties from Lincolnshire to 

 Staffordshire. Many are bought up by the Surrey and Berkshire farmers 

 at two years old, — and being worked moderately until they are four, 

 earning their keep all the while, they are then sent to the London market, 

 and sold at a profit of ten or twelve per cent. 



It would not answer the breeders purpose to keep them until they are 

 fit for town-work. He has plenty of fillies and mares on his farm for every 

 purpose that he can require ; he therefore sells them to a person nearer the 

 metropolis, by whom they are gradually trained and prepared. The 

 traveller has probably wondered to see four of these enormous animals in a 

 line before a plough, on no very heavy soil, and where two lighter horses 

 would have been quite sufficient. The farmer is training them for their 

 future destiny ; and he does right in not requiring the exertion of all their 

 strength, for their bones are not yet perfectly formed, nor their joints knit ; 

 and were he to urge them too severely, he would probably injure and 

 deform them. By the gentle and constant exercise of the plough, he is 

 preparing them for that continued and equable pull at the collar, which is 

 afterwards so necessary. These horses are adapted more for parade and 

 shew, and to gratify the ambition which one brewer has to outvie his neigh- 

 bour, than for any peculiar utility. They are certainly noble-looking 

 animals, with their round fat carcases, and their sleek coats, and the 

 evident pride which they take in themselves ; but they eat a great deal of 

 liay and corn, and at hard and long-continued work they would be 

 completely beaten by a team of active muscular horses an inch and a half 

 lower. 



Tiie only plea which can be urged in their favour, beside their fine 

 appearance, is, that as shaft-horses, over the badly-paved streets of the 

 metropolis, and w ith the immense loads they often have behind them, great 

 bulk and weight are necessary to stand the unavoidable shaking and 

 battering. Weight must be opposed to weight, or the horse would some- 

 times be quite thrown off his legs. A large heavy horse must be in the 

 .shafts, and then little ones before him would not look well. 



Certainly no one has walked the streets of London without pitying the poor 

 thill-horse, jolted from side to side, and exposed to many a bruise, unless, 

 with admirable cleverness, he accommodates himself to every motion ; but, 

 at the same time, it must be evident, that bulk and fat do not always con- 

 stitute strength, and that a compact muscular horse, approaching to sixteen 

 liands high, would acquit himself far better in such a situation. Tlie 

 dray-horse, in the mere act of ascending from the wharf, may display 

 a powerful effort, but he afterwards makes little exertion, much of 

 his force being expended in transporting his own overgrown mass. 



These heavy horses are bred in the highest perfection, as to size, in the 



