COLOUR. ^ 375 



strong and as stout, as the glossiest-coated horse in the field, if he has 

 been sufficiently and properly fed and trained for the purpose. 



Hunters that are summered out, as reason and humanity demand, 

 should, however, if they are to wear the short fashionable coat, be taken 

 up before the end of June, not only because the grass may then begin to 

 fail, and the ground to grow hard, and the flies to annoy, but that they 

 may be accustomed to the warmth of the stable by day and by night, for 

 a sufficient time before the moulting season commences, and that the coat 

 may be accommodated to that warmth ; for if they are suffered to remain 

 out until the autumnal coat begins to grow, no grooming will remove 

 it until the following spring. 



CLIPPING. 



As to the newly Invented practices of clipping, and its supposed improve- 

 ment, shaving the horse, and especially the hunter, such deviations from 

 nature rarely come to any good. There may not be so much perspiration 

 hanging about the hair when the hunter, warmed by a long burst, comes to 

 a check on a piercing day, and therefore the cooling process of evaporation 

 in such a situation may not be so long continued ; but let it be remembered 

 that this cold must be abundantly more intense, when the frosty air comes 

 in immediate contact with the heated skin. It is during these pauses of 

 action that the animal wants clothing to protect him from the chilling inju- 

 rious effect of the piercing blast upon the opened steaming pores of the 

 skin. While the animal is in action, a sufficient supply of heat is 

 obtained by the effect of that action on the capillaries, and the increased 

 development of temperature ; but when the action is suspended, some 

 clothing, natural or artificial, something through which the animal heat 

 shall not escape, is absolutely necessary to prevent the chilling of the 

 frame, the exhaustion of vital power, and the dangerous re-action of fever. 



COLOUR. 



The colour of the hair admits of every variety, and each colour becomes in 

 turn fashionable. The colour of the hair, Hke that of the skin, is influenced 

 by, or depends on, that of the mucous mesh-work under the cuticle. 

 There are comparatively few perfectly white horses now remaining. The 

 snow-white palfrey, with its round carcass, and barb head, originally from 

 Spain, or perhaps from Barbary, and rarely exceeeding the size of a Gal- 

 loway, is now nearly extinct. Some yet remain in the possession of the 

 Duke of Montrose. They are of good constitution and pleasant in their 

 paces. The majority of white horses are those that have become so. 

 Light-grey colts begin to grow white before they are five years old, espe- 

 cially if they have not much dark mixture about the joints. 



Grey horses are of different shades, from the lightest silver to a dark 

 iron grey. The silver grey reminds the observer of the palfrey, improved 

 by an admixture of Arab blood. He does not often exceed fourteen hands 

 and a half high, and is round carcassed — light legged — with oblique pas- 

 terns, calculated for a light carriage, or for a lady's riding — seldom sub- 

 ject to disease — but not very fleet, or capable of hard work. 



The iron grey is usually a larger horse ; higher in the withers, deeper 

 and thinner in the carcass, more angular in all his proportions, and in 

 many cases a little too long in the legs. Some of these greys make good 

 hackneys and hunters, and especially the Irish horses ; but they are princi- 

 pally used for the carriage. They have more endurance than the flat- 



