COLOUE. 377 



times irritable, and generally weak. We must except one varietj', the 

 Suffolk punch ; a heavy horse, and adapted for slow work, but perfect in 

 his kind, which no labour can daunt, no fatigue overcome. This is a breed 

 now, unfortunately, nearly extinct. The present variety, however crossed, 

 is not equal to the old Suffolk. 



The dark chesnut is as different a horse from the hackney-light-chesnut 

 as can be easily imagined ; round in the carcass, powerful in the quarters, 

 but rather fine in the legs : possessed of great endurance, and with a con- 

 stitution that rarely knows an ailment, except that the feet are small and 

 disposed to contraction, and that accompanied by lameness, and that the 

 horse is too often of a hot and unmanageable temper. 



Of the bays, there are many varieties, and they include the very best of 

 our horses of every description. The bright yellow bay, although very 

 beautiful, and especially if his mane and tail are black, is the least valuable, 

 because the lighness of his colour seems to give him some tenderness of 

 constitution. The proper bay, with no white about him, and black from 

 the knees and the hocks to the feet, is the most desirable of all colours ; 

 he has generally a good constitution, naturally good feet, and, if his con- 

 formation is not faulty, will turn out a valuable horse for almost every 

 purpose. 



As we approach to the brown, we find in the bay-brown not always so 

 much show and action, but more strength and endurance, and more use- 

 fulness. He usually has more substance than the lighter bay, and 

 more depth of leg ; and, could we find the same degree of breeding, he 

 wovdd be as handsome, and more valuable. A good bay-brown or a 

 brown horse, with a sufficient quantity of blood, is indeed a good horse. 



When, however, we arrive at the browns, it is necessary to examine the 

 degree of breeding. This colour is not so fashionable, and therefore these 

 horses have been considerably neglected There are many good ones, and 

 those that are good are valuable; but many of them are only a half 

 or a quarter bred, and therefore comparatively coarse, yet useful for the 

 saddle and for harness, for slow work, and occasionally for that which is 

 niore rapid. 



The black-brown is generally more neglected so far as its breed is con- 

 cerned, and deserves to be examined more carefully. It frequently, how- 

 ever, retains much of the goodness of constitution of the brown and bay- 

 brown. 



Of the black greater care has been taken. The heavy black of Lincoln- 

 shire and the midland counties is a noble animal, and would be almost 

 beyond price if he could be rendered more active. The next in size form 

 the majority of our waggon-horses, and perhaps our best; and on a 

 smaller breed still, and to the improvement of which much attention has 

 been devoted, many of our cavalry are mounted. A few black thorough- 

 bred horses and black hunters have been seen, but the improvement of 

 horses of this colour has not been studied, except for the purposes that 

 have been mentioned. Their peculiar high action, while not unob- 

 jectionable for draught, and desirable for the parade, would be unbear- 

 able in the roadster ; and some have said, that black horses are more 

 subject to vice, disease, and blindness, than any other colour. This charge 

 is not, perhaps, true to its full extent, but there certainly are a great many 

 worthless black horses in every part of the country. 



After all, there is an old saying, that a good horse cannot be of a bad 

 colour ; and it is far more necessary to attend to the conformation and 

 points of the horse than to his colour. These observations, however, 

 although they admit of many exceptions, may be useful in guiding to the 

 judicious purchase of the horse. 



