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84 COACH-HORSES CH. XVI 



to England and to some years ago, than to America 

 in the present day. The old-fashioned, large, eight- 

 spring landaus and barouches required tall, heavy 

 horses, which were reined up tightly ; but the mod- 

 ern landau is not a heavy nor very high carriage, 

 and the wheelers of a coach look well to it if they 

 have sufficient action ; and in all but exceedingly 

 large establishments, it is necessary to use the 

 horses for several purposes. The opinion is, how- 

 ever, worth bearing in mind, inasmuch as a coaching 

 man would make a mistake were he to put to his 

 drag a pair of carriage-horses of the type just 

 mentioned. 



The most nearly perfect team is that which is 

 the best matched in temper, size, action, pace, and 

 colour. A cross team of two colours, that is, off 

 leader and near wheeler alike, is always good, but 

 four of different colours, require exceptional ' qual- 

 ity' to bring the team into the front rank. A team 

 with two horses of one colour on one side and 

 two of another colour on the other, always has a 

 one-sided look, and leaders matched and wheelers 

 matched in pairs as to colour, look too much like 

 two pairs. These remarks apply, however, to 

 strongly marked colours, greys, &c. ; bays and 

 browns may be put together in any way. A cross 

 team of two greys and two dark horses has usually 

 a gay and brilliant look. 



Some qualities are* sufficient to exclude any horse ; 

 a kicker is no better in one place than another ; and 



