76 LIGHT HORSES : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



THE YORKSHIRE COACH HORSE. 



The Yorkshire Coach Horse owes his origin, according to 

 the late Mr. Lumley Hodgson, to the fashion for driving big 

 upstanding horses, reaching up to lyh. 2ms., in curricles in the 

 early part of the century. To what he termed this pernicious 

 fashion, Mr. Hodgson attributed in a great measure the deca- 

 dence in the Cleveland Bay breed which took place early in 

 the century, and about the time that these big, flash, half-bred 

 horses came to be used as sires. Continual breeding from 

 these half-bred horses, which were Mr. Hodgson's pet aver- 

 sion, has, however, eventually developed a type of horse which 

 breeds very true both as to colour, conformation and general 

 characteristics. There is a tendency in the Yorkshire Coach 

 Horse to a loss of substance. Quality is maintained and even 

 improved upon, but the general tendency is to a loss of 

 width and bone. This, however, is now very much checked 

 owing to the action of the Yorkshire Coach Horse Society. 

 Previous to the establishment of that Society in 1886, any- 

 thing was recognised as a Coach Horse that at all conformed 

 to the type, and a horse with" two or three crosses of thorough- 

 bred blood was not infrequently used as a Coaching stallion, 

 whilst half-bred horses horses that is with a direct cross of 

 thoroughbred blood were quite commonly used. It is easy to 

 see that such a method of breeding, if indeed method it could 

 be called, must tend to a loss of substance ; and frequent re- 

 course had to be had to Cleveland Bays to correct this very 

 serious defect. The favourite plan was to put a Coaching 

 mare of fine quality to a Cleveland stallion with action and 

 substance ; and the result of such a cross was generally, nay, 

 almost always, satisfactory. But since the establishment of 

 the Coach Horse Society the Yorkshire Coach Horse has been 

 placed upon a very different footing. For a time the Society 

 recognised the horses with a thoroughbred cross, but soon 

 the question of type, and loss of size forced itself on the at- 

 tention of the Council, and the lines of admission to the Stud 



