THE HAIR OF THE HOESE. 49 



whole frame continue to acquire strength, and although there 

 is no farther increase in heiglit, the parietes of the large cavities 

 and the muscles of voluntary motion assume a finished and ro- 

 tund appearance, and render the animal more capable of endur- 

 ing continued exertion and privation ; the vital endurance and 

 resistance being greater than during the period of adolescence. 

 The fire and expression of the head, the spirit, character and 

 disposition, become also more marked toward the termination 

 of this epoch. 



" The natural period of decay of the vital powers, senility 

 and mature death, may be conjectured to be about thirty 

 years ; but few horses, from our barbarous treatment, attain 

 that term. 



" The walk, the trot and the gallop, are the usually well- 

 known natural paces of the horse ; but the fact of some indi- 

 viduals contracting the pace called the amble,* without previous 

 tuition, has induced many writers to regard that also as a natu- 

 ral method of progression. 



" In England and other northern countries, on the approach 

 of mild we'ather, the horse, by a natural process analogous to 

 moulting in birds, divests himself of his winter's clothing of 

 long hair, and produces one of a shorter and cooler texture ; and 

 again, before the recurrence of cold weather, reassumes his 

 warm and lengthened coat to protect himself from the inclem- 

 ency of the approaching season. The autumnal f change is not 

 by any means so general as that which takes place at the com- 

 mencement of spring. The hair is not so completely changed ; 

 only a portion of it is thrown off, and that which remains, with 

 that which springs up, grows long and is adapted to the tem- 

 perature of the atmosphere. These alternate changes are not 

 so well marked in countries possessing an even temperature, nor 

 even are they so plainly seen in horses kept in the warm atmo- 

 sphere of a close stable all the year round. When the shedding 

 of the coat commences, the bulbs of the old hair become pale, 

 and by the side of each a small black globular body is formed, 

 which is soon developed jnto the new hair. Thus the matrix 



* The amble is neither racking nor pacing ; the latter of which is beyond doubt 

 a natural pace. 



f In America, at least in the northern parts, this change is invariable. 

 Vol. T.— 4 



