282 CONFESSIONS OF A. HORSE DEALEK. 



strength, and endurance, with sufficient speed for every 

 useful and pleasurable purpose, while gentlemen connected 

 with the turf would win and lose their money with as 

 much facility as they do at present. 



CHAPTER XX. 



THE SELECTION AND TRAINING OF SHOOTING COBS. 



A GOOD shooting cob is a dray horse in miniature, from 

 12 to 14 hands high according to the weight he may 

 have to carry gentle in his disposition, yet active and 

 spirited when called upon to put forth his energies in 

 perfect obedience to his rider : he has a small head, with 

 a full sparkling eye, short, sharp, and lively looking 

 ears, high and sloping withers, which enable him to 

 carry his rider fair on his back, without interfering with 

 the free action of his shoulders ; he has a deep body, 

 strong joints, flat, sinewy legs, and sound, well-formed 

 feet. 



Free and vigorous in his action, and endowed with 

 extraordinary powers of endurance, he will carry his 

 rider up and down rough stony declivities, or cheerily 

 trudge over the boundless heather for hours upon hours, 

 without trip or tumble, or exhibiting the least symptom 

 of distress. A really good cob, for ordinary riding, is a 

 very scarce animal now-a-days, and for every one offered 



