CARRIAGE-HORSES 111 



What the future has in store for the hackney is difticult to 

 forecast in these days of mechanical traction, which is ever 

 becoming more and more popular. The foreigners have 

 always been the best purchasers of the breed, and may 

 continue their custom. France especially, it is said, utilises 

 them for breeding artillery horses, while the Argentine has 

 consistently been a good buyer ; but a considerable trade, 

 which used to be done with rich young business men in 

 provincial towns, has almost entirely fallen off, for, instead 

 of driving a smart turnout from their homes to their places 

 of business, they now prefer a motor-car. Still, as those 

 persons who yet continue to drive in London mostly require 

 quality, refinement, and style, and there is no other pure 

 breed which can compare with the hackney in its showy 

 action, it is probable that it may yet be in demand when the 

 Cleveland Ba}'^ and the Yorkshire Coach-horse remain but a 

 memory, "improved " out of existence by the motor-car, or 

 possibly the flying machine. 



The difference in the action of hackneys, the wrong way 

 and the right, may be well exemplified by the following 

 anecdote concerning two well-known stallions of their day, 

 whose names crop up now in many a pedigree. On June 

 19, 1906, Mr. James Melrose, the veteran chairman of the 

 York Eace Committee, related these interesting personal 

 reminiscences : — 



" I remember the hackney stalHon, Prickwillow, very 

 well ; he had high pumping action, but never got on, putting 

 his feet down where he took them up from. I think it 

 would be about 1832 that his owner, C. Hart, v/ho thought 

 a deal of him, brought him to York, and a match was made 

 for him to trot against a local horse on Knavesmire. A 

 crowd came to see it, and Hart rode in his shirt- sleeves, 

 rolling them over his arms. The local horse, however, had 

 different action, and went clean away from the start, leaving 

 the other far behind. It was no race at all. Market 

 Weighton was always a famous place for hackneys, and it 

 was there I saw Fireaway trot. He had splendid action, 

 and shot his legs out with tremendous force. He belonged 

 to Mr. Ramsden. Flying Childers is said to have been put 



