THE BRITISH HOESE 19 



make him hardy, for he is rarely housed, summer or winter. 

 The Rev. Mr. Hall says that when these animals come to a 

 bo^gy piece of ground, they first put their nose to it, and 

 then pat on it in a peculiar way with one of their fore-feet, 

 and from the sound and feel of the ground they know 

 whether it will bear them. They do the same with ice, 

 and determine in a minute whether they will proceed. 



As to the English pony, almost every district has its 

 breed, more or less, commingled ; and the variety would 

 appear to be most suitable to the circumstances of pastur- 

 age and soil. Owing, however, to the average large stature 

 of the English horse, any thing under thirteen hands has, 

 in horseman's phrase, come to be called " a pony." Many 

 of our best trotters have passed under this name. 



II.— The Draught Horse. 



Up to within these few years our principal employers of 

 draught horses in the metropolis aimed almost exclusively 

 at the procuring of those grand, stately, and immense 

 animals which judicious crossing with the Flemish and 

 old Suffolk Punch so often produced. Of late, however, 

 the immense demand for a horse of higher activity and 

 hardiness, for the service of the railway van, has given 

 the waggon horse a stamp more approaching to the 

 Cleveland, or the " machiner " — a smart trot, as well as a 

 sheer-strength pull, being a desideratum. When the old 

 " sumpter," or carrier's horse, was used in England, for the 

 conveyance of loads in packs or panniers, some of the 

 Yorkshire sumpter horses have been known to carry 700 

 lbs. weight sixty miles in the day, and to repeat this 

 journey four times a week, while mill horses have carried 

 910 lbs. for shorter distances. This is the stamp of animal 

 required by the Baxendales, Chaplins, and Pickfords ; 

 another sort is yet the pride of our great brewers, distillers, 

 and London waggon owners. 



A prevalent error of strangers is that these magnificent 

 horses are merely meant as an advertisement of the firm 

 to which they belong. The large and opulent brewer has 

 less occasion for this kind of publicity than any other 

 trader. His customers are compelled to come to him: a 

 chance sale is a rarct avis. He has these horses because 



