THE HEAVY DRAUGHT HORSE. 9g 



many a good team was injured and ruined. The immense power of the Suffolk 

 13 accounted for by the low position of the shoulder, which enables him to throw 

 so much of his weight into the collar. 



Although the Punch is not what he was, and the Suffolk and Norfolk farmer 

 can no longer boast of ploughing more land in a day than any one else, this is 

 undoubtedly a valuable breed. 



The Duke of Richmond obtained many excellent carriage horses with 

 strength, activity, and figure, by crossing the Suffolk with one of his best hunters. 



The Suffolk breed is in great request in the neighbouring counties of Norfolk 

 and Essex. Mr. Wakefield, of Barnham in Essex, had a stallion for which he 

 was offered four hundred guineas. 



The Clydesdale is a good kind of draught horse, and particularly for 

 farming business and in a hilly country. It derives its name from the district 

 on the Clyde, in Scotland, where it is principally bred. The Clydesdale horse 

 owes its origin to one of the Dukes of Hamilton, who crossed some of the best 

 Lanark mares with stallions that he had brought from Flanders. The Clydes- 

 dale is larger than the Suffolk, and has a better head, a longer neck, a lighter 

 carcase, and deeper legs; he is strong, hardy, pulling true, and rarely restive. 

 The southern parts of Scotland are principally supplied from this district ; and 

 many Clydesdales, not only for agricultural purposes, but for the coach and the 

 saddle, find their way to the central, and even southern counties of England. 

 Dealers from almost every part of the United Kingdom attend the markets of 

 Glasgow and Rutherglen. 



Mr. Low says that "the Clydesdale horse as it is now bred is usually sixteen 

 hands high. The prevailing colour is black, but the brown or bay is common, 

 and is continually gaining upon the other, and the grey is not unfrequently 

 produced. They are longer in the body than the English black horse, and less 

 weighty, compact and muscular, but they step out more freely, and have a more 

 useful action for ordinary labour. They draw steadily, and are usually free 

 from vice. The long stride, characteristic of the breed, is partly the result of 

 conformation, and partly of habit and training; but, however produced, it adds 

 greatly to the usefulness of the horse, both on the road and in the fields. No 

 such loads are known to be drawn, at the same pace, by any horses in the king- 

 dom, as in the single-horse carts of carriers and others in the West of Scotland*." 



In the opinion of this gentleman, " the Clydesdale horses, although inferior in 

 weight and physical strength to the black horse, and in figure and showy action 

 to the better class of the draught horses of Northumberland and Durham, yet 

 possess properties which render them exceedingly valuable for all ordinary uses. 

 On the road they perform tasks that can scarcely be surpassed, and in the fields 

 they are found steady, docile, and safet." 



The Heavy Black Horse is the last variety it may be necessary to notice. 

 It is bred chiefly in the midland counties from Lincolnshire to Staffordshire. 

 Many are bought up by the Surrey and Berkshire farmers at two years old, — and, 

 being worked moderately until they are four, earning their keep all the while, 

 they are then sent to the London market, and sold at a profit of ten or twelve 

 per cent. 



It would not answer the breeder's purpose to keep them until they are fit 

 for town work. He has plenty of fillies and mares on his farm for every purpose 

 that he can require ; he therefore sells them to a person nearer the metropolis, 

 by whom they are gradually trained and prepared. The traveller has probably 

 wondered to see four of these enormous animals in a line before a plough, on no 

 very heavy soil, and where two lighter horses would have been quite sufficient. 

 The farmer is training them for their future destiny ; and he does right in not 



* Low's Illustrations, p. 45. t lb. p. 46. 



H 2 



