THE DRAY HORSE. 39 



he (the farmer) has a superior mare, one of the old Cleveland 

 breed, and puts her to a buiiy, three-fourths-bred horse, or, if he 

 can find one stout and compact enough, a seven-eighths, or a 

 thorough-bred one, he will have a fair chance to rear a colt that 

 ■will amply repay him as a hunter or carriage-horse." 



In his article on Heavy Draught Horses, Mr. Y. says : " The 

 Cleveland horses have been known to carry more than seven 

 hundred pounds sixty miles in twenty-four hours, and to perform 

 this journey four times in a week." 



Cleveland Bays were imported into western New York, a few 

 years since, where they have spread considerably. They have 

 often been exhibited at our State Fairs. They are monstrously 

 large, and, for their size, are symmetrical horses, and possess very 

 respectable action. Whether they would endure on the road, at 

 any but a moderate pace, we are not informed, and have some 

 doubts. Whether they spring from the genuine and unmixed 

 Cleveland stock, now so scarce in England, we have no means of 

 knowing. The half-bloods, the produce of a cross with our com- 

 mon mares, are liked by many of our farmers. They are said to 

 make strong, serviceable farm beasts — ^though rather prone to 

 Bullenness of temper. 



THE DRAT HORSE. 



Uf the Heavy Black Dray Horses, but few have been miported 

 into this country, and they do not seem likely to become favoriteis 

 here. Mr. Youatt says of them : 



" The Heavy Black Horse is the last variety it may be necessary 

 to notice. It is bred chiefly in the midland counties from Lin- 

 colnshire to Staffordshire. Many are bought up by the Surrey 

 and Berkshire farmers at two years old, — and being worked mod- 

 erately 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 

 fhey 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 s.re 

 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 requiring the 

 exertion of all their strength, for their bones are not yet perfectly 

 formed, nor their joints knit ; and were he to urge them too se- 

 rerely, he would probably injure and deibrm them. By the geiv 



