ON COLOUR. 263 



animals I have owued were both chestnut ; 

 and the only two blacks I have possessed 

 were of a most affectionate and willing 

 disposition. So much for my own personal 

 experience of this instructive and edifying 

 theory. 



But I think these antiquated ideas have 

 been exploded among horsemen for many 

 generations. Chestnuts are apt to be fiery, 

 no doubt, but it is because of their breed 

 rather than of their colour. When properly 

 handled, they give no more trouble than 

 horses of another colour. The general- 

 purpose horse, too, of former generations 

 was generally a bay, brown, or grey ; and 

 so it became customary to attribute his 

 many excellent qualities to his colour. 



The old prejudice against white markings 

 still seems to linger among a few old- 

 fashioned persons. Only the other day, on 

 my way to a large sale and show, I chummed 

 in with an agreeable elderly clergyman, who 



