THE CLASSES OP HORSES 47 



Chestnut, especially the golden and red, is one of the most 

 attractive colors and when accompanied by white markings, as 

 chestnut is quite liable to be, presents an extremely flashy appear- 

 ance. This is one of the most popular colors in high-class harness 

 and saddle horses. 



Black, while most popular in fiction, is in fact not a good 

 color for selling. It is objected to chiefly on the ground that it 

 is not often fast black but fades and sunburns badly in hot 

 weather; the sooty more so than the jet black. Black is also 

 objectionable on account of the flecked appearance which it 

 acquires as the horse is warmed up. No matter how carefully 

 the coat is groomed, every hair that is turned appears as a dirty, 

 gray fleck, as soon as the sweat dries. Black harness horses are 

 commonly cross matched with grays. The chief sjDecific demand 

 for black horses conies from undertakers. 



07~ay is the color most in demand in the draft classes, al- 

 though frequently discriminated against in horses of any other 

 type. The preference for grays is stated, by draft horse buyers, 

 to be due to the fact that they experience less difficulty in match- 

 ing up a team of from two to six grays than in the case of any 

 other color. This may be accounted for to some extent by the 

 fact that gray is the predominating color in the draft breed which 

 outnumbers all other draft breeds combined, in this country. It 

 would seem at first thought that bays could be more easily 

 matched than grays. But bays are most frequently marked with 

 white, which necessitates a matching of markings as well as of 

 shade. Grays, furthermore, appear to harmonize better with the 

 red, green, or yellow combinations in which most commercial 

 vehicles are finished. It is also reasonable to claim that the 

 gray horse is less sensitive to heat than the horse of darker color, 

 since white has the physical property of reflecting the sun's rays, 

 while black absorbs them. This fact is borne out by one's ordi- 

 nary experience with light and dark suits of the same weight. 

 Gray horses, outside the work horse division, are generally 

 objected to on account of the consplcuousness of their hair when 

 shed ; the degree in which they show stable stain, although this 

 difficulty is largely overcome by the use of peat moss bedding; 

 and the inevitable disappearance, with advancing age, of the 



