64 
The  City  Dray  Horse. 
Shire  mares  of  a Very  high  standard  are  kept  and  worked  by 
the  farmers  (though  perhaps  the  mares  are  not  quite  as  good 
as  they  used  to  be),  many  of  the  finest  Shire  horses  have  been, 
and  are  still,  bred.  These  horses  undoubtedly  find  a ready 
market  either  through  the  dealers  or  at  auctions  in  the  great 
industrial  centres,  but  unfortunately  they  are  a small  propor- 
tion of  the  total  number  of  horses  bred  in  Lancashire. 
Rearing.— The  city  draught  horses  are  not  the  produce  of 
idle  mares,  for  though  some  few  of  the  very  best  geldings 
come  from  studs  where  mares  are  kept  solely  for  breeding, 
these  are  the  exception.  Such  animals  are  colts  whose  breed- 
ing would  warrant  their  being  left  entire,  but  owing  to  some 
fault  of  colour  or  other  imperfection  they  have  not  been 
thought  suitable  for  the  stud.  It  is  most  desirable,  in  the 
interests  of  dray  horse  breeding,  that  all  but  the  very  best  and 
soundest  horses  should  be  castrated.  The  bulk  of  the  supply 
of  town  horses  are  out  of  mares  whose  owners  use  them  for 
ordinary  farm  labour,  regarding  the  foals  as  an  extra  source 
of  profit.  The  dams  are  usually  worked  to  within  a few  days 
of  foaling,  and  as  a rule  as  soon  afterwards  again  as  possible, 
the  foal  being  suckled  as  the  case  may  require,  and  generally 
turned  out  with  the  mare  to  grass  at  night.  The  produce,  both 
colts  and  fillies,  are  bi'oken  to  work  during  the  latter  part  of 
their  second  complete  year,  or  say  at  eighteen  months  old,  and 
continue  to  work  on  the  land  until  four,  or  rising  five,  years 
old.  Only  very  exceptionally  is  an  animal,  suitable  for  town 
work,  offered  for  sale  in  the  country  after  it  has  reached  the 
age  of  five  years. 
The  marketing  of  the  young  horses  is  done  in  three  ways, 
viz.,  through  dealers,  public  auctions,  or  fairs.  The  dealers 
visit  the  farms  in  their  district  and  purchase  horses  of  all  ages 
from  two  years  up  to  five  years  old  ; two-  and  three-year-old 
horses  are  often  left  with  the  breeder  or  transferred  to  other 
farmers  to  work  for  their  keep  until  they  are  ready  for  the 
towns,  but  the  majority  of  the  best  horses  are  bought  for  town 
work  through  the  auction  sales  at  Wrexham,  Crewe,  Preston, 
Cockerham,  and  Derby,  where  they  are  taken  in  many  cases 
by  the  dealers  who  have  picked  them  up,  as  mentioned  pre- 
viously, or  at  the  fairs,  the  chief  of  which  are  held  at  Chester, 
Welshpool,  Newtown,  Abergele,  Lincoln,  Horncastle,  Don- 
caster, Preston,  Appleby,  Carlisle,  Rugby,  Newark,  &c. 
City  work. — The  management  of  the  horses  in  the  cities 
naturally  varies  according  to  the  nature  of  the  work  required 
of  them,  but  the  following  is  that  generally  adopted.  The 
number  of  hours  worked  averages  about  twelve  per  day,  from 
leaving  the  stable  at  6 to  7 a.m.,  the  loads  of  necessity  varying 
with  the  class  of  work  they  have  to  perform.  The  dock  teams 
