42 
ON THE MANAGEMENT OF FARM HORSES. 
is found in the fens of Lincolnshire in the greatest perfection. 
The breeders usually sell them as two year-old colts, retaining as 
much as possible mares for their own work and for the purpose of 
breeding. The purchasers of these colts work them moderately 
till they are four years old, feeding them well during this period, 
and, indeed, previous to their resale, they are often taken out of 
work and actually fatted in loose boxes, almost like oxen for the 
shambles, in which state they are supposed to please the eye of 
the London brewers, for whose more particular use these pam- 
pered animals are bred. Thus the colt, purchased perhaps for 
£40, realizes in the course of two years double that amount, 
besides working moderately during this period. Thus, if the horse 
does not fall a victim to the various diseases which a redundancy 
of blood is calculated to induce, he yields an ample profit to his 
feeder. These ponderous animals are frequently seventeen hands 
high ; and their sleek and glossy appearance, as they move ma- 
jestically through the streets of the metropolis, present one of the 
most striking sights to the eye of the foreigner. That such large 
massive animals are really required, or are the most profitable for 
their peculiar work, is a matter of considerable doubt; however, it 
is a species of pride which has long prevailed among our London 
brewers, and whilst they continue the premiums in the shape of 
high prices for these massive animals, the breeding of them will 
continue a profitable pursuit, and the streets of the metropolis will 
continue to exhibit the largest horses in the world. One great 
drawback attending this breed is their tendency to weak and 
convex feet, and to ossifications of the cartilages and pasterns, 
the former being the effect of their great weight acting on the soft 
horn induced by the moist pastures, and the latter to their great 
predisposition to throw out bone, caused, perhaps, partly by 
the large amount of the phosphates taken in their food. Many of 
these horses are rendered useless by these morbid deposits, which 
yet are so common that there is scarcely a dray-horse in London 
but what possesses, in some degree, these side-bones , and in very 
many instances no injury takes place. 
In the improvement of this breed of horses it ought to be an 
object to diminish, or rather discourage, as much as possible, these 
objectionable qualities to which the breed is naturally so prone. 
The large dray-horse is by no means confined to those of a black 
colour, we have many of a bay, and still more of a brown colour, 
and also many greys and roans. 
There are also very many excellent compact cart-horses more 
adapted for agricultural purposes of these various colours, and, in- 
deed, in general 1 prefer them to the black cart-horse, as possessing 
greater activity, cleaner limbs, connected with equal compactness 
and strength. 
