5 66 
F-. A. A. GRANGE 
this ancient adage, for we believe that a bad color often spoils a 
good horse from an artistic standpoint at all events, which at 
once becomes quite a point for consideration when we place an 
animal in the market for sale, though we do not intend to infer 
that we believe that the color affects the merits of the animal as 
far as performance is concerned, but rather that it is just as 
necessary to have a good color to complete the tout ensemble of 
a stylish carriage horse or a high class park saddle horse as it is 
to have a well formed head for instance. 
It is often said that color has some significance in judging of 
the temperament of an animal, but our investigations in this line 
have not led us to believe that there is any reliance whatever to 
be placed in opinions formed upon such a theory. It is tiue that 
many chestnuts are high spirited, but the same may be saia oi 
any other color. Temperament is controlled, in our opinion, by 
something deeper seated than the skin, most likely the chief 
organ of the nervous system, the brain. 
It is also contended that the color has much to do with the 
individual comfort of the animal when exposed to the influence 
of the sun’s rays, more particularly in the summer season, but 
our observation has not demonstrated the truth of this supposi¬ 
tion, for as far as our knowledge goes dark horses are able to do 
just as much work without showing fatigue on the tarm or the 
road as lighter colored ones. This may perhaps be accounted 
for by the non-conducting properties of the coat, for the hair 
being a non-conductor, it probably makes little difference to the 
parts beneath what color it is as far as transmitting the influ¬ 
ence of the sun’s rays is concerned. 
The power to resist heat or cold is, we believe, invested in 
the constitution of the animal. 
It was generally conceded by those Greek and Roman 
eqestrians who wrote before the Christian Kra, that a good hoise 
could not be judged by its color, although one of them goes so 
far as to say : “ That a mane which is of the same color through¬ 
out and of fine hair is generally the best, and besides it is most 
unlike that of the ass and the mule.” (See The Art of Horse- 
