THE HOESE. 
37 
CLASSES OF BRITISH HORSES. 
the most part they have given place to animals of far superior breeding and action. The modern Coach-Horse is a very different 
animal from the old. He is a large Horse, having the degree of breeding conducive to spirit and action, with the strength and 
bone requiied for draught. He is greatly used in private carriages, as chariots, gigs, and the innumerable other light and elegant 
vehicles which are every where to be seen. But not only is the modern coach-horse largely used, but likewise others taken from 
the vaiious kind of saddle-horses with which the country abounds, from the high-bred hunter down through every degree of 
stiength suited to the weight of the equipage; and universally the tendency is to use horses of lighter form than were thought 
suited to the heavier carriages and less improved roads of former times. 
The term Hackney, in common use, is employed to denote a kind of Horse fitted for general services j and is, therefore, under¬ 
stood to exclude the horses of the highest breeding, as the Thorough-bred Horse and Hunter; and there is further associated with 
the idea of a hackney, an animal of moderate size, not exceeding fifteen hands, and possessing action, strength, and temper. The 
hackneys of the present day are of lighter form than those formerly sought for, and there is greater difficulty in obtaining them 
to suit the services required, from our present mixed varieties of half-bred horses, than when horsemen were contented with the 
older class of hackneys of stouter form but inferior breeding. 
The Cavalry Horse is selected from the mixed races of the country, and has been subjected to the changes which all the 
others have undergone. He has become lighter and higher bred, insomuch, that the horses of various regiments approach the 
breeding of hunters; and even those of the regiments, in which a more powerful class of horses is retained, differ greatly from 
the heavy dragoon horses of former times. They have the characters of the modern Coach-Horse, and not of the Horse of 
heavy draught. They would have been the pride of the times of chivalry, and afford now the example of the most powerful 
cavalry horses that are any where to be found. The memorable field of Waterloo showed their importance. It is known that 
the lighter mounted regiments would have been overborne by the heavy armed cavalry of France but for the presence of the 
household troops. On the other hand, the lighter horses of our ordinary cavalry have proved themselves fitted by their spirit 
and endurance for all the ordinary purposes of the campaign. 
Although the change so widely produced m the horses of this country, by aiming at a lighter standard, has doubtless given 
us animals more spirited, active, and graceful, it has, at the same time, had the effect of causing great numbers to be reared defec¬ 
tive in form, deficient in strength and bone, and which have lost the hardy qualities of the older races, without having arrived at 
the properties which superior breeding should communicate. The deterioration is generally admitted, and the causes are de¬ 
serving of consideration, as indicating the remedies. 
A full account has been already given of the system of the modern Course, and the effects have been pointed out of the pre¬ 
valent practice of running short races with colts not yet arrived at sufficient maturity of bone and muscle to fit them for the full 
exercise of their powers. The consequence of the system is, that exclusive attention has been directed to the properties of speed, 
and that the important requisites of strength and power of endurance have come to be regarded as secondary in the cultivation of 
the animals. Their form, suiting itself by insensible degrees to the conditions required, a race of surpassing swiftness, but inferior 
in strength and bone to the older horses of the turf, has been called into existence. Now, as this is the race employed to commu¬ 
nicate its peculiar properties to the others, it is manifest that a deterioration of its properties, from whatever cause, is calculated 
to exercise an injurious influence on all the individuals with which it is mingled in blood. But yet more injurious than the rear¬ 
ing of a race of swift but feeble horses, is the constitutional injury inflicted upon the individuals of the race by that system of 
early forcing, with respect to food and discipline, to which they must be subjected at the earliest possible period of life. Hence the 
mortality amongst these animals, the strains, the founders, the hernia, and other accidents consequent on over-tension of the parts, 
and all the functional maladies in the respiratory and other organs which a premature and unnatural exertion generates in the 
system, and which, not confined to the individuals, descend to the offspring. The evil resulting from these causes to the other 
breeds of the country, is in proportion to the just estimation in which this noble race of horses has been hitherto held, and the 
increasing desire to communicate its properties to the inferior races. The remedy might be found in a determination, rigidly 
carried into effect, by the influential supporters of the turf, to root out the more flagrant corruptions which fashion and cupidity 
have introduced, especially with respect to the age at which horses shall be permitted to run; or should the influence of indivi¬ 
duals be insufficient to effect the necessary reformation, then legislative measures should be called for to correct abuses which are 
no way essential to the legitimate purposes of the turf, and which deprive the country of the benefit which it is entitled to derive 
from a race of horses brought to a high degree of perfection, not by the modern gamblers of the turf, but by the care of many 
generations. 
Another cause of the deterioration of the horses of the country is to be ascribed to errors in breeding, arising chiefly from 
injudicious and extreme mixtures of blood, and inattention to the soundness and qualities of the female parents. It is shown 
(If) 
