The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1875-08-18
THE COLOR OF HORSES.

THE COLOR OF HORSES.
A correspondent of the London Field
writes: A remark Of Lord Calthorpe,
written in letter which appeared in the
Times a short while ago, deserves,
think. some ventilation. Tic mentioned
''horses of good color;'' and the qucs-
ton that arises, is, what is good color
The most prevailing color in England is
certainly bay; why this arises, l am un.
able to say. We must, therefore. believe
that the best horses are bays, without
proof. Some time after the Peninsula
war it was customary to have the troops
of one cavalry regiment in colors; but
the bay troops so far exceeded all the
other troops, that the distinctive colors
of troops were abolished throughout the
army, and only two regiments, The
Queens Bays, and the Scot Grays, were
allowed to retain distinctive color. 1t
was attempted to retain the Seventh ORA
COON Guards, as the ''Biack Horse" but
that utterly failed. Since then, in the
days Of the Crimean war, We have had
the gray and chestnut troops of horse ar
tillery. do not allude to the black
troopers Of the household regiments, as
they arc SO we'll known to the world at
large, and arc bred, chiefly in Lincoln
shire, especially for the purpose. The
French are fond of bays. but then they
must not have a single white hair. The
Cleveland bays are we'll known. They
supplied the whole Of the carriage horses
of the nobility and leading gentry Of the
last generation. They we're slow, tall, hut
carried themselves welt. The dams were
the cart horses Of Cleveland, portion Of
North Yorkshire, and were crossed with
the thoroughbred. II the produce was
heavy. after the dam, it reverted to her
state in the plough; if it took after the
sire it was promoted to the hunting field,
where they were wonderful ''lopcrs.'
The intermediate stage made the carriage
horse. The breed is now totally cxtinc,
the late Emperor of the French had
great fancy for these Cleveland bays,
and finally drained the district of the
few left. The chestnut is the favorite
color of the Arabs. 1t is much liked bv
the irish, and Of course we all remember
the best horse on record (Eclipse) was
chestnut; but it must be allowed
that chcstnuts are more subject
to infirmities Of temper and
constitut on, especially in regard to their
eyes, than bays. The grays are gener-
ally underbred. ''Ces terribles girls" as
Napoleon called them, however did good
service at Waterloo. do not remember
Of a gray ever winning the Derby or
''big race, ! nor did | ever see good
English gray in a hunting field, though
singular to say, some of the best hunters
in Ireland have been grays. Grays DO
fairly in harness, and consider gray
and chestnut the prettiest match Of
any. 10 blacks there are the same OBJ
jcctions as to chestnHts -inirmity of
temper and constitution. They are more
liable to contracted feet and navicular
than other colors, and the most vicious
horse l ever saw was black, and that
was in the army. They are generally un-
derbrcd. for never remember seeing a
black race horse. Pray do not confound
blacks with black browns, Of which latter
color was old Voltigeur and there is a
stallion now in Tipperary, Blue Peter.
getting some Of the finest hunting stock
ever saw. Blacks are very good for ag-
ricuitural purposes, and on all the large
farms nowadays in Yorkshire and Lin
colnshire black horses arc alone
kept for use. My favoritc
color is dapple-brown-sucI a color as
the Flying Dutchman was, and old Nc
Orville, who got the best hunters in Eng
land, and Slinge, who did like good
Office for could Ireland" In Dresden I
saw some beautiful da,,ple. browns, short
legged, good action, admirably adapted
for mail phaetons. They had also some
splendid chestnut cart horses, with no
hair about their legs. There is stud
farm at Mauriceberg, six miles from DrcS-
den. Composite.colorcd horses, as pie
balds, black and white, skcwbaIds, chest
nut and white and greybalds, 1.-TWO shades
of gray are always soft horses and arc
only fit for Lady Scattcr-carts or retired
theatrical ladies: nevertheless, I re1nem-
Der one skewbald cob, a good-bottomed
nag and good fcncer; and in Come.
mara. you may meet with duns, good
animals over an intricate country. Com.
positc colors are 'sloud' and consequent.
ly vulgar. Let us taboo them from our
category. The Editor of the Field
adds: Gustavus (gray) won the Derby il,
1871, and Chanticleer was a good race
horse; we have only to point to Grima]d
and Peter Simple, in the early days o.
steeple>chasing, as magnificent hunters o
that color; also TO Saunterer as a first
class black race horse.
A STORY WITH 4 MORAL.
One day, Is years ago. four gentlemen
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