Morning journal and courier., 1889-11-22
EQUALITY, IN FRENCH HORSES. An English HOrseAan,s Comments on she French Herso and Ills Points.

An English Horsenan's Comments
 on she French Horse and Ills
 Points.
 From the Breeders Gazette.l
 Speaking of the quality of the native French horses exhibited at tine Paris show last spring, MT. Burdette- Coutts, fin London Livestock, Sports and Pestimes says: "I have two general remarks to make. Tirst, that up to 15.2, or possibly up to 15.3, hands our English horses, particularly now when the study and attention given to the Hackney breed has in five or six years produced such marked improvement, are immeasursbly su- perior in every respect to anything that is bred in France. For barouohe horses from 1s to F hands high reluctantly admit that the French breeder takes the brioehe. The French have a race of carrossiers-that is, by constantly crossing the Hackney stallion with the big mares of Normandy, the latter pro- bably enlarged by an earlier admixture of Cleveland or Yorkshire coach-herse blood, barouchs horses are produced. I am by no means satisfed with them. Their hind ao- ten is indifferent, their shapes are vastly lH1oIlOX tO OuE Donb 1OEkbulI0 byp0, buOWluK neither the lengthy and level quarter nor the long, elegant top line of the latter. But that which really shows horse in harness, and which sells him at high price for that purpose, viz: high action in front, is very much more marked throughout the French-brad barouche horses than in our own.
 "It is not the best of action; it is often up and down, 1oppety' and sdishing, but there { 5ay1kk nY1k khAv "a if pair of Yorkshire coach horses or of Clevs- land bays-of that fine quality which my friend MT. 4. B. Pease, M. F., does not ap- pear to consider either natural or valuable characteristic of the latter breed, but which believe, by careful attention, can easily be produced from tiff they had really high action in front, would be worth, in the eyes of anyone who knows hsrss's tail from his head, double the money that any French bred pair ought te fsteh. But, as rule, in our big horses of this type we have not got | the action. There are one or two famous ex- ceptiens, and If these should succeed in re- producing their own action while preserving their fne shapes, we shall have solved the difficulty which, to my mind, should be a matter of grief and conformation to English horse breeders, viz, that we caa not or de not at the present time produce big carriage horses suitable fer the London State csr- riags.
 "It is well known fact that nest of the big bay horses which we see in the nall on 6 drawing room day, whatever black blood 1 may be in their veins, are strangers in a strange land. I do not deny that some big horses with action are produced in Great Britain, but for the most part they are scar- riagey' hunters from Ireland or the produce of hackney stallions and cart mares, and in
 neither case do they possess the curvilinear
 and sweeping form which, to a practiced eye,
 is most beautiful for a big harness horse.
 have little doubt that some of the cearseness
 of shape, and particularly the low set tail in
 the French carrossier, il due to the fact that
 many biz so.called Hackney stalliens have
 been imported into that country which get
 their sise from cross of carting blood. Il
 remains to bs seen whether in this country | we cannot produce an animal with the re quisite action and shape by crossing the
 Cleveland bay or the Yorkshire coach horse with pure Hackney possesssdof extra sizt and quality. Without the latter we shall de
 nothing in this business.
 cone noticeable feature in French horsel is that in all sizes they are bred for speed ir
 trotting. The composition of the ground il the Palais de r Industris is suited to this pc culiarity, being hard and not covered witl
 tan, as In the case of our shows. This is