The Opelousas courier., 1902-05-17
FOR STYLES IN HORSES.
WHY THERE ARE NO SoRRELS
IN NEW YORK CITY.

Gray-A Comparison Between City
and Country Fashions-crossed
Matched Pairs.
1t was a countryman who made the
rather startling discovery that there
are no sorrel horses in this city. He
had come on from his native town
where the sorrel horse of his grand
fathers Is still in vogue-to buy a pair
| of carriage horses. In the course of
his equine shopping hundreds of
horses were shown to him an it vas
not until he had requested a dealer
to bring out a certain pair that he had
looked at earlier in the day that he
made his discovery.
(Which pair was it," asked the
| dealer.
"That sorrel and gray" explained
the countryman. "Sorrel and gray"
repeated the dealer, and for a time
he remained silent as if in great per-,
plexity of mind. Il guess you must
mean th'3 cross-matched pair-the
golden chestnut and the fea-bitten
gray" md when the pair were brought
into tie ring his surmise proved to be
CORE It.
"If=that golden chestnut as you call
him Is not a sorrel, thssn I've never
seer one," declared the co1ntryman.
"'lh, that's all right" explained the
dcSfer, "he's a sorrel~a beautiful sor-
rel at that-up where you come from;
but in New York city-never! Why,
he would eat his head off four times
before we could sell him to a New
Yorker as a sorrel. They won't stand
for 'em. They don't like the name. It
sounds too provincial for their taste.
even when we were boys the old sor-
rel had a bad reputation-'no bottom,
no courage they used to say.
IT'S a curious thing about a horses
color anyway-that is, so far as it in
fiuences his market value here in
New York. This pair you r looking
at now is a good illustration. Their
color scheme is about as near the
correct n as you could find-some
buyers might want a blue instead of
a lea-bitten gray to go with that
golden chustnut, but there are just as
many more who would prefer them as
they stand. For ourselves, I'm almost
willing to wager that we would never
look twice at that gray horse if we
were not Influenced by the fashion that
fhis aifu eo%c Tn v, +, ro&sv,o SnurnT
suppose the same is true of yours
we always considered an old freckled
gray (they don't become '1ea-bitten'
until they reach New York.) about
the meanest and cheapest beast a man
could ride behind. Here they are
looked upon as the smartest thing in
horse flesh that can be had. I've
handled horses long enough to know
that nc good horse is a bad color;
but for bottom and for wea and tear
in all sorts of climates I'm ready to
concede that that same old fashioned
freckled rascal can outlive them all.
Il know that you want a pair of
horses that r considered the proper
type and color here in New York and
are not going to be affected by what
your neighbors say or what I say. But
what would nine in every ten of your
horse-fancying towns people say if
they saw a man driving a cross-match-
ed pair? They would say he was
color-blind. Take those men that
travel through six counties with a pair
of compasses in their pockets looking
for a bay horse with a white star on
his forehead or a four-inch white stock
ing on his OFF hind leg; what would
they say to the crazy quilt pairs that
are sold here everyday?
81 do not mean to- imply that we city
folks know more about horses than
the countrymen. On the question of
animal s%oundness / should just as read.
lily accept the opinion of a farmer who
has been 'tinkerin' areound bosses all
his life as that of the city veterinary
who makes $4,000 a year. When it
comes to sacrificing uniformity in &C.
ton and conformation, however, to a
white star or a white stocking. l think
we are wise where the c~ountryman is
foolish. / can't think now of any
combination of horse colors that we
could not put together and sell if the
animals were evenly gated and had
the same conformation. AS for that
sorre1 horse, why, he's a golden chest
nut here for the same reason that the
red-haired girl up in Cattaragus Coun-
ty is a Titan blonde in New York.
And you can't go wrong on them, SIR"
said the dealer, suddenly, lapsing into
a going pair as you ever drove behind,
sound as a brass bell New York
Post.
SAfn rAII TLA-~ T,.A -