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Vol. III.
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OF SCOTLAND.

181

tionable, though many of them are plain about the head,Sides, and hind legs. The head is not of an undue size; thenostrils are wide, and eyes full and animated. The neck isstrong and fleshy, with a good curvature, and the mane thickand bushy. He is broad in the breast, thick in the shoul-der, the blades nearly as high as the chine, and not so muchthrown backwards as those of road horses. The lee: rathershort, but strong and clean. The hoof round, of a blackcolour; and the heels wide. The back straight and broad,but not too long. Hucks visible, but not prominent, andthe space between them and the ribs short. The thighsthick, and meeting each other so near, as to leave only asmall groove for the tail to rest on. The tail heavy, and wellhaired. A large sheath is considered as the mark of a goodhorse, and a small one the reverse. One very valuable pro-perty of the Clydesdale horses is, that they are remarkablytrue pullers, a restive horse being rarely found amongstthem.

2. It has been already observed, that these horses are notbred in considerable numbers by any one individual, andthat, for this reason, no very uniform system is adopted inbreeding and rearing them. A stallion of two years old maybe put to mares, though it is better not to employ suchas are below the age of three years. Mares are seldom al-lowed to bring their first foal till they are about four yearsold, and the far greater number are not employed as breed-ers, till they are several years older. They are covered inthe months of May and June, because, as the period of ges-tation with mares is about eleven months, it is seldom ad-visable to have foals earlier than the middle of April, in thenorthern climate of Scotland . But if mares are intended tobring a foal every year, they should be covered from theninth to the eleventh day after foaling, and the horse againbrought to them, nine or eighteen days afterwards. A num-ber of stallions, chiefly from the western counties, travel overthe country, and are shown at the different weekly markets