BH^^SK^: J >k\j:^ EEDING TO COLOUR •lOROUGHBREDS R WALTER GILBEY, BART. JOHNA.SEAVERNS HORSES— BREEDING TO COLOUR SECOND EDITION r£2 a cS OJ o ^ ■pq 'a a -2 !^ ^ 2 H t> <^ P^ O Ph SECOND EDITION Horses— Breeding to Colour PAGE THOROUGHBREDS i HACKNEYS 28 SHIRES 38 By Sir WALTER GILBEY, Bart. VINTON & CO., London 1912 PREFACE TO THE SECOA^D EDITION Horses, and other domestic animals, can he bred to colour, but only within limits Few combinations of different colours in sire and dam can be depended on to produce a foal of given colour^ for in no quality is there greater tendency to "-throw back^' to an ancestor than colour III the following pages an attempt is made to explain the different colours in Horses and the reasons for the increasing frequency of some colours and the decrease of others r-> Elsenliam Hall, Essex April, 19 1 2 IN DHX Preface Thoroughbreds Original Colour Greys Chestnuts Bays and Browns Blacks Piebalds and Roans Hackneys Greys Chestnuts Bays and Browns Roans Shires ... Greys Chestnuts Bays and Browns Blacks Roans and Parti-colours Influence of the Dam Conclusions I 5 7 12 17 26 29 30 32 35 38 39 43 45 47 50 51 54 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE FuLWAR Craven, Esq., on his Norfolk Hackney ... Frontispiece Grey Diomed, the property of the Duke of Bedford Facinq 7 Master Henry, THE PROPERTY OF R. D. CocKBURx, Esq. ,, 11 Flambeau ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ,, 13 Danegelt ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ,, 31 Lincolnshire Lad II ... ... ... ... ... ,, 41 Second Edition Breeding to Colour thoroughbreds The Term Thoroughbred Before proceeding to discuss the matter of colours in our race-horses, it may be well to observe that the term "Thoroughbred" is, comparatively speaking, of recent origin. The word does not occur in the early volumes of the Racing Calendar, nor in old works relating to the Turf The term would seem to have come into use during the first few years of the last century. It does not occur in the Sporting Magazine of 1805, wherein there is reference to the shipment to Russia of " stallions of the first breed and celebrity." It is, however, to be found in the Sporting Magazine of August, 1806, among the remarks under the heading " Mares sent to Stallions" Here it is stated of some stallions that they "covered thoroughbred mares," the term being employed to distinguish these from "hunting" and "country" mares. Clearly, the word " Thoroughbred" had not at this time come into general use, as the reports of the services rendered by other stallions refer to " blood," "hunting" and "country" mares The first explanation of the meaning of the term some search has revealed occurs about the same period in that well-known work, The History and Delineation of the Horse, written by Laurence in 1807, and published two years later. It is evident from the tenor of this author's remarks that the term was then a new one Laurence says : — " All horses intended for this purpose [racing] . . . must be Thoroughbred ; in plain terms, both their sires and dams must be of the purest Asiatic or African [Barb] coursers exclusively, and this must be attested in an authentic pedigree throughout whatever number of English descendants " There is evidence in Laurence's own pages that the term had not, in 1807, obtained what may be called general currency. On more than one occasion he uses the expression " full or thorough blood," which indicates that the word " Thoroughbred " would not be familiar to all readers at that date If further proof be needed that the term did not become recognised as an English word till a com- paratively modern time, it is obtained from the standard dictionaries of much later dates than Laurence's History and Delineation of the Horse The edition of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary published in 1827 does not give the word. The earliest dictionary to give "Thoroughbred" and its correct meaning is the edition of Walker published in 1836 ; and it seems worth pointing out the fact that when William Youatt wrote his work The Horse, in 1831, he thought it necessary to allude to the " Thoroughbred or Turf Horse." Thus, in 1831, the first authority of the time thought it necessary to explain the word Parent Stock of the Thoroughbred Eastern sires had been imported into this country and crossed upon native mares from a very early period ; but Arabs and Barbs were not imported into England in any number until the Restoration, in 1660. James I (1603-1625) had procured such horses, and Charles I (1625-1649) followed his example Oliver Cromwell, opposed though he was to sport — as witness his various proclamations forbidding race meetings — was far too shrewd a man to allow prejudice to weigh against national interests. He might regard racing and its accompaniments of wagering and cock- fighting* with all the Puritan's disapproval, but he could not fail to see that the horse-breeding industry was so intimately associated with racing that one could hardly exist without the other The war had gone far to denude the country of horses and Cromwell, as a statesman and a soldier, took measures to repair the injury by importing the best stock money could procure, even though the proceeding meant encouragement of the horse-racing repugnant to puri- tanical views It had been intended to break up and disperse the Royal Stud Charles I had maintained at Tutbury, in Staffordshire. A list of the horses was actually made with this object by the Commissioners who were sent for the purpose, as soon as Cromwell came into power * See An Old English Pastime. By Sir Walter Gilbev, Bart. Vinton cS: Co., London. 1912 Cromwell, however, afterwards decided that the Stud should be preserved as public property, in order to breed horses for the nation, and very soon after he sent his own Stud-master, Mr. Place, abroad to purchase Eastern horses, of which Place's White Turk is the most famous It was Charles II (1660-1685) who imported Arab Barb, and Turkish stallions and mares in quantity that made a real impression upon our native stock. The importation of Eastern mares — " Royal mares," as they were called — as well as stallions, had for its principal result the foundation of the breed which, somewhere about the year 1800, came to be called " Thoroughbred " — the term, as already said, denoting horses which traced their descent from Arabs and Barbs and the " Royal mares" imported by Charles II The importations of stallions and Royal mares during the period above referred to, and the influence of these on the horse-breeding industry of the time, have been reviewed at some length elsewhere.* It is, therefore, unnecessary to go farther into the matter here The earlier Racing Calendars, 1750 to 1800, contain much information concerning the stallions then serving. This is to be found in the advertisements of covering sires, which set out particulars of the horse's pedigree,, racing record, height, colour, &c., &c. These describe horses serving in nearly all parts of England, Ireland, and Scotland * Thoroughbred and other Ponies (pp. 120 and 5^^.). By Sir- Walter Gilbey, Bart. Vinton & Co., London. 1903 5 . Original Colour of Race-Horses The following has been compiled from notes made in course of researches since 1909 into the colour question, in so far as it relates to race-horses. Bearing in mind the all-important fact that horses, like other animals and like birds in the natural state, transmit their distinctive colours to their progeny, and that the colour or colours of any given species remain " constant " from generation to generation (with occasional "freaks" or "sports," which are peculiar to the individual), it will be well first to review what is known of this subject The original wild horse was, without doubt, of a " fixed colour " — that is to say, the species did not vary, showing some individuals white, some grey, bay, brown or black The original colour of the horse has been a matter of discussion by many able writers ; and the fact that the only wild horse now in existence — Prejvalsky's — is bay seems to confirm the views of those authorities who maintain that bay was the " original " colour of the horse. This, however, is a matter into which we need not enter, our interest lying in the colours of the horses from which the modern Thoroughbred traces his descent Arab tradition maintains that the horse was created Koiunmitc, red mixed with black — that is to say, dark brown. General Daumas,* who spent sixteen years in Northern Africa in close contact with the Arab chiefs and people, says it is beyond all question that these colours are preferred to all others by the Arabs of the * The Horses of the Sahara Sahara, and he adds, " If I might be allowed to quote my own personal experience, I should have no hesitation in saying that, if there be any prejudice in the matter, I share it with them " The variety of colour exhibited by our race-horses would seem to be less in our own day than it was a century or more ago. The first volume of the General Stud Book, the early volumes of the Racing Calendar, and Sharkey's Irish Racing Calendar contain mention of very variously coloured winners of important races — greys, bays, chestnuts, blacks, and horses of mixed colours It is easy to understand why the race-horses of an earlier age showed greater variety of colour than do the race-horses of modern times. The variety is explained by the different colours of the horses from, which they were so much more recently descended The Arabs, Barbs, and Turks imported into England from James I's time onwards,* were very variously coloured. The names of the horses frequently include indication of their colour ; and from this we discover — Grey (i6). Bay (ii), Chestnut (8), Black (4), Dun or Yellow (3), White (2), Brown (2), Roan (2), Piebald or Parti-coloured (2),t Bay Roan (i) This list only accounts for under one-third the total number of horses enumerated by Mr. Osborne ; and, could investigation be carried farther, no doubt it would be found that the undescribed horses included a very large proportion of bays. * See the List of Importations in The Horse Breeders' Hand-Buok. By Jos. Osborne t The Bloody-shouldered Arabian and Bloody Buttocks Arabian PQ P - r^ 05 o g « &c R 2 ^W W A most important instance is the Godolphin Arabian (imported 1724), elsewhere described as " a brown bay with some white on off hind heel." This famous horse, the bay Darley Arabian (imported 1706) and the black Byerly Turk (imported 1689) are, as is well-known, the three great "foundation sires" whose blood is found in the pedigrees of all our modern race-horses Grey Race-Horses In former days, grey horses were very strongly repre- sented on every racecourse. During the earlier part of the eighteenth century greys were the most successful horses on the Turf, and the latter part of the same period, 1760-1800, saw some of the best grey horses that ever ran. More detailed reference may be made to some of the more famous grey horses Gimcrack, a grey, foaled in 1760, bred by Gideon Elliot, Esq., in Hampshire, stood under 14 hands 2 inches ; winner of 27 races on the English Turf, value £5,480 ; was sent to France to run a match against time for £1,000, which he also won The old Gimcrack Club of York takes its name from this famous horse. There are in existence three large- size oil paintings of Gimcrack by George Stubbs, the celebrated animal painter — one in the Durdans collection, one in the Elsenham collection and the other at the Jockey Club, Newmarket Mambrino, a grey, bred in 1768 by John Atkinson, Esq., of Scholes, in Yorkshire, and sold after his decease to Lord Grosvenor, was the winner of many races in the years 1773-1779 The winner of the first Derby, in 1780, was Diomed, a chestnut horse. From him the celebrated Grey Diomed was bred at Great Barton, Bury St. Edmunds, by Sir Charles Bunbury, Bart., one of the leading racing men of his time The Derby has been only once won (in 1821) by a grey horse — namely, Gustavus. He was by Election, a bay horse, out of the grey mare Lady Grey. Hollandaise, by Matchem, who won the St. Leger of 1778, was a grey, as also was Symmetry, by Delpini, who won the same race in 1798 The Irish records* contain mention of several notable grey horses. Kildare, winner of a 3-year-old Plate at the Curragh, a King's Plate for 5-year-olds in 1788, for 6-year-olds in 1789, and several matches, is one of these. Kildare is described as a " beautiful dapple grey, 6 years old, full 15 hands, master of high weight and of good sinew and bone " In more recent records, the search for greys becomes less and less productive of result. Among the few may be cited Chanticleer, foaled in 1843 (by Birdcatcher — Whim, by Drone), and Strathconan. And, coming down to modern days, the only grey Thoroughbred sire is Grey Leg, who derives his colour from a line of ancestors whose predominating colour was grey — namely, Pepper-and-Salt, Oxford Mixture, Scot Guard, Grey Friar (by Hermit) and his son Friary; all of them greys The colour of Strathconan — to take one among the examples given above — has been traced by the pains- * Sharkey's Irish Racing Calendar taking writer of a very able article on this subject * through fourteen generations to the Alcock Arabian, otherwise known as " Mr. Pelham's Grey Arab," imported early in the eighteenth century. In Strathconan's " colour pedigree " the grey sire occurs five times, and the grey dam nine times. Equally noteworthy is the colour pedigree of the King Tom mare Euxine, who also derived her grey colour, through sire or dam, from the same original source — the Alcock Arabian or " Mr. Pelham's Grey Arab " These examples bear out my own fifty years of experience and that of other breeders, which establishes the fact that to breed a grey horse it is absolutely necessary that either sire or dam shall be a grey, though, as will be shown on a later page, there is no certamty that the progeny will take the coat of the grey parent In the main, however, the rule is fairly reliable. Lord Middleton, who bred, at Birdsall, all the horses required for his hunt, has found this rule hold good ; he has ample scope for testing the stability of this fact, for he has no fewer than i6 stallions at Birdsall, and these, in 1904, covered 1,180 mares Why have greys ceased to be common among our race-horses, though formerly so numerous ? The answer, perhaps, may be found from examination of the lists of fashionable sires during the last fifty or sixty years. The three great strains of blood trace back to Eclipse (chest- nut), Matchem (bay) and Herod (bay). The prepotency of these great sires included the faculty of perpetuating their colour as well as their other qualities through their descendants ; and, as the tendency/ of breeders has * Baily's Magazine, March, 1905 10 always been to use these strains, grey has gradually been eliminated Now and again the prepotency of the mare — so far as colour is concerned — was greater than that of the sire. An instance of this occurs in the pedigree of Strathconan. His maternal ancestress, the grey Virago (1764), threw the grey filly Speranza (1778) to Eclipse In the pedigree of the grey mare Griselda (1878) by Strathconan, we find the strain on both sides. Her maternal ancestress, Grey Starling (1745), threw the grey filly Tuberose (1772) to Herod. The prepotency of these mares — as regards colour — was such that the grey coat was perpetuated through their descendants, male or female, for a hundred years One curious and mysterious fact deserves mention before this part of the subject is closed — that is the regularity with which some grey mares throw grey foals to one sire of colour other than grey and not to another. The mare Whim furnishes an instance of this ; herself a grey, the daughter of a remarkably prepotent grey sire, Drone, she threw grey foals to the chestnut Birdcatcher and to no other horse There is, in France, a family of grey Thoroughbreds which has been established in that country since about the year 1881, when Baron Schickler purchased Gem of Gems for his French stud. This mare was a grey, got by Strathconan out of Pointsettia ; she was put by her purchaser to the chestnut son of Thormanby, Atlantic, who won the Two Thousand Guineas in 1874. Baron Schickler also bought him to take to France II The produce of Atlantic and Gem of Gems was the grey Le Sancy. Le Sancy proved to be one of the best race-horses ever bred in France ; and his success at the stud when his racing career was finished has not been less remarkable. He got a large number of horses of the highest class, all greys ; the two whose names are perhaps best known in this country are Palmiste, who won the French Derby of 1897, and would in all human probability have v/on also the Grand Prix had he not broken down at the last moment ; and Semendria, who won the French Oaks and Grand Prix de Paris in the Exhibition year (1900) Palmiste, in his turn, was sent to the stud, and has proved the prepotency of his family colour by getting many grey horses of the best class. Le Sancy is the sire of several other successful race-horses, nearly all of which are greys. Holocauste, who broke down in the Derby of 1899, was one of the fastest horses on the Turf It is simply an illustration of the adage that " nothing succeeds like success." Grey horses have succeeded on the French Turf ; therefore they are sent to the stud to reproduce their kind ; consequently grey horses increase and multiply in France Perhaps this circumstance may be regarded as another illustration of the wise and broadminded system of breeding that prevails among the French. In breeding horses for working purposes they display no undue prejudice in favour of blood sires simply because they are blood sires ; but, in choosing a stallion, they attach far more importance to make and shape than they do to his breeding 12 May it not be that the frequency of grey race-horses is due to the same wise pohcy — that if a grey race-horse achieves success on the Turf he receives, when sent to the stud, the preference of breeders, who regard his performances as sufficient warranty of merit, even though he may not come of the most fashionable Enghsh strains ? Having regard to the part the Thoroughbred plays in breeding hunters and other horses of luxury, other reasons may be found for the rarity of grey sires to per- petuate their colour. Grey horses are disliked by many people because the coat shows stains so easily, and because the hair which comes off shows conspicuously on the clothes. The grey horse turns white as he gets old and thus shows his age Moreover, as Captain Hayes has remarked, coachmen and grooms dislike greys, as being more troublesome to clean and keep clean than horses of dark colours. These are trifling objections in themselves, but, in the absence of special reason for choosing a grey, they suffice to ensure preference for bay or brown ; hence the disinclination to put to the stud a grey, which may bestow his colour on the foal of his begetting Chestnut Thoroughbreds One of the most interesting points in connection with the subject of colour in our Thoroughbreds is the certainty with which the chestnut has gradually crept and asserted itself, to the exclusion of the grey. In the first volumes of the General Stud Book (originated . in 1791 by Mr. Weatherby and published in 1808) greys and bays were almost universal, the chestnut horse being t3 pq 13 comparatively rare. Those there are, with very few exceptions, are sons and daughters of Echpse* In the hst of imported sires, classified according to colour, on page 6, the horses described as chestnuts are eight in number ; no doubt there were many more chestnuts among the horses whose colour has not been recorded ; but the reason for the gradual increase in the number of Thoroughbreds of this colour proclaims itself Eclipse, the greatest of the old sires, was, as before stated, a dark chestnut, with white off hind leg and a white blaze. Marske, the sire of Eclipse, was a brown, and of the four grandparents of Eclipse, we know the colour of only one — namely, that of his grandsire, Squirt, a chestnut. Squirt traces back, through his granddam, Betty Leedes, to the D'Arcy Yellow Turk, who, from his descriptive name, was probably a light chestnut In the matter of colour pedigree, however, it is unnecessary to look beyond Eclipse and his grandsire. It is probably correct to say that there is not now on the * Eclipse was foaled in the year 1764 ; won his first race, at Epsom in 1769, and continued his unbeaten career as a race-horse until 1771, when he was withdrawn from the Turf. During the two years of his active career he won eleven Royal Plates, one more than the number won by any other horse, and in ten of these he carried twelve stone. His finest performance was under the light weight — for those days — of 8 st, 7 lbs., with which he, on 23rd August, 1770, won the Subscription Purse at Guildford. He went away with the lead, and at the two-mile post was more than a distance {240 yards) ahead of his competitors. Tortoise and Bellario. In 1771 Eclipse went to the stud and stood for service at Clay Hills, Epsom. Mr. Whyte (History of the British Turf : 2 vols. ; 1840) gives a table of the successes gained by his progeny, from which we find that during the twenty-three years 1 774-1 796 his produce included 344 winners of ;^i 58,047 12s., with other races in which the prize did not take the form of cash 14 Turf a horse in whose pedigree the name of Edipse does not occur with greater or less frequency. " From a Stud point of view," says Mr. Richardson in The English Turf, " EcHpse got two great sons, Pot-8-os and King Fergus." Both of these were chestnuts. From the former comes the Sir Hercules (black) or Birdcatcher (chestnut) "line of Eclipse." Of Birdcatcher it may be observed that though his sire Sir Hercules was black, his dam Guiccioli was a chestnut, by the chestnut Bob Booty, out of the chestnut Flight, and that the sire of Bob Booty and of Flight was a chestnut in either case. The colours of their dams are not recorded There are two other lines of the Eclipse family which figure conspicuously in the pedigrees — that generally known as the Touchstone-Newminster line, through Camel, and the line of Blacklock. The Hermit (chestnut) family is one of the chief representatives of the Touch- stone branch, and The Galopin-St. Simon family represents Blacklock. There is also a third line — that of Tramp (bay) It would seem as though the " Eclipse colour " had been transmitted principally through the Birdcatcher family. Hermit having, as it were, " recovered " the colour after it had missed some generations Birdcatcher's chestnut son, the Baron, got both Stock- well and Rataplan from the bay Pocahontas, a mare full of Eclipse blood. St. Albans was by Stockwell, out of the chestnut Bribery, who inherited Eclipse blood through his brown sire. The Libel. Blair Athol inherited it through his brown dam. Blink Bonny, through her bay dam, Queen Mary, as well as from his chestnut sire, Stockwell. Doncaster, another son of Stockwell, was out of the 15 chestnut Marigold, by the chestnut Teddington,who traces back to Whalebone ; and thus might be traced the influence of Eclipse through the pedigrees of all the horses named Hermit furnishes an example of a great chestnut sire who, though his more immediate ancestors — Newminster and Touchstone, on the sire's side, and Tadmor and Ton, on his dam's — were bays, derived his colour, in all prob- ability, from his great granddam, the chestnut Palmyra, and through his great grandsire, the black Camel, both of whom trace their pedigrees (Palmyra through her dam Hester, by Camel) through Whalebone to Eclipse. The prepotency of the Eclipse blood, as shown by the colour, makes the case of Hermit particularly noteworthy. Many of his best sons and daughters inherited the rich whole- coloured chestnut from him — Peter, Timothy and Ascetic, for example A horse named Aurelius was one of the first Eclipse sires who inherited the chestnut coat. This stallion is advertised in the I risk Racing Calendar of 1791, as standing to cover at the Curragh in the following terms : — " The only son of Eclipse, out of a Blank mare, he is very like Eclipse, being the same size, shape, growth, colour, marks, &c. He is 15 hands i inch high, and undoubtedly was the best 3-year-old in England. ... In the Second Spring Meeting, 1788, he won the Prmce's Stakes of 100 Guineas, beating Grey Diomed, Amatis, &c. ; the following Saturday he won the Prince's Stakes of 200 Guineas, beating again Grey Diomed and Fenoor, giving them 3 lbs. Going from Newmarket to Epsom to run for the Derby he was taken ill ; notwithstanding, he was second to Sir Thomas and more than nine horses* in the race " * There were eleven starters i6 Grey Diomed, it will be remembered, was a son of the chestnut Diomed, winner of the first Derby in 1780. The name of Aurelius is not prominent in the pedigrees, however. The Eclipse colour occurs in many good sires of later dates, in addition to those already mentioned. Harkaway's name will occur to everyone. Then there are St. Albans, Blair Athol, Bend Or, Amphion, Bonavista, Kendal, Carnage, Gallinule and Cyllene. In addition to these, we might recall the names of at least seventeen other chestnuts, including Sainfoin, Sir Hugo, Saraband, Prism, Yardarm, Bumptious and Brag. All these trace their descent from Eclipse Although, as mentioned in the first paragraph of this chapter, chestnut has gradually crept in and asserted itself in our Thoroughbred stock, it is a somewhat uncertain colour in its appearance. It may lie dormant for a generation or two (as in the case of Hermit) and then reappear, proving the prepotency of a chestnut ancestor Mr. C. C. Hurst collected some very interesting figures bearing on this point and embodied them in a paper read before the Royal Society in December, 1905. In the General Stud Book he found that bay or brown sires, both of whose parents were bay or brown, begat, of chestnut mares, bay or brown foals in 370 cases. On the other hand, bay or brown sires one only of whose parents were chestnut begat 355 ba}^ or brown foals and 347 chestnut foals, of chestnut mares. Chestnut sires put to chestnut dams produced chestnut foals in over a thousand cases The Derby has been won on thirty-four occasions by a chestnut. Perhaps it may be convenient to give a list of the names of the horses here : — 17 Diomed . 1780 Dangerous 1833 Sir Thomas 1788 Plenipotentiary 1834 John Bull 1792 Mundig 183s Election 1807 Pyrrhus the First 1846 Pan 1808 Cossack 1847 Azor 1817 Teddington 1851 Sam 1818 Daniel O'Rourke 1852 Sailor 1820 Thormanby i860 Moses 1822 Kettledrum 1861 Cedric 1824 Blair Athol 1864 Middleton 1825 Hermit 1867 St. Giles 1832 Favonius 1871 1833 I Doncaster 1873 George Frederick 1874 Bend Or 1880 Shotover 1882 St. Blaise 1883 Sainfoin 1890 Sir Hugo 1892 Jeddah 1898 Cicero 1905 Orby 1907 No chestnut with four white legs has ever won the Derby. The horse that makes the nearest approach to this description was Blair Athol, who had two white fetlocks and a blaze Glancing over the foregoing list, the point that will suggest itself to the reader is that few of these Derby winners are among those chestnuts which have made a name at the stud ; Blair Athol, Doncaster, Bend Or and Hermit single themselves out. St. Blaise was sent to America, where he did good work at the stud Bay and Brown Thoroughbreds At the present time bay race-horses are, as for many years past they have been, in the majority. The three great lines from which our best Thoroughbreds have sprung are the Eclipse (chestnut), which were dealt with in the last chapter, the Herod (bay), and the Matchem (bay), all three of which blend in the pedigree of Blacklock (bay, 1814), whence are descended Voltaire, Bay Middleton Voltigeur, Vedette, down to Galopin, St. Simon and Persimmon — all bays or browns, with a tendency to produce bays among their progeny. This is markedly the case with Galopin and St. Simon, neither of which horses, it is said, have ever begotten a chestnut c Before going further, it may be well to say that it is proposed to treat bay and brown as varieties of the same colour. It goes without saying that there are bays in plenty which cannot possibly be mistaken for browns, and browns which cannot be mistaken for bays ; but, as everyone knows, horses frequently occur of which the colour is so doubtful that they are described in the Stud Book and elsewhere as " bay or brown " Mr. Wilfiid Scawen Blunt,* writing of the horses seen among the Anazeh tribes of Arabia, says : — " There is, among English people, a general idea that grey — especially fleabitten grey — is the commonest Arabian colour. But this is not so among the Anazeh. Bays are still more common. . . . Perhaps, out of a hundred mares among the Anazeh, one would see thirty-five bay, thirty grey, fifteen chestnut, and the rest brown or black. . . . The bays often have black points and generally a white foot, or two or three white feet and a snip or blaze down the face. . . . With very few exceptions, all the handsomest mares we saw were bay, which is, without doubt, by far the best colour in Arabia, as it is in England. ... In choosing Arabians, 1 should take none but bays, and, if possible, bays with black points " Mr. Blunt's views as to the superiority, both in quality and numbers, of the bay Arab are confirmed by two such capable and independent observers as Major Upton f and General Tweedie.^ It may, therefore, be taken as fact that the bay is the commonest colour among the Arabs, and that the best Arabs are usually bays Though it has been possible to identify only thirteen bay horses among those enumerated by Osborne (pp. 6, 7), it is not to be supposed for a moment that these exhaust the list of bays. On the contrary, bay being the com- monest colour among Arabs, it is only reasonable to * The Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates \ Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia. 188 1 X The Arabian Horse : his Country and People. 1894 19 rhink that the name given the horse would, as a rule, not refer to his colour unless it were something a little out of the ordinary. When a horse was described as somebody's " bay Arabian," it is probable that the colour was recorded to distinguish the horse from another of different colour belonging to the same owner The predominance of bays among race-horses for many generations justifies the belief that they are descended, for the most part, from bay ancestors. Of one hundred and thirty-two Derbys (1780-igii), no fewer than sixty-seven have been won by bays, twenty- six by brown horses, and two by a "bay or brown" — Volodyovski, 1901, and Signorinetta, 1908 : — BAYS. Young Eclipse... 1781 Priam ... 1830 Kisber 1876 Assassin 1782 Spaniel .. 1831 Silvio 1877 Sergeant 1784 Bay Middleton ... 1836 Sefton 1878 Ainwell 1785 Phosphorus ... 1837 Iroquois 1881 Skyscraper 1789 Bloomsbury .. 1839 St. Gatien* 1884 Waxy 1793 Little Wonder .. 1840 Melton 1885 Spread Eagle ... 1795 Coronation .. 1841 Ormonde 1886 Didelot 1796 Cotherstone .. 1843 Merry Hampton 1887 Champion 1800 Orlando ... .. 1844 Ayrshire 1888 Eleanor 1 80 1 Merry Monarc :h 1845 Donovan 1889 Tyrant 1802 Surplice .. 1848 Isinglass 1893 Tyrant 1803 Flying Dutchm an 1S50 Ladas 1894 Hannibal 1804 West Australia m 1853 Sir Visto 189s Cardinal Beaufort 1805 Andover .. 1854 Persimmon 1896 Paris 1806 Wild Dayrell .. 1855 Galtee i\Iore 1897 Pope 1809 Caractacus .. 1856 Flying Fox 1899 Phantom iSii ^lacaroni ... .. 1863 Diamond Jubilee 1900 Blucher 1814 Gladiateur .. 1865 Volodyovskif ... 1 90 1 Whisker 1815 Lord Lyon .. 1866 St. Amant 1904 Prince Leopold 1816 Blue Gown .. 1868 Spearmint 1906 Papdog 1826 Kingcraft .. 1870 Signorinettaf ... 1908 Mameluke 1827 Cremorne ... .. 1S72 Lemberg 1910 Frederick 1829 Galopin .. 1875 * Dead Heat w ith Harvester t"I Jay or Brown " 20 BROWNS. Saltram - 1783 Octavius ... .. 1812 Musjid .. 1859 Sir Peter Teaz le 1787 Tiresaus ... .. 1819 Pretender .. 1869 Rhadamanthus 1790 Cadland ... .. 1828 Sir Bevys .. 1879 Eager •• 1791 Amato .. 1838 Harvester* .. 1884. Daedalus ... •• 1794 Attila .. 1842 Common ... .. 1891 Colt by Fidget .. 1797 Voltigeur ... .. 1850 Ard Patrick .. 1902 Sir Harry .. 1798 Ellington ... .. 1856 Rock Sand .. 1903 Archduke •• 1799 Blink Bonny •• 1857 Minoru .. 1909 Whalebone .. 1810 Beadsman .. 1858 Sunstar .. 1911 * Dead heat with St. Gatien Since 1890, moreover, the St. Leger has been won twelve times by a bay — viz., Isinglass, Throstle, Sir Visto, Persimmon, Galtee More, Flying Fox, Diamond Jubilee, Doricles, Sceptre, Woolwinder, Your Majesty and Bayardo If comparatively few of the names in the list of chestnut winners of the Derby are those of horses who made a name at the stud after their racing career was done, the same cannot be said of the list of bays and browns. There are Waxy, bay (1793) ; Whalebone, brown (1810) ; Priam, bay (1830) ; Bay Middleton (1836) ; Flying- Dutchman, bay (1849) ; Voltigeur, brown (1850) ; West Australian, bay (1853) ; Beadsman, brown (1858) ; Galopin, bay (1875) ; Ormonde, bay (1886) ; Merry Hampton, bay (1887) ; Ayrshire, bay (1888) ; Donovan,, bay (1889) ; Isinglass, bay (1893) ; Ladas, bay (1894) ; Persimmon, bay (1896) ; Galtee More, bay (1897) ; and Kisber (1876), who did such valuable service in Hungary In reviewing the bays and browns which have won fame as stallions it is necessary to look beyond the roll of Derby winners. Orville (1799) got Emilius, who got Priam and Plenipotentiary. Tramp (1810) got Lottery^ 21 who got Sheet Anchor, from whom, in the direct male Hne, came Rosicrucian and the Palmer, through Weatherbit and Beadsman Blacklock (1814) was the sire of numerous winners and ancestors of winners. Bluebeard, Brutandorf, Velo- cipede and Voltaire were among his sons. Galopin and Hagioscope were among his descendants in the male line, and Hermit, Bend Or and Petrarch are conspicuous among those in the female line Touchstone, brown (1831), recalls the names of a long roll of good horses. Among these, two of his sons, Cotherstone and Orlando, won the Derby, and two won the St. Leger — viz., Blue Bonnet and Newminster. Surplice, another son, won both those races. Mendicant, his daughter, out of Lady Moore Carew, won the Oaks Melbourne, brown (1834), enriched the Turf as the sire of West Australian, Blink Bonny, Canezou, Marchioness, Sir Tatton Sykes and Young Melbourne. iMusket, who did so much to raise the average of Australian horses, comes of the Melbourne strain. All the horses named were bay or brown ; a chestnut of true Melbourne descent is seldom found Orville, Tramp, Blacklock, Touchstone (brown) and Melbourne all come from the Godolphin Arabian ; and the Darley Arabian's name occurs frequently in the pedigrees of Orville and Touchstone Melbourne, who was " held in great regard by breeders as having more of the blood of the Godolphin Arabian in his veins than any horse of his time bar Harkawa}^''* furnishes an example of the uncertainty with which * Osborne 22 colour IS reproduced. His sire, Humphrey Clinker, was a bay. Humphrey Chnker's sire, Comus, was a chestnut, and his dam, Clinkerina, was a brown. Comus was by the black Sorcerer, out of the bay Houghton Lass ; and Clinkerina was by the brown Chnker, out of the bay Pewet Melbourne's eight paternal great-great-grandparents included one black (Trumpator) ; two bays. Young Giantess and Tandem ; a brown. Sir Peter Teazle (twice) ; two chestnuts, Hyall and Alexina ; and one undescribed. Termagant. Melbourne's dam (unnamed) was a bay by the bay Cervantes, out of a bay mare (unnamed). Cervantes was by the chestnut Don Quixote out of the brown Evelina ; and the bay dam was by the bay Golumpus, out of a brown mare (unnamed) Melbourne's eight maternal great-great-grandparents included one chestnut, Eclipse ; two undescribed mares, Grecian Prmcess and Termagant ; four bays. Highflyer, Gohanna, Catherine and Sister to Zodiac ; and one brown, Paynator Thus^ among his sixteen great-great-grandparents are six bays to three browns (one occurring twice). Eclipse bestowed his own colour on Don Quixote, but it went no farther in Melbourne's pedigree Arbitrator and Barcaldine, both bays, are among the best descendants of Melbourne. Horses of the Melbourne blood are famed for size and power — most valuable in these days, when so many horses are bred solely with an eye to speed It is to be noticed that there has not, within living memory, been a bay Derby winner with four white legs. 23 The nearest approach is General Peel, who ran second to Blair Athol in 1864, and won the Two Thousand ; and the Earl, who was second Black Thoroughbreds Black cannot be regarded as a common colour among race-horses. When it does occur, its appearance is note- worthy, first, for the certainty with which it indicates descent from the Byerly Turk, and, secondly, for the manner in which it vanishes for a generation or two and reappears in an indi\-idual horse, who may or may not bequeath it to his progeny The black Trumpator (1782) furnishes a case in point. This horse derived his colour from the Byerly Turk, whose name occurs so frequently on both sides of his pedigree. There are no black horses among his immediate ancestors, so far as the record shows (the colour of his granddam, daughter of the brown Snap, is not given). His sire was the chestnut Conductor, by the bay Matchcm, and his dam the brown Brunette, by the bay Squirrel, out of the bay Dove Trumpator got from the bay Young Giantess the black Sorcerer. Two of Sorcerer's best sons. Soothsayer* (out of the chestnut Goldenlocks) and Comus (out of the bay Houghton Lass), were chestnuts. Smolensko, another son, was a black, thus repeating the colour in the third generation. Trumpator got the bay Penelope out of the bay Prunella ; and Penelope's brown son Whalebone (1807) begat the black Camel * Soothsayer was sold to go to Russia before his worth as a stallion had been discovered in this country. His stock proved very successful on the Russian Turf 24 Whalebone also got the black Sir Hercules (1826) ; but Sir Hercules' descendants in the male line, down to Stockwell and Rataplan, were chestnuts. Sir Hercules also got the black Clarinda (1834) out of Mustard, and Clarinda threw the black Nightingale (1857) to Mountain Deer. Trumpator's name also occurs in Clarinda's pedigree on the dam's side The colour of the Byerly Turk appears in his descendant Black Susan (1762), and this is not surprising, as the great sire's name appears on both sides of the pedigree of the brown Snap (1750), the sire of Black Susan It IS very curious to observe how the colour reappears after lying dormant through several generations. A noteworthy case is that of the black Curfew (1887), by Barcaldine-Carillon. There is not a black horse or mare m his pedigree till the generation fifth above him- self is reached ; then the Byerly Turk colour appears in Curfev/'s ancestors, Camel and Sir Hercules, on both sides Turning back, for a moment, to a comparatively un- known horse. Sweeper, by Saltram, was advertised in the Racing Calendar of 1801 as " a most beautiful black horse, near 15 hands and a half, winner of many races."' His pedigree follows. The Darley Arabian, Godolphin Arabian, and B3'-erly Turk blood is very strong in Saltram's pedigree. From the last-named Sweeper inherited his colour The pedigree of a black horse can always be traced on one side or the other — sometimes both — to the Byerly Turk, generally through Trumpator. The pedigrees of Voltaire (1826), Jet (1842), Peggy (1840), 25 Ambrose (1849), Delhi, also described as a chestnut (1838), Echidna, also described as a brown, Ethelbert (1850), and Morglay (1886) may be exammed as examples The offspring of the black sire or dam would seem to be most usually a chestnut — a point which bears out Captain Hayes' remark* that '' black appears to be a much less persistent hereditary colour than chestnut or bay, because, in the produce of black dams and black sires, red pigment has a strong tendency to manifest Itself " Smolensko, the son of Sorcerer, mentioned above, is the only black horse that has won the Derby (1813). Sir Bev5/s, who won in 1879, was called a black ; but there was always a suspicion of chestnut or brown about him, and he is described as a brown in the Racing Calendar ; it is, however, only proper to mention that he traced his descent on both sides from Trumpator. Probably, the best race-horse whose colour most nearly approached black was the Flying Dutchman, a descendant of Sorcerer. Very few of his stock were darker than brown ; his best son, Dollar, was a dark brown. Dollar was sent to France, where he proved a most valuable sire, his stock being proverbial stayers These cases of doubtful colour are worth citing as evidence of the partial reproduction of the black coat in some of the Byerly Turk's descendants The same influence can be traced in the pedigrees of a few good black horses on the Turf in recent times — Black Arrow (also described as a brown), Slieve Gallion (brown or black), and Prince William, for example * Points of the Horse 26 Piebald and Roan Thoroughbreds It has not been possible to discover a parti-coloured horse such as piebald among those which have made any mark on the Turf ; and this is not remarkable, since horses of such colours are quite the exception among the Eastern breeds. " Roans, piebalds, duns and yellows," says Mr. Blunt, " are not found among the pure-bred Arabians, though the last two are, occasionally, among Barbs " This rule has its exceptions. Greys with large and conspicuous bay or chestnut markings were among the original importations of Eastern stock ; such were the Oxford Bloody-shouldered Arabian, the Bloody Buttocks Arabian and the Grey Bloody Buttocks (mare). The name of D'Arcy's Black-legged Royal mare suggests that she was peculiarly coloured, as does that of the Lowther White-legged Barb Other unusual colours were represented among the original imported stock by the Halifax Roan Barb and the Gower Dun Barb. There is, in the Elsenham collection, a portrait of a " Bloody-shouldered Arabian," painted by George Stubbs, R.A. This horse could not have been the Oxford " Bloody-shouldered Arabian " which is starred in Mr. Osborne's list as one of the twenty-four imported in Queen Anne's reign (1702-1714)- Stubbs was born in 1724, and the horse whose portrait he executed must have been a later importation It is reasonable to suppose that these strangely- coloured horses were imported as curiosities rather than for the practical purposes of racing or breeding. It is certain that few if any such oddly-coloured animals were bred in this country 27 As regards roan horses, the late Earl of Glasgow, some fifty years ago, possessed some roans, but the colour seems to have died out completely among Thoroughbreds. The mare Mrs. Ridgeway {1849), who threw to Voltigeur Vedette, sire of Galopin, is described in Osborne's Handbook as a roan in some pedigrees and as a bay in others. There is nothing in her ancestry on either side to explain her exceptional colour, if it be correctly recorded as roan The blue roan colour is not common among horses of any breed, but horsemen will agree that they have never known a blue roan that was not a good one 28 HACKNEYS Origin of the Hackney A few words concerning the history of this breed are necessary before the variations of colour are considered The Hackne}^, hke the Thoroughbred, traces its descent from the horses of Eastern blood (Arabs and Barbs), more especially from the Darle}^ Arabian, imported into England in the reign of Queen Anne It is now more than two hundred years since the Darley Arabian was brought to this country and stood at Buttercramb, near York, where his owner, Mr. Darley, had a small stud of mares To the Darley Arabian, some years after his arrival, Mr. Childers sent his favourite mare Betty Leedes ; and she, in 1715, threw Flying Childers, the speediest horse on the Turf of his day Flying Childers became the sire of Blaze, also famous for his speed. Blaze (foaled 1733) went to the stud in Norfolk, and Norfolk owes its subsequent fame as the home of the Hackney to the blood of Blaze In this regard, it must be remembered that there was then, and had been for long past, peculiarly good native stock in Norfolk, admirably adapted to make the best roadsters when crossed with such a horse as Blaze. As 29 shown elsewhere,* Norfolk Trotters were valued over 400 years ago. William Marshall + says that before Queen Anne's reign (1702-1714) the farmers of the county used an active breed of horses which could not only trot but gallop ; and the curious team races this writer describes prove that the Norfolk breed of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was surefooted as well as active The Darley Arabian was a bay, but examination of the volumes of the Hackney Stud Book shows that this colour is not the most common among the best bred Hackneys of the present day There is not much to choose between the chestnuts^ bays and browns in point of number Grey Hackneys Grey was never a common colour among Hackneys — greys were always much fewer in number than chestnuts, bays or browns — but they were more numerous a few years ago than they are now, for reasons that will be suggested In the first sixteen volumes of the Stud Book, the names of 116 greys occur among the 6,942 stallions therein registered — about two in every 300. In the seven volumes, covering the period 1900-1906, the names of only eight greys occur among the 2,573 stallions registered, or about two in ever}^ 650. A noteworth_v point in connection with these eight grey stallions is that all the foals got by them have been chestnuts * The Harness Horse. 4th. Edition. By Sir Walter Gilbey. Bart. Vinton & Co., London. 1905 f Rural Economy of Norfolk. By Wm. Marsh.^ll. 1795 30 Volume 28 for 1911 contains the names of 357 stallions, among which there are two greys ; but we can hardly infer from this that animals of that colour are increasing The small number of greys. is to be accounted for in many ways. In the first place, the demand for Hackneys of this colour is less than that for Hackneys of any other colour, and by consequence breeders do not attempt to produce greys. Ability to do so, within certain limits, lies in their power. Two greys mated produce a foal the colour of which, in all probability, will be grey ; and it is a well-established fact that to produce a grey fopil one parent must be a grey. Thus, by avoiding the use of a grey parent, or a parent which numbers a grey amongst its immediate ancestors, the chance of a grey foal is avoided This policy, having been pursued for many years, has, as its natural result, the gradual disappearance of greys from the Stud Book Chestnut Hackneys Chestnut is a very common colour among horses of the Hackne}^ breed, and is steadily becoming more so. A glance at the "colour pedigree" of the best modern Hackney stallions explains this Danegelt (foaled 1879), a most successful sire, was a whole-coloured dark chestnut ; his sire Denmark (foaled 1862) and his grandsire Sir Charles (foaled 1843) were both chestnuts Performer (foaled 1840), the sire of Sir Charles, was a brown ; the chestnut may be said to have lain dormant for a few generations, as Performer traces back to CD 31 Jenkinson's Fireaway, whose sire Driver and graiidsire The Original Shales were both chestnuts The success of chestnut Hackneys at the most important shows held during recent years is a matter of common knowledge ; it has been noteworthy ever since the date of the establishment of the Hackney Horse Society in 1S84 As a natural consequence, the services of these chestnuts have been in great demand by breeders, and the colour has been inherited, with other characteristics, by their progeny There can be no doubt but that chestnut is an impressive colour among Hackneys; in other words, that it has strong tendency to reproduce itself. A chestnut mare, put to a stallion of the same colour, will almost certainly throw a chestnut foal To illustrate the truth of this, it may be mentioned that durmg the fifteen years 1891 to 1906 considerably more than one hundred chestnut foals were bred at the Elsenham stud by mating mares of this colour with Danegelt and his son Ro^^al Danegelt, both of which were chestnuts It is worth looking more closely mto Royal Danegelt's record of produce from the colour standpoint. His first crop of foals arrived in 1898. He has since 1897 got sixty-two foals from Elsenham mares, and every foal has been chestnut. The mares include six chestnut roans, one roan and five bays. This record serves to show that Royal Danegelt is peculiarly impressive with regard to his colour Professor C. J. Davies, writing in the Live Stock Journal Almanac, 1907, says he has never known a yellow 32 dun colt to be born when one parent was bay, brown or chestnut and the other parent dun. He cites one case in which a dun mare with dark points and dorsal stripe threw three chestnut foals in succession to the chestnut Hackney stallion Troubador. This seems to indicate that chestnut is a more prepotent colour than dun It may be remarked that the last volume of the Stud Book contains the names of only two dun stallions among the 357 registered Bay and Brown Hackneys It IS proposed to treat bay and brown as varieties of the same colour. There are numbers of bays which cannot possibly be mistaken for any other colour ; but, on the other hand, there are many horses registered in the Stud Books of the various breeds whose colour is so indeterminate that they are described as "bay or brown " Of the bays little need be said. Bay retains its popularity with horse owners, as anyone may see in the London streets. Probably the great majority of good harness horses — single, pairs and teams — are bays Brown horses are described in one of two ways — either as " brown '' or " dark brown." Horses of the former hue are sometimes called " dark bays " ; this is a mistake — the deeper colour is not bay at all, but brown. A " dark brown " resembles the hue of old mahogany Examination of the pedigrees of brown stallions now alive shows clearly that they inherit their colour from Performer * (foaled 1840), whose sire Phenomenon * Performer greatly influenced the Hackney horse stock of his day. Trotting matches under saddle were then much in vogue, and Performer was allowed to be one of the finest trotters in England ; he covered three miles in nine minutes. Such an achievement would naturally give a stallion the prestige that now attaches to success in the show- yard 33 (foaled 1835) was also a brown ; or, if the brown horses do not trace their descent to Performer, they trace it to the brown Atlas (foaled 1840). These three horses are known to have been the most successful stock-getters in their time Lord Derby H (foaled 1871) was full of the blood o^ both the Performer and Atlas strains ; he was a beautiful dark brown, and having been the winner of many prizes in the show ring, his services were much m request. He bestowed his colour freely on his stock The Hackney Stud Book contains the names of many famous bay sires — Wildfire (foaled 1827) and Norfolk Cob (foaled 1819) among the number. These two horses trace their descent, through the brown race-horse Flying Childers, to the bay " foundation sire " the Darley Arabian (foaled 1702) During the last twenty-five years Lord Derby II mares have been eagerly sought lor the purpose of mating with stallions of the Danegelt strain. Unfortunately the mares got by Lord Derby II were comparatively few in number, and as the number decreased exceptionally high prices were paid for such mares, both privately and at public auctions. In many cases a thousand guineas has been paid for a Lord Derby II mare Brown Hackneys have enjoyed peculiar favour in France for a long period. Norfolk Hackneys were imported into that country about the year 1800 ; there IS in existence a picture of such a stallion, a brown, foaled 1819, which was named by his French purchaser J agger D 34 Soon after 1830, Mr. H. R. Phillips* began to supply the French Government with Norfolk Hackneys, and continued to do so for many years. The preference of the French, when the business developed, was for brown stallions of the Performer and Phenomenon strain ; both of these horses, as already mentioned, were brown It was through the sires thus purchased by Mr. Phillips that the Hackney blood was diffused over the horse- breeding districts of France, Germany, Italy and Russia Everywhere their value has long been well established ; and in some regions these horses have made very marked impression upon the local stock Oldenburg, in Germany, since Oliver Cromwell's time, and, no doubt, from a much earlier date, had been famed for the horses bred there. The Oldenburg breeders, b}^ judicious selection of brown mares to mate with the imported Norfolk Hackney sires, have established a remarkably fine breed of dark brown harness horses, ranging in height from 15.2 to 16.3 The best-looking horses of the Oldenburg breed have for many years past found ready sale in London for carriage work. Single horses of this strain have been sold for 200 guineas, and pairs at from 300 to 600 guineas Since the termination of the Franco-Prussian War, in 1871, France has been our best customer for horses — more particularly for light horses. Annnals of the heavy breeds, of the Shire, Clydesdale and Suffolk types, were not in demand * Mr. Phillips was an eminent London horse-dealer who, for fifty years, had almost a monopoly of the work of supplying the Governments of European countries with breeding- stock 35 When the war came to an end one of the first matters to which the French Government devoted attention was the improvement of the pubhc breeding studs ; and, in pursuance of the wise pohcy of supplying the miUtary needs of the Repubhc, great endeavours were made to secure a sufficient number of stalhons capable of begetting stock suitable for military purposes The French demand for Hackney stallions had been steady for very many years prior to the war ; but the decision to gradually increase the breeding-stock soon made its effect felt in this country. As shown elsewhere,* there has been an increasing demand for Hackney blood for the public studs. In 1874 the total number of stallions standing at the national studs was 1,087 '' ^^^ 1905 the number had been increased to 3,267, or within 173 of the full strength sanctioned by the law Professor Davies, in the article previously referred to, mentions a case in which a dun mare threw bay foals to bay or brown stallions, suggesting the greater prepotency of bay and brown over dun Black Hackneys Black is only a little less common than grey and dun ; eight black Hackneys are registered among the 357 stallions in the last volume of the Stud Book Roan Hackneys Blue roans and red roans are more commonly seen among Hackneys than any other breed of horses ; though, as in the case of the greys, the pages of the more * Horse-Breediiig in England and India and Army Horses Abroad. By Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart. Vinton & Co., London 36 recent volumes of the Stud Book contain the names of fewer roans than did the earUer volumes. The names of ten roans occur among the 357 stallions in the Stud Book for 1911 Perhaps the most celebrated Hackney sire ever known was the roan Norfolk Phenomenon (foaled 1835), regarded by Mr. H. R. Phillips as " the best stallion in England " when three years old. About 1838 Mr. Phillips bought Phenomenon to go to Yorkshire, where he did invaluable service in improving the local stock Later, this horse was sent to Scotland, and died in Edinburgh when thirty years old. Phenomenon was not less remarkable for his symmetry than for his action, which Mr. Phillips described to me as " wonderfully all-round true." When over twenty years old Phenomenon made the astonishing trotting record of two miles in six minutes Another famous horse, in his day, was Baxter's red roan Performer (foaled 1850). "The Druid" mentions* this Performer as one of the " four or five very good Hackney sires " to be found m Norfolk at the time he wrote — about 1856 It is difficult to suggest any satisfactory reason for the decrease in the number of roan Hackneys. The colour, whether of the red or blue variety, is not unpopular, and either can be produced with some degree of certainty; a roan mare which has been mated with a roan stallion throws a roan foal in the majority of cases The colour of the foal depending so largely on the prepotency of one parent or the other, it is never possible. * Post and Paddock. By "The Druid " (H. H. Dixon). Vintoix & Co., London 37 without previous knowledge of the prepotency of both parents, to predict with any approach to certainty what colour will be bestowed on the foal of a mixed mating — mixed as regards colour ; a roan mare, mated with a stallion of other colour, may throw a roan foal, but with much less certainty than she would do to a roan sire The roan foal is so frequent a result of roan and roan mating that, in course of years, a strain of roans could, without doubt, be established by mating animals of proved colour prepotency. The process would entail a good deal of close inbreeding ; but inbreeding, even incestuous breeding, is natural in the horse, and there is evidence in the General Stud Book to prove that incestuous breeding may be highly successful It may be added that roans are not necessarily the produce of roan parents or of one roan parent. To illustrate the possibility of producing the colour from a mixed mating, we may take the case of blue grey, sometimes called " blue roan " cattle There is a great demand for beasts of this colour, but the colour is not peculiar to any breed or family ; it is obtained by mating a black Polled Angus cow with a white Shorthorn bull. It is at least possible that the same result might follow the mating of a grey stallion and a black mare 38 SHIRE HORSES History of the Breed The "Great Horse" or "War Horse" from which our modern Shires trace their descent is a very ancient breed. These heavy and powerful animals were produced in England by crossing stallions brought from the Continent with home-bred mares. Such importations took place in the year 1160, and probably at an even earlier date These " Great Horses " were required to carry men in heavy armour, and as the light chain mail of the Norman period was gradually discarded in favour of plate armour, which was far heavier, so did the demand increase for the only horses capable of carrying the enormous weight. Hence for centuries the Great Horse was by far the most valuable animal, and its breeding was the constant care of our Sovereigns The efficiency of mounted men depended, in those days, upon the strength of the horses, which might be required to carry as much as 4 cwt. (32 stone) ; and, throughout the long period during which plate armour was worn, neither pains nor money were spared to maintain and keep in the country the " Great Horses" which were indispensable for the men who wore it 39 The importance of the Great Horse as a factor in the scheme of national defence began to dechne about the end of the sixteenth century, when hand iire-arms began to come into use As the new weapon became more generally employed, the plate armour, which furnished no sufficient defence against the bullet, was discarded ; and with its dis- appearance the necessity for using such powerful chargers disappeared also. Horses of lighter and more active stamp replaced them for military purposes, and the Great Horse found a new sphere of utility as a draught horse, not only for cart but carriage work, the wretched tracks which served as roads demanding the use of heavy horses for the passenger vehicles of those times As the roads of the country were improved and passenger carriages became lighter, the Great or Shire Horse was displaced again by animals of a lighter stamp, and, since the later years of the eighteenth century, has been appropriated to heavy draught work in country and in town The history of the Great Horse has been sketched elsewhere * ; and the foregoing brief summary perhaps suffices for the present purpose Grey Shire Horses It is worth noticing that two of the earliest pictures of Shire Horses represent greys. These are, a painting by Albert Durer, executed in 1505, which shows an animal of excellent conformation, tended by a man-at-arms, * The Great Horse or Shire Horse. 2nd Edition. By Sir Walter GiLBEY, Bart. Vinton & Co., London. 1889 40 suggestive of the use made of the breed at that period ; and a picture by Paul Potter, dated 1652. It need hardly be said that the Great Horses of those times varied in colour as they do now When the first edition of this work was published, in 1907, the Stud Books showed that grey was graduahy disappearing in this breed as it is in other breeds. Since 1907 there has been a certain revival of the grey Shire horse as the following figures prove : — Volumes i to 4 of the Stud Book, covering the period 1800 to 1882, contain the names of 2,962 stallions, of which 298, or more than ten in every hundred, were greys Volume 27, for 1907, contains the names of 934 stallions, of which only 19, or about two in every hundred, were greys Volume 32, for 1911, contains the names of 1,010 stallions, of which 25, or about two in eighty, are greys The disappearance of greys from among pedigree Shires was explained by the colours of the 16 " foundation sires," from one or other of which the large majority of prize-winners at the Society's Shows traced their descent Only one of these sires, Lincolnshire Lad II (1365), was a grey ; he obtained his grey coat from the dam's side ; his dam, Madam, an unregistered mare, was by the grey Matchless. Lincolnshire Lad II had six sons, sires of prize-winners, and a seventh, the grey Paxton (4604), who begat no prize-winners. Hence grey had disappeared from among prize-winning sires 41 Since 1907, however, Paxton's colour has reappeared among his descendants after vanishing for a generation or two. Among the 316 winners of prizes, of Highly Commended and Commended cards at the Shire Horse Society's Show in igii, were ten greys, three of w^iich, Lowesby Ruth 11, Primley Coronetta and Lowesby Graceful trace back to Paxton on the dam's side Lowesby Ruth II was by Cosby Albert, out of the grey mare Lowesby Ruth (29291) ; and Lowesby Ruth was by Paxton out of an unregistered chestnut mare Lowesby Ruth also threw the grey Lowesby Graceful to the brown Nailstone Coeur de Lion The case of Primley Coronetta is more significant. This filly was by Tatton Dray King, a bay, out of Quality (46043), a grey ; Quality's dam, Withcote Quality II (34517), was a grey ; and Withcote Quality II's dam was got by Paxton Grey is a very "assertive" colour, and Lincolnshire Lad II's failure to transmit his colour to six out of his seven best sons indicates that he was not, so far as colour is concerned, a prepotent horse. Generally speaking, if one of the two parents is a grey the progeny will be a grey, but there is no certainty of it. Evidence in support of this will be found when horses of other colours claim attention; but the "colour pedigrees" of the eleven animals which figure among the winners of prizes. Highly Commended and Commended cards at the Shire Horse Society's Show of 191 1 repay examination. The influence of the dam in ten cases out of the eleven is very strong!}^ marked Rugby Grey Boy obtains his colour through his paternal granddam : his sire, King Fuschia (26353), 42 was a roan, out of the grey D'Arcy Fuschia, whose dam was the grey Lightsome, whose dam was the grey Beauty. There were no greys among the more recent ancestors of Rugby Grey Boy's bay dam, Foiville Madam Endurance II's colour comes direct, in the female line : his dam was the grey Marceila (42652), whose dam was an unregistered grey out of Bounce (162), a grey mare foaled in 1874 Nailstone Blazing Star's colour comes direct in the female line : his dam was the grey Depper (56718), whose dam was the grey Deborah Bramhope Andrew's colour also comes direct in the female line : his dam was the grey Brisk, whose dam was the grey Bourne Patch, whose dam was the grey Blossom II (7554). Byford Fashion's colour comes in the same way. His dam, Byford Fancy (14362), was a grey : her dam Gaer Fancy was a grey, and Gaer Fancy's dam. Bouncer, was a grey Nelly Grey furnishes an example of colour derived from the male side : her sire was the grey County Fashion (12951), got by Lincolnshire Lad II. Grey well obtains his colour through his paternal granddam : his sire was the grey Alvechurch Lion (23951), whose grey dam. Darling, was got by the grey King of the Hills out of an unregistered roan mare. This is a good example of colour passing from sire to daughter and from daughter to son Abingworth Glory obtains his colour from his grey sire, Sussex Menestrel (23770), who obtained it from his dam Sussex Bluegown. Sussex Bluegown, it may 43 be noted, was by the brown Nailstone Coeur de Lion (16269), out of the blue roan Sussex Bluebell (22556) Sussex Bluebell would seem to have a tendency to throw greys : her daughter Sussex Bluegirl (49559), by the bay Stroxton Tom (15871), was a grey These examples of "colour pedigree" prove the pre- potency of gre}^ when one parent or a recent ancestor is of that colour Earl Beauchamp has devoted special attention to the breeding of greys, and has been highly successful in producing them Chestnut Shire PIorses Chestnut is not a very common colour among Shires. At first sight this appears a somewhat curious thing considering how closely this hue is allied to the black, which was once a distinguishing characteristic of the breed, but it is easily explained. Of the 1,010 stallions m the last volume of the Stud Book, only 26 are chest- nuts Glancing over the list of 16 " foundation grand- sires " not a chestnut is found among them. Among their sons there is only one — namely, Hitchin Duke (9586), by the ba}^ Bar None (2388). The dam of Hitchin Duke was the chestnut mare Brock (2183). The only one of Hitchin Duke's sons to gain a place in the prize lists was Wyn Hitchin Duke (14782), a bay horse Looking further back in the Stud Book, a chestnut^ Honest Tom (1062), occurs among the ancestors of Blythwood Conqueror (14997) ; but the revised edition of the volume which contains this horse's name gives it 44 as "Honest Tom" without the number, there being a doubt whether Derbyshire (577) was got by the Honest Tom registered as No. 1062 The hsts of winners of prizes, and Highly Commended and Commended cards at the Shows of the Society indicate that the majority of chestnut colt foals are cut. In 1910, the judges noticed one chestnut stallion, three chestnut geldings, and five chestnut mares and fillies. In 191 1, no chestnut stallions were noticed, while eight chestnut mares and fillies received various awards. The scarcity of chestnuts is, therefore, due to man's instrumentality The occurrence of this colour generally indicates a chestnut parent or a chestnut among recent ancestors For example, Dunsmore Chessie, first prize-winner in the class for two-year-old mares, 1910, was by a bay sire out of a chestnut dam, Jewel's Eve (39317) ; Jewel's Eve was by the chestnut Puckrup Prince Harold (18294). Sweeting's Rose, highly commended in the class for five-year-old mares and upwards, over 16 hands, in 1910, was by a chestnut sire, Marengo (18186), out of an unregistered dam, and Marengo was by the grey Gany- mede II. (5874), out of the chestnut Diamond (6169) To cite a few cases in which neither parent was a chestnut : — Savernake Squire (20061) was by a bay sire out of a black dam ; the sire of the dam was the chestnut Steamer (13618). The hlly Artist's Model (62667) was by a bay sire out of a bay dam. Model (64383) ; Model's dam and granddam were both chestnuts On the other hand the colour may not be derived from any recent ancestor. The gelding Southorpe Sandow, Reserve and Highly Commended in the three- 45 year-old class of 1910, was by a whole brown sire, Souldern Scylax (21885). out of a grey dam, Snowstorm (30056) ; none of the four grandparents of Southorpe Sandow was chestnut. The same remark applies to the gelding Sensation, first prize-winner in the five- year-old class in iqio Bay and Brown Shire Horses Bay and brown may be treated as varieties of the same colour ; the latter is often so dark as to render it doubtful whether the horse should be described as brown or black, while, on the other hand, it is sometimes so bright that it is impossible to determine whether the colour should be registered as brown or bay Bay and brown stallions are, as among other breeds, in the majority. Of the sixteen " foundation grand- sires," nine are bays — namely. Potentate (12086), Hitchin Conqueror (4458), Premier (2646), Ringleader II (8099)^ Bar None (2388), Prince William (3956), Duke of Worsley (13002), Honest Tom (5123) and Lincoln (1350) — and two are browns — namely, Harold (3703) and William the Conqueror (2343) The two brown sires, it is worth noticing, have been, next to the grey Lincolnshire Lad II, the most successful " foundation grandsires " as getters of prize-winners, who, in their turn, have begotten prize-winners The brown Harold (3703), got by Lincolnshire Lad II, out of the black Flower, between the years 1886 and 1899 had 54 sons who got prize-winners. The colours of these 54 horses and their dams are shown below : — Out of 27 bay mares, Harold got 16 bay, 5 brown, 3 black and 3 chestnut sons 46 Out of i6 brown mares he got 8 brown, 5 bay and 3 black sons Out of 4 black mares he got 2 brown and 2 black sons Out of 2 chestnut mares he got 2 chestnut sons Out of 2 grey mares he got 2 gre}^ sons Out of a black roan mare he got a black roan son Out of 2 unregistered mares, whose colours are not recorded, he got two brown sons These figures clearly suggest that the mares had greater colour influence than Harold upon their progeny. In 31 cases out of the 54 the foal took his colour from his dam ; in nine cases, when the mare was of a colour other than brown or bay, only two foals took their sire's colour, the other seven taking that of their dams It will be remarked that when the mare was, like Harold, a brown, in only 8 out of 16 cases did the foal follow his parents. The three black sons got from brown mares indicate "throw back" to the original characteristic colour of the breed Harold's brown coat reappears in the descendants of some of his sons which were not brown Thus, his bay son, Regent II (6316) begot Knottingley Regent (18130)^ and his bay son, Rokeby Friar (14827) begot Childwick Majestic {17254) and Sergeant VI (16389), all three of them browns. Harold's black son. Prince Harold (14228), out of the bay mare Hale Lofty, begot the black Hendre Baronet (16714), who begot the brown Hendre Spark (18795) The other brown " foundation grandsire," William the Conqueror (2343), had nine prize- winning sons, and one son, Duke of Normandy (4359), who got prize-winners. 47 William the Conqueror was more prepotent in colour than Harold. Of the dams of the above-mentioned ten sons, four were unregistered mares whose colour is not recorded ; all four threw bay foals ; a grey mare threw a bay foal to him; and three black mares threw two bay foals and one brown. Of William the Conqueror's sons, the brown Staunton Hero (2918) and the bay Hitchin Conqueror (4458) were the most successful getters of prize-winners The bay Dunsmore Jameson (17972), by the brown Moor's Zealot, out of the bay Moor's Bonny, who for some years headed the list of sires of prize-winners at the Society's shows, also appears to have been prepotent in regard to colour. The large majority of his winning progeny were bays or browns, bays predominating ; but when he was put to a grey mare the foal was generally grey. From the black Dunsmore Lineal (35746) he got a black foal, and from the blue roan Toft ^lay (37099) he got a red roan foal Browns have won their share of the Challenge Cups. Staunton Hero (2918) won the Elsenham Cup in 1886 ; Harold (3703) in 1887 ; Rokeby Harold (15313) in 1893, 1895 and 1896 ; Girton Charmer (20515) in 1905 ; and Gaer Conqueror in 1910 and 1911 It would seem that the general tendency of both bay and brown sires is towards bay progeny. The colours of the sires got by Harold and William the Conqueror are fair examples of this Black Shire Horses Blacks are more common among Shires than any other breed, and the colour is of frequent occurrence in 48 the progeny of sires and dams both of other hues. Of the 1,010 stallions in the last volume of the Stud Book ii6, or more than eleven in every hundred, are blacks This is easily explained. Our Shire Horses are descended largely from the " Large Old English Black Horse" which Arthur Young, over a century ago, described as one of the only two breeds of English cart horse worth mention The "Black" was a recognised breed in Oliver Cromwell's time, and commanded a high price, as shown elsewhere.* This animal was " the produce principally of the Shire counties in the heart of England." In the Eastern counties it was known as the Black Lincolnshire Horse ; and Mr. Reynolds, Veterinary Inspector to the Liverpool Corporation, points out that black and grey were held to indicate purity of breeding Black reappears frequently in the progeny of bay and brown parents, as is shown m the classified list of Harold's prize-winning sons on a former page The characteristics of an old breed are the certainty with which they reproduce themselves. It is known, for example, how marked is the Arab character in the foal one of whose parents is an Arab; and the appearance of a black coat may certainly be regarded as a " throw back ' ' to some ancestor, more or less remote No fewer than four of the " foundation grandsires "■ are blacks ; and of the i6 winners of the 23 Champion Cups three have been blacks — namely, Vulcan, 1889 and 1891 ; Bury Victor Chief, 1892 and 1894 ; and Present King II, in 1906 * The Great Horse or War Horse. 2nd Edition, By Sir Walter. GiLBEY, Bart. Vinton & Co., London. 1899 49 Among the prize- winning sons of the grey Lincolnshire Lad IL (1365) were the brown Harold (3703) and the roan Lincolnshire Boy (3188). Harold begot a black son, Prince Harold (14228), out of the bay Hale Lofty as before mentioned The bay Prince William (3956), son of the brown William the Conqueror, had among his prize-winning sons the black Lockinge Albert (15695), out of the brown Forest Queen. The brown Prince Victor (5287), son of the bay Lincoln (1350), got the black Bury Victor Chief (11 105), out of the brown Daisy The black Hindlip Champion (9584) had two prize- winning sons — the black Jeroboam (15 172), out of the bay Wildfiower, and the bay Stonewall (15375), out of the bay Wallflower, either of whom got a brown son Examination of almost any Shire pedigree shows the existence of one black ancestor or more. To take an example at random, the descent of the bay Blythwood Conqueror (14997) is recorded for ten generations. The colour of his great-great-grandsire Ben (120) is not known; but Ben's great-grandsire was Blacklegs, a black, and Blacklegs' great-grandsire was John Bull, otherwise known as Fisher's Black Horse Among the nine of Blythwood Conqueror's ancestors whose colour is recorded, there were two blacks, the most distant ancestor to whom he can be traced being one of them It is quite the exception to find a whole black among Shires ; a black almost invariably has white on the feet or legs, and rarely lacks a white star or blaze E 50 Roan and Parti-coloured Shires Roan, more especially blue roan, is not an uncommon colour in this breed. There are six roan stallions among the 1,010 in the last Stud Book. Referring again to the list of prize-winners in Vol. 27 of the Stud Book, it appears that one son of Lincolnshire Lad II (1365) was a roan — namely, Lincolnshire Bo}^ (3188). This horse has one prize- wmning son in Coton Conqueror (12948), a black, out of the chestnut mare Bounce Harold (3703) has, among his prize-winning progeny, one blue roan, Horbling Harold (15647), out of the blue roan mare Bluebell (4627) Blue roan is a colour which is not always very impressive. The bay mare Drybank Violet II (18136) was put in three successive seasons to the blue roan Blue Rocket (4337), and to him she threw two grey foals and one bay. The colour of her two first foals would have come from her grey dam Blossom. Among Dunsmore Jameson's progeny was a red roan foal out of the blue roan mare Toft May (27099) Piebalds are seldom seen among pedigree stock, but the parti-coloured Shire is by no means uncommon in the Fen country. Some fifty years ago Mr. Colvin, of Pishobary, Sawbridgeworth, in Hertfordshire, possessed a breed of piebalds. Mr. Charles Maisters, of Saddlebow, King's Lynn, Norfolk, had a famous stallion named England's Wonder, foaled in 1871. England's Wonder was a roan horse, but among the many good horses sired by him were several of odd colours Teams made up of piebalds were not unusual in the stables of great brewing firms a century ago. Such were 51 Pirate and Outlaw, whose portraits were painted m 1810 by J. C. Zeitter* Dun is a very uncommon colour among Shire horses Influence of the Dam The greater variety of colour found among Shire horses affords scope for examination of the colour ques- tion wider than that afforded by the other breeds noticed in these pages ; and it is desirable to look a little more closely into the part played by the dam in conferring colour A few produce records, selected from the Stud Books for their length, indicate that the mare is only occasionally more prepotent in regard to colour than the sire Take the case of the bayf mare Notts Diadem (4824), by the chestnut Royal Sandy (3993), out of the grey Notts Gem. During the years 1890-1897 inclusive, Notts Diadem threw six bay foals : the first to the black Aldreth Prince (4204) ; the second to the bay Buckton Harold (11059) ; the third to the chestnut Protection (3960) ; and the other three to the brown Lincolnshire Reserve (13260) Notts Diadem clearly had strong colour prepotency. The fact that she had a grey dam might well have led to expectation of one or more foals of that colour from Notts Diadem The produce record of the bay mare Everton Highland Fling furnishes an example of lack of colour prepotency *This picture is reproduced in The Great Horse or War Horse. 2nd Edition t This mare was originally registered as a chestnut ; but in subse- quent entries she is described as a bay 52 in the dam. Everton Highland FUng was by the black Lancashire Tom (3793), out of the grey Hop Waltz. Between 1889 and 1898, inclusive, she threw seven foals : — (i) a brown to the brown Everton Reality (7196) ; (2) a bay to the bay Everton Valour (7200) ; (3) a brown to the same ; (4) a bay to the bay Bar None (2388) ; (5) a grey to the grey Head Master (4448) ; (6 and 7) black foals to the bay Everton Benefactor (13066) This record shows that Everton Highland Fling might throw a foal of her own colour if mated with a horse of her own colour, but there was no certainty that she would do so. Only two of the five foals she threw to bay horses were bays : the grey was thrown to a grey horse, and the two black foals thrown to the same bay horse suggest a "throw back" to Everton Highland Fling's own black sire An interesting example of constancy in colour occurs in the progeny of the bay mare Brisk who, between 1874 and 1882 threw seven bay foals in succession to the bay Honest Tom (1105) The produce record of the black mare Dove Eaton Flower (14623) is a riddle in the factors which determine colour. Dove Eaton Flower was by the bay Waxwork (2305), out of an unregistered mare whose colour is not recorded. Between 1885 and 1891 she threw the following foals : (i) a brown to the bay Candidate (2405) ; (2) a black to the roan Lincolnshire Boy (3188) ; (3) a bay to the same ; (4) a roan to the same ; and (5) a black to the black Charlatan (3540) The curious features of this record are the three foals thrown to Lincolnshire Boy : the first took the dam's 53 colour ; the second took that of neither parent, and the third took the sire's colour Grey might be expected to prevail among the foals of such a mare as Dewdrop, foaled 1868. Dewdrop was a grey got by the black Drayman (644) out of a grey mare. Between 1875 and 1882 inclusive, she produced six foals : (i) a bay to the bay Bold Lincoln (231) ; (2) a bay to the bay Waggon Shaker (2238) ; (3) a grey to the black That's Him (2098) ; (4) a grey to the bay Blyth (227) ; (5) a bay to the same ; and (6) a bay to the bay What's Wanted (2332) Thus, in only two cases out of six did foals take her colour : the other four followed their sires The produce record of the iron grey mare Darling of Saintsbury (14541) is somewhat curious. This mare was by the brown Noble II. (5237), out of the dapple grey Snip. She had four foals : (i) a black to the grey Oxford Blue (1701) ; (2 and 3) iron grey foals to the roan Prince IX. (ioiC)6) ; and (4) a bay to the bay Right Sort (2483) The produce record of a chestnut mare, Daisy (21592), may be added to those already given. Daisy was by the brown Waxwork (4164), out of an unregistered mare whose colour is unknown. Between 1890 and 1895, inclusive, she threw live foals : (i) a bay to the bay Shellow Spark (3306) ; (2) a black to the same ; (3) a chestnut to the bay Ranger II. (10255) '> (4) s- brown to the brown Bury Echo (8940) ; and (5) a bay to the bay Joceline (14116) Thus in only one case did a foal take her colour 54 Conclusions The conclusion at which the student of colour inheri- tance arrives is that while the mating of parents of certain colours will probably produce a foal of a certain colour, there is a large element of chance in the matter The relative prepotency of any given sire and dam can only be proved by experiment ; and the result of one mating cannot be held a sure indication of the result of the next. The vigour of the sire may be greater than that of the dam at one mating, with the result that the sire will assert himself in the colour of the foal, and on the next occasion the temporarily superior vigour of the dam may cause her to assert herself in the colour of the foal When one particular colour has characterised a breed for a long period, as bay in the Thoroughbred, chestnut in the Hackney, or black in the Shire horse, there is always a tendency for this characteristic colour to reappear. The longer quality or colour has been estab- lished the more likely it is to assert itself in the foal irrespective of its immediate ancestry It must not be forgotten that fashion has much influence on colour. The tastes of purchasers change from time to time, and a colour which is in demand to-day may not be in demand ten years hence A contributory factor to the temporary disappear- ance of grey shire horses and to the reappearance of horses of this colour may be found in the changing taste of American purchasers. At one time Americans would buy neither greys nor odd-coloured sires — such were out of fashion on the other side of the Atlantic. 55 Then the fashion in colours veered completely round, and American buyers preferred grey and odd-coloured sires, and would purchase few bays, browns, chestnuts or blacks When a colour thus goes out of fashion the supply of sires of that colour shrinks, the inducement to keep •entire colt foals of the unfashionable colour disappears ; therefore they are gelded and the proportion of animals able to perpetuate the undesired hue is reduced Works by SIR WALTER GILBEY, Bart., Published by Vinton & Co., 8 Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, E.C. 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