Some months ago we drow attention to the great change that had been observed in late years in the colour of th what we call "the old days," which anies brought down from the North.
means anything more than a quarter of a century ago, the majority of the ponies that reached us from Tientsin were white or grey, but this is far from being the case at present, at least among the ponies that achieve distinct tion. In the Peking and Tientsin Times of the 80th ult, the subject is alluded to at some length, That paper says he uniformity of colour in China ponies used to be a common subject of remark by globe-trotting visitors at the Hongkong and Shanghai Meetings, and, as a matter of fact, whites, greys, and creams were formerly very much in evidence. In Tientsin of recent years there has been a marked change: of the thirty-one griffins in the Spring Meeting only five were on the side of the angels as regards colour, and of the total entries for all events nine only.
"Tt was once a fad to associate speed or luck with a certain colour, on much the same (want of) principle that men associate moral qualities with hue and complexion in their fellow men and women, This is all very well when colour jit non nascitur.. No two Meetings will ever give the same general average in favour of particular skin, provided the individuals change: og. in the Spring Meeting of 1895 the colours of winners of the nineteen races were: chestnut, ten; brown, three; dun, two; grey, one;—while in the eighteen races in the Autumn of the same year the order was: dun, five; chestnut, five; brown, four; bay, two; grey, two;—and out of the twenty races Inst Meeting the winning colours ran: grey, seven; dun, five; brown, three; bay, two; white, two; chestnut, one, The North - China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette (1870-1941); Jun 5, 1896; "'Those who have been up on the Platean say whites predominate, but as a matter of fact the breeders are prepared to send down in any quantity any colour the faddists may fancy. Scientists have not yet got to the bottom of the question of colour: we know it is due to pigmentation in the true skin, but neither embryology nor any other ology has yet revealed its causation in single cases. Heredity, of course, plays a big part; a white dam will probably throw a white foal from a white sire, but even in this very simple case, there are many examples of throwing back, z2., of reversion to some ancestral colour."
According to the authorities the Tartar horse of Central Asia, or Tarpan whatever that may mean, is an original race and not descended from domesticated animals, "It is of a reddish colour with a black stripe along the back, and black mane and tail... In some of the steppes of Central Asia are wild horses of a white or dapple-grey colour." 'I'he reddish horse with the stripe along the back is sometimes seen in Shanghai, but the white or grey is much more common. Virgil in the Georgics, treating of the colour of horses, says Color deterrimus albis Et gilvo."
That is, "the worst colours are white and grey, and dun." It is not certain what colour gious really was, but it appears to have meant anything from yellow-dun to light chestnut. Youatt, in his standard work on Zhe Zorse, goes at considerable length into the question of colour, White horses, he says, are comparatively rare, The pure snow-white palfrey, which is neatly extinct, came from Spain or Barbary. The majority of white horses have become so; light grey colts begin to grown white at five years, We have seen in Shanghai ponies that were completely and very decidedly spotted with black turn quite white before they grew too old for work. The silver greys, a very rare colour, though we have once or twice seen one come down from Tientsin, are palfreys, says Yonatt, with Arab blood in them; as a rule they are only fit for light work. Tron-greys have more endurance, bat their feet are liable to become contracted, without, however, this causing lameness. Dapple-grey is almost as good a colour as there is, and. these horses retain their colour through life. Roans are pretty for light work, but they want endurance. The quality of pied horses, whether piebald or skewbald, depends entirely on their breed; that is, the colour is no index to their character. Duns are good-tempered, good-feeding, and good-constitutioned horses, but they are not remarkable for speed or strength, The only value of creams is in their looks, Pale chestnuts are deficient in endurance light chestnuts are irritable and generally weak; but dark chestnuts have great endurance and. first-rate constitutions but they are hot-tempered, The very best colour of all is bay with black points, It is impossible to tell the character of a brown horse from his colour; his quality depends on his breeding. Blacks are showy, but they are said to be more subject to vice, disease, and blindness than any other colour. Youatt winds up his remarks on the colour of horses by repeating the old axiom, which leaves you indeed as you were, that "a good horse cannot be a bad colour;" as to which Colonel Fitzwygram, in his Horses and Stables, says "'his saying is scarcely true, It would be more like the truth to say, that a good horse never is a bad colour, There is but little choice in regard to colour, provided only that the colour be good of the sort, All colours which are light of the sort are.bad; whilst all are good which are decided of the sort, For example a rich brown is good,—so also is a bright bay with dark legs; while a common brown running to bay about legs and flanks, or a bay with light mealy legs is objectionable. Chestuuts both dark and bright are good, if the richness of the hue be maintained to the extremities; but both are objectionable if the tail and legs are lighter than the body. The same remarks are applicable to other colours or shades of colour." A white stocking, for instance, is nearly always a sign of weakness, and so the old adage runs "Four white feet and a white nose, Pluck off his skin and throw him to the crows,"
Colonel Fitawygram continues "Colour, if wanting in depth, almost always fails towards the extremities. The explanation of this peculiarity is said to be, that all colour 1s dependent on light and heat, Now the heat of the body is greatly dependent on the circulation, which again is dependent on the vigour of the constitution. If the circulation be weak, there will be a want of tone throughout the body, producing the weakness or washiness of colour to which we object. The weakness will, of course, be felt especially in the extremities, which are furthest removed from the centre of the circulation, Whether this explanation be correct or not, it is certain that horses whose colour fails in the extremities, are generally weak in constitution, Hence the common saying: "Washy in colour, washy in constitution.'"
To get some indication of the value of the colour of China ponies, we have analysed the lists of the winners here of the Champion Sweepstakes for the first ten years after the race was started (in 1869) and the last ten years, In the first period, 1869-79, the race was won by Grey, nine times (Rough Diamond, Ravenshos twice, Rouble, Teen Kwang twice, Strathavon twice, and Toleration).
White, three times (Summer Cloud, Snowdrift, and Suavité).
Black, three times (Black Satin),
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.