Fig. 375. A typical draft horse.
All boys and girls know coach horses. As you stand by the school-room window, you may see one pass. They have long arched necks and fine heads. Their bodies are rounded and well proportioned.
Roadsters, trotters, and saddle horses are usually not so large as coachers. Their necks are inclined to be longer and their chests narrower than in the coach horse; however, their muscles and tendons are strong.
Fig. 376. Welsh pony and its mother.
Now you must not think that just because a horse is drawing a load he is a draft horse; nor because a horse is hitched to a coach he is a coach horse; nor because he is driven on the road he is a roadster. These three names,—draft horses, coach horses, roadsters,—represent types or classes. They mean kinds of horses that are supposed to be best adapted for drawing, or for coaches and carriages, or for fast driving, providing the horse has no other work to do. But the horses that you usually see are just mere common horses of no particular type, and are used for a great variety of purposes. They are "nondescripts," which means "undescribed" or "unclassified." You would not think of putting a true draft horse, like the animal in [Fig. 375], on a light carriage; nor of hitching a coacher like that in [Fig. 377] to a coal wagon. Do you think there is any real roadster, or coach horse, or draft horse in your neighborhood? If not, perhaps you can tell, as the horses pass you, whether they are nearest like one type or another. Try it.
If you will observe horses closely you will find that some are large, heavy, and strong, and that they are seldom made to move rapidly, while others may be nearly as tall but they are slim, and carry their heads high and their necks arched. You should also notice that the heavy draft horse does not lift his feet high nor walk with a proud and lofty tread, while the coach horse lifts his feet high, carries his head high, and moves very proudly.
Fig. 377. A good coacher.