HORSES. 253 



docs exactly the fair thing, always to ride on express trains if 

 possible, risking life, limb and property, and causing by his 

 reckless haste a tremendous waste of rails, cars and engines, 

 and then hold up his hands in pious horror because another 

 person chooses to ride ten miles an hour behind his own horse, 

 which from natural ability and superior care, is better qualified 

 to perform the task than his neglected beast is to go the five 

 "which he requires in the same time. We all know that what 

 one horse cannot possibly do, is done with the greatest case by 

 another, just as the muscular effort which will kill a weak man, 

 is mere play for a strong one. 



Many persons seem to imagine that because their animals 

 cannot travel rapidly without distress, therefore all fast trotting 

 horses, and especially those trained upon a track, are subjected 

 to great abuse. This is a mistake, and with the single excep- 

 tion of long races (against the useless barbarity of which too 

 much cannot be said) there is no more required of the match 

 trotter than is constantly required of thousands of other horses. 

 Which is the severer task, to trot with a light weight on a 

 smooth track, for three or even fifteen minutes once a day, or 

 to drag a heavily laden car, or coach, or omnibus, over a 

 rough road, or slippery pavement, for several hours of the 

 twenty-four? Is it more distressing to exert every muscle in a 

 natural way, as a wild horse would delight to do, for a short 

 trial of speed, than to tug and haul through the live-long day 

 at a heavy load, which cannot possibly be moved at any other 

 than a snail's pace ? 



But not only is the work of the trotter much easier and 

 more agreeable than that of most other horses, but his treat- 

 ment is infinitely superior. Why, there are very few men who 

 fare as well as Ethan Allen or Flora Temple ! Is he the 

 merciful man, who grudgingly doles out to his poor beast just 

 that amount of hay and meal which will keep him in decent 

 working order, — never gives him the luxury of a cleaning, 

 because he is not used to it — nor a blanket in winter, for fear 

 he will take cold — nor yet a bed, because his owner does not 

 happen to raise straw, — or is it rather the one who keeps his 

 horse in perfect condition, without regard to expense? He 

 surely is the merciful man who puts the whip into the manger, 

 and not on to the horse. The trotter who is in such condition 



