44 



THE HORSE 



FIFTY MILES. 



hs. min. sec. 



Ariel, b. in. in harness, driver weigh- \ Ball's Head Course, Al-\ ^r^ g jg^g g ^g ^qj. 



iiig 60 lbs j bany, N. Y. . . . / ' - ' ' - 



Spangle, sp. g. wagon and clnvcr\ l_ j Oct. 15,1855 3 59 4 



weighing 400 lbs J 



OXE HUNDRED MILES. 



Conqueror, b. g. in harness .... L. I Nov. 12,1853. 8 56 1 



Fanny Jenks, in harness (feather-\ Bull's Head Course, Al-\ j^j ^ ^g^g g ^r, 57 

 weight) j bany, N. Y. . . . / ' •'^ ' 



Pacing is considerably faster than trotting, as will be shown in the 

 following recorded feats : — 



MILE HEATS. 



L. I. 



Pocahontas, eh. m. in wagon weighingl 



265 lbs. with driver , 



Pet, r. g. in harness L. I. . . . 



Hero, g. g. in harness L. T. . . . 



Young America, b. g. wagon . . . S. Francisco 



mm. see. 



June 21, 1855. 2 174 



Sept. 9, 1852. 2 I8I 

 May 17, 1853. 4 5Gh 

 Jan. 10, 1859. 4 58| 



The extent to which match trotting is carried on in America may be 

 guessed from the fact that Lady Suffolk won, at various times, 35,311 

 dollars, or more that £7000. The exact value of the stakes which have 

 fallen to the lot of the owner of Flora Temple I do not know, but three 

 years ago it amounted to 46,850 dollars. Mr. Herbert in his quarto work 

 on The Horse of A'lnerica clearly shows the reason why our transatlantic 

 cousins excel us in their trotters, and why they take to this species of 

 amusement in preference to others. After enumerating several which do 

 not appear to us quite so cogent as to him, he more pertinently says, 

 "Another reason, inferior in practical truth to the others adduced, but 

 physically superior, is this — that before American trotters could be gener- 

 ally used in Great Britain, the whole system of British road-making 

 must be altered, which is not likely to occur. On an ordinary English 

 macadamized turnpike, which is exactly the same as the hardest central 

 part of the New York Third Avenue, without any soft track alongside of 

 it, an American trotter would pound his shoes off in an hour's trot, and 

 his feet off in a week's driving ; and this is doubtless, whatever may 

 be said of the objections heretofore offered, one which must operate 

 for ever against the general use of trotters after the American fashion, 

 unless they be trained and kept exclusively for sporting purposes. This, 

 however, is no more, but even less likely to occur than the total alteration 

 of the whole system of English road-making, and the entire change of the 

 tastes and habits of the English people : since the point which renders 

 the trotting horse so popular here would then be wanting, namely, his 

 equal adaptability to ordinary road driving and purposes of general utility, 

 and to occasional matching and turf amusements of a peculiar though 

 inferior description." This is the true cause of the " decline and fall " of 

 trotting horses in England, for in the early part of the nineteenth century 

 there were ten good performers on the trot for one now. The pace is not 

 a natural one, and in its highest perfection, especially, it must be developed 

 by constant practice. But this is forbidden on our modern roads, which, 

 as Mr. Herbert truly remarks, would ruin the legs and feet of any horse 



