RULE OF THE ROAD AND THE HORSE'S PRAYER 453 



been introduced, the coaching-horse cannot always be relied 

 upon to breed true to type : but the large proportion of 

 " blood " present in the best specimens minimises this draw- 

 back, and time, with the careful breeding now being followed, 

 will efface it entirely. 



In meeting driven horses, the following lines indicate the 

 British rule to be observed in passing: 



" The rule of the road is as plain as my hand, 

 To explain it I need not be long : 

 If you keep to the left, you are sure to be right, 

 If you keep to the right, you are wrong." 



In France and in America, driven horses on meeting pass 

 on the opposite or right side, so that the drivers have a full 

 view of the wheel of their own and of the passing carriage. 

 In this country, a vehicle being overtaken, or a led horse, is 

 passed on the right side. 



The Horse's Prayer also appears in verse : 



" Up hill drive me not, 

 Down hill press me not, 

 On the level road spare me not, 

 And in the stable forget me not." 



THE AMERICAN TROTTER 1 



In view of the facts that the greatest progenitors of 

 the breed were of British descent, and that trotting 

 horses are rapidly becoming fashionable not only in 

 this country but on the continent of Europe, no apology 

 is necessary for introducing a brief account of the " National 

 Horse of America" in a book relating to British Live 

 Stock. 



Public interest is divided among the three most noted 

 breeds of trotters our own Hackney or Norfolk trotter, 

 the American trotter, and the Russian trotter Orlov or Orloff. 

 Of these the American horse is considerably the fastest. 

 The Orlov, founded at Khrenovoya, to the south of Moscow, 



1 See an article on "The National Horse of America," in the 1887 

 Report of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, by Leslie E. Macleod, 

 Associate Editor of Wallace's Monthly. To this article, and to his 

 friend Henry Wallace, of Des Moines, Iowa, the Author acknowledges 

 indebtedness. 



