74 THE ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN 



ferent thing — but, to use a common phrase, a horse 

 of "good pluck," one that is ready "to go," without 

 asking too many inconvenient questions of why and 

 where. I firmly believe that, in many instances, 

 animals of this description, even when unsound, are 

 practically safer than the soundest slugs. Their 

 " courage keeps them up," is quite a proverbial ex- 

 pression among grooms and post-boys, and there is 

 more truth in it than is usually supposed. A high- 

 couraged horse is less sensible of fatigue than those 

 of a tame and quiet temperament. We may judge 

 in some measure by what we daily observe in human 

 nature : a man of sanguine disposition will often 

 endure a degree of bodily fatigue from which men of 

 less mental energy would shrink, though possessed 

 of greater physical strength. 



I will conclude this chapter with observing that 

 horses having long pasterns, have usually a lumber- 

 ing lolloping action, neither fast nor pleasant ; on 

 the other hand, those which have pasterns unusually 

 upright, are stiff and jolting in their motion. Both 

 extremes should be avoided ; the former defect is 

 more common in high-bred horses, and the latter is 

 frequently indicative of a disease called the ring- 



