478 THE HORSE. 



quality runs out of all of them in a few generations if not crossed 

 with the Messenger blood. They are but the tributary streams to 

 the great river of which Messenger was the source. The immense 

 influence of this one horse has a universal recognition in the com- 

 mon expression : " A full-blooded Messenger," than which nothing 

 can be more absurd. There was never but one full-blooded Mes- 

 senger, and he died sixty years ago. Another expression often 

 used in pedigrees is : " Out of a Messenger mare." This may not 

 be so absurd as the other, for the mare may be well endued with 

 Messenger blood and quality, and almost entitled to the distinction ; 

 but in strict meaning none were Messenger mares except those of 

 his own begetting. The Messengers are not a breed, as Cannucks 

 and Mustangs and thorough-breds are, but only a family ; and we 

 have not arrived yet to the perpetuation of the family names of 

 horses in the male line, as is common among people of civilized 

 countries. 



Pacing is not considered a good harness gait, but some of our 

 fastest road and sporting horses have been pacers, and they are fre- 

 quently matched with trotters in races. Many horses both trot and 

 pace, and of those that have both gaits, some go faster in one and 

 some in the other. To teach a trotter to pace is somewhat difficult 

 unless the horse naturally inclines to it, but it may be done some- 

 times by riding with a severe curb-bit and spurs. Of course it 

 requires good horsemanship, as well as means and appliances, to 

 urge the movement desired, and to restrain the animal from the 

 steps he is most accustomed to take. When the saddle was more 

 in use than now, pacing was a favorite gait with many riders, but- 

 unless the horse can occasionally change his way of going into a 

 canter, it becomes very tiresome on a long journey. Though the 

 rider may not be jolted from the saddle so much as by a trotter, 

 the wabbling twists his back first one way and then the other most 

 fatiguingly. 



Pacing and cantering are pleasant gaits for ladies' hackneys, and 

 are well enough adapted to short journeys. In harness the pacer 

 is not graceful. There is a gait, somewhat between a pace and a 

 trot, and called a single-footed pace, that does pretty well in har- 

 ness, but very few horses have it. For taking weight in harness, 

 or on muddy or rough roads, the trot is greatly preferable. 



To teach a pacer to trot, various expedients are resorted to. 

 Fence-rails are put down about as far apart as a trotter steps in a 

 jog. The pacer is ridden over them and finds it difficult to lift his 

 feet over them in that gait, and adopts the trot. When a horse 

 has become very tird by long pacing he will sometimes ease his 

 weary muscles by a change of action into a trot ; and this he is 

 more likely to do if the roads are muddy. From such a beginning 

 a skilful driver may make the trotting permanent. 



