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THE MODERN SYSTEM 



THE HACKNEY. 



A Hack, in our modern stable phrase, sig- 

 nifies a road Horse, and not merely a Horse 

 let out to hire, as some of the uninitiated 

 suppose. 



The road Horse ! more difficult to meet 

 with in perfection than even the hunter or the 

 courser. There are many reasons for this. 

 The price of the hackney, or the Horse of all 

 work, is so low, that he who has a good one 

 will not part with him ; and it is by mere 

 accident that he can be obtained. There are 

 also several faults that can be overlooked in 

 the hunter, but which the road Horse must 

 not have. Tiie hunter may start, may be 

 awkward in his walk, or even his trot ; he 

 may have thrushes or corns ; but if he can go 

 a good slapping pace, and has wind and 

 bottom, we can put up with him, or prize 

 him : but the hackney, if he be worth having, 

 must have good fore-legs, and good hinder 

 ones too ; he must be sound on his feet ; even 

 tempered ; no starter ; quiet in whatever 

 situation he may be placed ; not heavy in 

 hand ; and never disposed to tumble down. 



The Hackney, like the Hunter of the pre- 

 .sent day, is always a Horse with some portion 

 of racing blood, the whole English race, even 

 to the cart Horse, being more or less imbued, 

 and equally improved by it. Thus our road 

 Horses are half, three parts, seven-eighths, or 

 thorough-bred. The two latter degrees are, 

 in several respects, less fitted for the purpose 

 of travelling the roads than the former : chiefly 

 on account of the tenderness of their legs and 

 feet, their longer stride, and straight-kneed 

 action, not so well adapted to the English 

 road pace, the trot. Nevertheless, bred hack- 

 nies are elegant and fashionable, and, when 



good canterers, pleasant to ride ; insomuch 

 that, a certain colonel of the Guards of former 

 days insisted, there was the same difference to 

 be felt in riding a bred hack and one withoui 

 blood, as between riding in a coach and in a 

 cart. One good property in the thorough- 

 bred road Horse is, that he seldom shies, many 

 of them never. 



The road Horse should have a considerably 

 lofty, yet light forehand or crest, a deep and 

 extensive shoulder, well raised at the withers, 

 straight back with substantial loins and wide 

 fillets, the croup not suddenly drooping, nor 

 the tail set on low. The head should not be 

 thick and fleshy, nor joined abruptly to the 

 neck, but in a gradual or tapering form ; the 

 eye full, clear, and diaphanous. The fore arms 

 and thighs, with plenty of muscular substance, 

 should be of reasonable lensfth, but the legs 

 should, at no rate, be long. Much solid flat 

 bone beneath the knee, is a great perfection in 

 a hackney ; and (he feet, standing straight, 

 turning neither in nor outwards, should be of 

 tough, dark, shining horn, the heels wide and 

 open. The saddle-horse's fore-feet should 

 closely approach each other, the wide chest 

 being rather adapted to the collar. Nor need 

 any apprehension be entertained from this near 

 approximation of the fore feet, of the Horses 

 cutting in the speed, or knocking his pastern 

 joints, since those defects arise almost invari- 

 ably from the irregular pointing of the toe, 

 inwards or outwards, and for which, neither 

 a wide chest nor the most skilful farriery, has 

 ever yet provided a sufficient remedy. A 

 saddle Horse of any description can scarcely 

 go too close before, or too wide behind. 



Perhaps the best pedigree for a road Horse 

 is, that he is bred from hackney stock on both 

 sides, more particularly for a trotter. ITie 



