HOW TRAINED IX SARDINIA. 19 



and the practice has probably been introduced hj the 

 French settlers. 



1 have never myself seen it in France, and should 

 suppose it to be an uncommon pace even there, and that 

 it has most likely been introduced from the shores of 

 the Mediterranean. I find a notice of it in a work 

 upon Sardinia, lately published by Mr Warre Tyndale.* 

 " Much attention," he says, " is paid to giving the 

 better class of horse a peculiar step called portante^ for 

 which we have neither a corresponding word or pace, 

 being something between an amble and a trot, and 

 taught in the following manner : — 



" The fore and hind legs are attached to each other by 

 two cords, supported by others fastened to the saddle so 

 as to prevent their dragging on the ground ; and, thus 

 fettered, the horse is put in action — the trainer pulling 

 the right and left side of the bit, alternately, and giving 

 a corresponding pressure with his leg, which forces the 

 animal to move either the two off or the two near legs 

 simultaneously, producing thereby an easy glissade step. 

 It has been compared to the Turkish amble, but, judging 

 from personal experience, it is as dissimilar as it is to our 

 cavalry or farmer's trot. The movement is delightfully 

 easy, especially easy where one has to be on horseback 

 for many consecutive hours ; and, as Cetti says, ' II viag- 

 giare in Sardegna e percio la piu dolce cosa del monde : 

 Fantlpongo all' andare in barca col vento in poppa.' 

 The travelling in Sardinia is, on this account, the most 

 agreeable thing in the world : I prefer it to going in a 

 boat with the wind astern." 



I do not know how the training is effected in Canada, 

 but it is very interesting to find this pace prevailing in 

 two countries so remote from each other. May it not 

 have been introduced into Canada by some of the 



* The Island of Sardinia. London, Bentley, 184^, vol. 1. p. 200. 



