INTRODUCTION 19 



person speaking of a hunter, by a covert's side in 

 Leicestershire, which was for sale ; and, among other 

 good qualities, he mentioned that he was a nice horse 

 to carry a woman on the road. " Whose horse is 

 that ? " exclaimed my Lord Maynard, who was within 

 hearing. " I will give two hundred guineas for him ; 

 for a horse that will carry a woman well will always 

 carry a man." The chief paces for a hack to carry 

 a gentleman are the walk and the canter. A very 

 quick trot is a most ungentlemanlike pace, and only 

 fit for a butcher ; besides which it wears out a horse 

 much sooner than a canter, from the weight being all 

 thrown upon one fore-leg at the same time ; whereas 

 in the canter it is equally divided between both. 

 Added to this, a canter is much more easy, as well as 

 safer to the rider, the horse having his haunches more 

 under him than when he trots, thereby more likely 

 to recover himself in case of making a mistake, which 

 the best is sometimes subject to. Fast trotting also 

 distresses a horse more than cantering, because in the 

 one he is going up to the top of his speed, and in the 

 other much below it. Trotting, however, has been more 

 in vogue lately in the sporting world ; and the match 

 between Mr Barnard's mare, of the Arabian breed, 

 and Captain Coltson's horse, for 500 gs., was a wonder- 

 ful performance. It appears that the mare, who won, 

 did the last mile within six seconds of the rate of 

 twenty miles in the hour without being pushed — the 

 speed of the horse having fallen off. Had the race 

 been continued for one other mile at the pace [the mare 

 did the last, she would have trotted ten miles in the 



