114 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



supply 130 small amusement. Only the horse lover, 

 indeed, can enjoy it to the full, — subtly communi- 

 cating through rein and bit with his steed, appre- 

 ciating the significant play of his ears, and rightly 

 interpreting that lively, measured ring of his feet upon 

 the road which indicates a sound and active stepper. 

 But there are some incidental delights, such as the 

 quick conveyance through fresh air and a passing 

 glimpse of the scenery, which everybody enjoys. My 

 old acquaintance would have thought but meanly of 

 the man who gave a wish to view the country as his 

 reason for driving ; but then the Ed Hulbert standard 

 cannot always be maintained, and something must be 

 pardoned to the weakness of human nature. 



In a sense, every horse driven b}- the owner for 

 pleasure is a road horse. The fast trotter who speeds 

 up and down the Brighton or the Harlem road, draw- 

 ing a single man in a gossamer wagon ; the round, 

 short-legged cob; the big, respectable, phlegmatic 

 Goddard-buggy animal, who may be seen in Boston 

 any fine afternoon hauling a master very much like 

 himself out over Beacon Street; the pretty, high- 

 stepping pair in front of a mail phaeton; — all these 

 are road horses, but none of them, excepting some- 

 times the trotter, is a roadster in the strict sense. 

 The road horse par excellence is a beast of medium 

 size, who can draw a light carriage at the rate of 

 seven miles an hour all day without tiring himself or 

 his driver. He should be able to travel at least ten 

 miles in an hour, twenty miles in two hours, sixty 

 miles in a day ; and by this is meant that he should 

 do it comfortably and " handily," as the term is, and 

 feel none the worse for the exertion. Such roadsters 



