ROAD HORSES. 115 



are rare. — much more so now, in proportion to the to- 

 tal number of our horses, than they were twenty-five 

 years ago, or before the war ; the reason being that 

 the craze for fast trotters has thrown the roadster into 

 the shade. Of course, almost any sound horse can be 

 urged and whipped over the ground, " driven off his 

 feed,*' perhaps, and so travel these distances in the 

 time mentioned. Nothing is more common than for 

 some broken-down animal to be pointed out by his 

 cruel and mendacious master as one for whom ten or 

 twelve miles an hour is only a sort of exercising gait ; 

 the poor beast having very likely been ruined in the 

 effort to accomplish some such feat which was beyond 

 his capacity. The mere fact that a horse has gone a 

 long way in a short time tells little about his powers ; 

 the more important inquiry is, What was his condi- 

 tion afterward ? A liveryman in Vermont declared 

 not long ago, that at one time and another he had lost 

 twelve hundred dollars' worth of horseflesh through 

 the ignorant and murderous driving of customers 

 who had endeavored to keep up with a certain gray 

 mare, of extraordinary endurance, that was owned in 

 his vicinity for several years. 



A horse that will step off cheerfully and readily 

 eight miles an hour, a pace so moderate that one never 

 sees it mentioned in an advertisement, is much better 

 than the average ; one that will do ten miles in that 

 time and in the same way is an exceptionally good 

 roadster; and the horse that goes twelve miles an 

 hour with ease is extremely rare. A stable-keeper in 

 Boston, of long experience, tells me that he has known 

 but two horses that would travel at this last-men- 

 tioned rate with comfort to themselves and the driver, 



