18 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



not requiring the exertion of all their strength, for their bones are not 

 yet perfectly formed, nor their joints knit ; and were he to urge them 

 too severely, he would probably injure and deform them. By the gen- 

 tle and constant exercise of the plow, he is preparing them for that 

 continued and equable pull at the collar, which is afterward so neces- 

 sary. These horses are adapted more for parade and show, and to 

 gratify the ambition which one brewer has to outvie his neighbor, than 

 for any peculiar utility. They are certainly noble-looking animals, with 

 their round, fat carcases, and their sleek coats, and the evident pride 

 which they take in themselves ; but they eat a great deal of hay and 

 corn, and at hard and long-continued work they would be completely 

 beaten by a team of active muscular horses an inch and a half lower. 



The only plea which can be urged in their favor, beside their finb 

 appearance, is, that as shaft-horses over the badly-paved streets of the 

 metropolis, and with the immense loads they often have behind them, 

 great bulk and weight are necessary to stand the unavoidable shaking 

 and battering. Weight must be opposed to weight, or the horse would 

 sometimes be quite thrown off his legs. A large heavy horse must be 

 in the shafts, and then little ones before him would not look well. 



The Trotting-Horse. — The relative merits of the English and American 

 trotting-horse, have been the subjects of careful discussion by compe- 

 tent judges. The New York Spirit of the Tiines, one of the best 

 authorities on this subject, thus canvasses the matter: 



" Nimrod, in admitting the superiority of our trotting-horses to the 

 'English,' claims that the English approach very near to the Americans. 

 Possibly the characteristic national vanity would not allow him to make 

 a further concession. But there is no comparison whatever between 

 the trotting horses of the two countries. Mr. Wheelan, who took 

 Rattler to England, last season, and doubly distanced, with ease, every 

 horse that started against him, as the record shows, informs us that 

 there are twenty or more roadsters in common use in this citv, that 

 would compete successfully with the fastest trotters on the English 

 turf. They neither understand the art of training, driving, nor riding 

 them. For example : some few years since, Alexander was purchased 

 by Messrs. C. and B. of this city, for a friend or acquaintance, in Eng- 

 land. Alexander was a well known roadster here, and was purchased 

 to order at a low rate. The horse was sent out and trials made of 

 him ; but so unsuccessful were they, that the English importers consid- 

 ered him an imposition. Thus the matter stood for a year or more. 

 When Wheelan arrived in England, he recognized the horse and learned 

 the particulars of his purchase, and subsequent trials there. By his 

 advice the horse was nominated in a stake, at Manchester we believe, 

 with four or five of the best trotters in England, Wheelan agreeing to 

 train and ride him. AVhen the horses came upon the ground, the odds 

 were four and five to one, against Alexander, who won by nearly a 

 quarter of a mile. Wheelan says he took the track at the start, and 

 widened the gap at his ease — that near the finish, being surprised that 

 no horse was near him, as his own had not yet made a stroke, he got 

 frightened, thinking some one might outbrush him, — that he put Alex- 

 ander up to his work, and finally won by an immense way, no horse, 



