110 THE HORSE IN MOTION. 



becomes subject to the law of the descent of falling bodies and all its 

 consequences, as mentioned in the last chapter, and the greater the 

 speed of the animal the more serious the possible consequences ; and 

 though no small advantage is gained by relieving the horse of the 

 weight of the rider, and placing it upon a sulky, it is the cause of 

 serious damage to the finest stock. It is no small accomplishment 

 in a horse, however thoroughbred, to be so well disciplined that he 

 will not break from a fast trot, however goaded by his driver and his 

 own ambition in a sharp contest, into a pace in which he is conscious 

 he can make better time with far more ease than in the one he is 

 forced to take. 



The trot appears from our analysis not to have been designed as the 

 fastest gait, but for the medium one between the run and the walk, and 

 when not urged too far beyond his supports; it is the strong business 

 gait, in which he is capable of travelling farther in a day's journey with 

 less fatigue than any other. It is owing to this fact that it has become 

 the favorite pace in America, and has been cultivated to a greater ex- 

 tent than in any other country ; indeed, we fail to learn anything of the 

 trotting horse from any source before the importation of " Messenger," 

 who was a thoroughbred running horse, and manifested extraordinary 

 speed in the trotting pace after his arrival in America. It is very diffi- 

 cult to discover wherein the mechanical proportions and points for a fine 

 runner would not apply equally well to a fast trotter; and it is claimed 

 that there has been no fast trotter who did not trace his pedigree to 

 thoroughbred ancestry. This question, however, is beyond the pale 

 of this essay, and has not been one that has particularly interested us. 

 It will be difficult for one to believe that a new function has been devel- 

 oped in the time that has elapsed since " Messenger's " importation, not 

 yet a century, even by the most advanced Darwinian. It is much more 

 reasonable to believe that, while great attention has been paid to breed- 

 ing those qualities that insure speed, equally great care has been be- 

 stowed upon training, so that the fast horse shall display his powers in 

 the trot rather than in the run, of which he may be equally capable. 

 In this way the fast trot becomes a habit with the individual, and in i 

 he may excel his powers in the superior gait. But the habit is no 





