The Park-Hack. 8i 



deny the exhilarating pleasure given you by a 

 horse who is fresh enough to bound out of the 

 road at any instant, who conveys to you in every 

 stride that glorious sense of power which only a 

 generous heart as well as supple muscles ever 

 yield, and who is yet well enough schooled to 

 rein down to a five-mile canter, with his haunches 

 well under him ; while, though he is burning 

 with eagerness to plunge into a gallop, he curbs 

 his ambition to your mood, and rocks you in the 

 saddle with that gentle combination of strength 

 and ease to which an uneducated gait is no more 

 to be compared than Pierce's cider (good as it is 

 in its place) to Mumm's Cordon Rouge. When 

 one is riding for the pleasure of riding, why not 

 use all the art which will add zest to your pleas- 

 ure, rather than aim to give the impression that 

 you are sauntering to cover, well ahead of time, 

 and don't want to tire your horse, because you 

 expect to tax him severely during the day with 

 the Myopia beagles across the pretty country 

 near Weld Farm ? 



A celebrated English horseman says : " The 

 park-hack should have, with perfection of grace- 

 ful form, graceful action, an exquisite mouth, and 

 perfect manners." " He must be intelligent, for 

 without intelligence even with fine form and ac- 

 tion he can never be pleasant to ride." " The 

 head should be of the finest Oriental type ; the 



