156 Patroclus Gaits, 



exact reverse should be the rule. There is surely 

 less enjoyment in your Penelope, who to-day can 

 only walk, or else go a four-minute gait without 

 constant friction, than there will be when she can 

 vary her gaits and keep up any desired rate of 

 speed, from a walk to a fifteen-mile trot or a sharp 

 gallop, at the least intimation of your hands and 

 without discomfort to herself. I know of nothing 

 more annoying than to be forced by a riding 

 companion of whichever sex into a sharper gait 

 than either of you wish to go, because mounted 

 on a fretting horse, who cannot be brought down 

 to a comfortable rate of speed until all but tired 

 out. 



In the hunting field you expect to go fast for a 

 short time, and it is alone the speed and the oc- 

 casional obstacle which lend the zest to the sport. 

 But for the ride on the road, which to many of us 

 is a lazy luxury, you need variety in speed as well 

 as gaits for both comfort and pleasure. Patro- 

 clus here will walk, amble, rack, single-foot, trot, 

 canter, gallop, and run, or go from any one into 

 any other at will ; and every one of these gaits is 

 unmistakably distinct, crisp, and well performed. 

 Nor have I ever found him any the less accom- 

 plished cross-country, within his limitation of con- 

 dition and speed, for having had a complete edu- 

 cation for the road. When I give him his head 

 and loosen my curb, I find him just as free as if I 



