120 THE HORSE 



select one coi'responding in all points with the above description, and con- 

 sequently when one is found it is fair to expect that his value will be 

 estimated accoi'dingly. Such animals fetch long prices even at the 

 hammer ; and when Mr. Tattersall has one before him, with a known 

 good character, it more frequently reaches above the first-named sum than 

 drops below it. 



The road-hack varies from the foregoing in being necessarily more of a 

 trotter than a galloper, inasmuch as he is intended for use on macadamized 

 roads, many of which are made of granite or flint, and are, therefore, as 

 hard as iron. To gallop much on such a surface is to lame your hack ', 

 and even a fast trot is not to be indulged in for any distance, or on 

 successive days, for fear of the same results. The Americans drive their 

 trotters in their own countiy, and do not ride them, by which a faster 

 pace may be obtained without injury ; but in England the roads, being so 

 much harder, soon compel a moderation of the fast trot, even in the 

 imported horses, whose legs and feet are undoubtedly very sound and good, 

 but still not capable of sustaining the wear and tear of granite roads at 

 the rate of sixteen miles an hour. Hence, on our roads, we give up the 

 gallop in favour of the walk and trot, which must be done cleverly. The 

 former pace, especially, should be carefully inspected in selecting a hack, 

 for nothing is so unpleasant and trying to the rider as an unsafe or rough 

 walker. The fore-foot should be well lifted and put down again on its heel 

 with a corresponding action of the hind-leg, by which, on the one hand, 

 " knuckling over " is avoided, from reaching the ground too soon ; and, on 

 the other, *' over-reaching," from the opposite extreme. A good hack should 

 walk nearly or quite five miles an hour, and though some will do con- 

 siderably more, it is seldom by anything but a kind of shuffle, which is 

 not pleasant to the rider, nor elegant to the spectator. The trot should 

 be of that character that it may be brought down to eight miles an hour, 

 or extended to fourteen; and this is the pei'fection of the pace, for few 

 horses can do both well, being either too close to the ground in the former 

 for safety, or too set and lofty in the action for the latter. No defect is 

 worse than the unsafe action, which results from a weakness of the extensor 

 muscles of the arm, and in which the trot is pretty good as long as the 

 horse is not tired, but after a few miles the leg is not lifted with power 

 enough, and the toe is constantly striking against some inequality of the 

 ground, from which it is not recovered. This marks the defect ; for it must 

 not be confounded Avith habitual stumbling, which is as likely to occur at 

 starting as at any other time, and which is always easily detected by 

 Avatching the mode of putting down the foot in the naturally unsafe trotter, 

 where the toe touches the ground first, and the heel then follows, as is 

 evidenced by the state of the tip of the shoe. Here a trip may occur 

 often, and yet no fall follow, because the extensors are strong, and effect 

 a recovery after the mischief has been nearly done. But when the ex- 

 tensors are weak, the toe, which has been well raised at first, after a few 

 miles touches the ground, and, not being rapidly recovered, a fall ensues of 

 the most severe character. For this reason it is necessary to ride a horse 

 some distance before this action can be pronounced upon, and only then 

 can it be said that he is fit for a timid or bad rider. As we shall hereafter 



