speed, and the absurdity of so doing is pro\ed by tli(» 

 evidence afforded in the course of reg^ular racing-. 

 The racer takes time in training : he then runs a 

 course (if very severe) of two miles, or thereabouts, 

 only, at speed ; and after this he requires the great- 

 est care. The trotter also takes some time in 

 training; he then performs his task of (say) sixteen 

 miles within the hour; after which he has the utmost 

 care taken of him for the next six weeks, before he 

 is again fit for work. Now, the top of any horse's 

 pace must be his utmost speed, whether it be six or 

 sixteen miles per hour ; and if your horse can do 

 only the six, and you keep him on at that rate the one 

 hour through, at the end of that time he will have 

 performed a task as great, and nearly as distressing to 

 himself, as another horse that has accomplished the 

 sixteen miles in the same period. It may perhaps 

 be said that six miles an hour ig an exceedingly slow 

 jjace for the speed of a horse's trot ; but the object 

 of this argument is to show tht; absurdity of supposing 

 that horses can go beyond a certain or natural pace, 

 for any distance, without being distressed, and conse- 

 quently injured. All beyond this is artificial, as any 

 rate of speed mustbe that requires particular attention 

 or training to accomplish it. The horse that does the 

 sixteen miles after so much care and preparation, 

 might have done nine or ten without any such means 

 having been used, and with ease to himself. The 

 latter, then, would be his natural pace, and he should 

 not have been forced beyond it. 



Horses that can be pushed to ten miles as their 

 utmost pace, without training, would do from seven 

 to eight as their natural pace. They ought not then 

 to be urged beyond this as their customary rate, at 

 which they will continue to make ordinary journeys, 

 day after day, for a long time, without losing their 

 condition, or with much injury to their constitution, 

 though requiring that attention to bo hereafter 



