66 THE HO RSE. 



day in New York, many English residents of which city are trotting amateurs; ihey 

 one and all, after a little experience, adopt the Yankee mode of driving. 



It has long been a question exciting much interest, whether twenty miles has been, 

 or can he, trotted in one hour. There is no record of any such performance, although 

 there h-^ve been many attempts to do it. But men of great judgment and long ex- 

 perience, are so fully confident of the ability of our horses to go that distance at the 

 required rate, that large odds would be laid that it can be done. The difficulty is to 

 find an individual who will at this day back him to an adequate amount; for it will 

 readily occur that a horse that can accomplish the feat must be of great value, and 

 the risk of injury to him is of course very considerable. It is believed that $10,000 to 

 $5,000 would readily be laid that Dutchman can do it, and probably Americus would 

 be backed at less odds likewise to do it. The trotting amateurs in New York pro- 

 fess to entertain no doubt at all upon the subject, and it is believed they have suffi- 

 cient reason for the opinion. 



Here, most patient reader, we close these our remarks, preliminary to what we 

 may fairly denominate the great work on the Horse. It is for you to say if they 

 have served either to instruct or amuse; but whatever may be )'our judgment as to 

 this our Introduction, let it not affect your inclination to make yourself acquainted 

 with the principal work, to which it is no more essential, than a handle to a pitcher, 

 and that you know may long continue useful though the handle be broken off. This 

 work on the Horse, however, is not a book to be read for entertainment, like a novel, 

 and then to be thrown aside. It is one which every rnan who owns " the hair of a 

 horse," should have at his elbow to be turned to for useful instruction, and to be con- 

 sulted like your fannly physician in every case of need for the means of under- 

 standing the anatomy, mitigating the disorders, and prolonging the life, of the most 

 interesting and useful of all domestic animals. 



J. S. S. 



