no THE DIFFEREXT BREEDS OF ENGLISH HORSES. 



cautioned, gorged liimself, and was immediately taken out by liis o^ATier, 

 ignorant of tliis, in order to be ridden somewliat far and fast. At about 

 the middle of the intended journey he almost stopped ; — he would after 

 this have gone on at his usual pace, but it was evident that something 

 unusual was the matter A\4th him, and his master stopped at the first 

 convenient place. The stomach was ruptured, and, two days afterward, 

 he died. 



Most of our readers probably are horsemen. Their memories will supply 

 them with many instances of intelligence and fidelity in the horse, and 

 particulai'ly in the hackney— the every-day companion of man. A friend 

 rode his horse thirty miles from home into a country that was perfectly 

 new to him. The road was difficult to find, but by dint of inquiry he at 

 length reached the place he sought. Two years passed away, and he 

 again had occasion to take the same journey. No one rode this horse but 

 himself, and he was perfectly assured that the animal had not, since his 

 first excursion, been in that direction. Three or four miles before he 

 reached his journey's end he was benighted. He had to traverse moor 

 and common, and he could scarcely see his horse's head. The rain began 

 to pelt. ' Well,' thought he, ' here I am, apparently far from any house, 

 and I know not nor can I see an inch of my road. I have heard much of 

 the memory of the horse, — it is my only hope now, — so there,' throwing 

 the reins on his horse's neck, ' go on.' In half an hour he was safe at his 

 friend's gate. 



The following anecdote, given on the authority of Professor Kruger of 

 Halle, proves both the sagacity and fidelity of the horse : — A friend of his, 

 riding home tkrough a wood in a dark night, struck his head against the 

 branch of a tree and fell from his horse stunned. The steed immediately 

 returned to the hovTse that they had lately left, and which was now closed, 

 and the family in bed, and he pawed at the door until some one rose and 

 opened it. He turned about, and the man, wondering at the affair, fol- 

 lowed him. The faithful and intelligent animal led him to the place 

 where his master lay senseless. 



A few instances are selected of the speed a;nd endurance of the hackney. 



On May 13, 1793, a hackney named Sloven, tvalked twenty-two miles in 

 three hours and fifty-two minutes. In November, 1791, she had beaten the 

 then celebrated pedestrian, James Cotterel, by Avalking twenty miles in 

 three hours and forty-one minutes. It had been previously imagined that 

 no horse could, in fair* walking, contend with a man Avho had accustomed 

 himself to this kind of exercise. 



As for the trotting performances of the hackney, they are so numerous, 

 and yet apparently so extraordinarj-, that some difficulty attends the 

 selection. 



In 1822, there was a match of nine miles between Mr. Bernard's mare 

 and Captain Colston's horse, near Gerrard's Cross, for 500 guineas. It 

 was won easily by the mare, who perfonned the distance in twenty-seven 

 minutes and forty-six seconds. The horse went the sarne distance in 

 twenty-seven minutes, forty-nine seconds — which is nearly at the rate of 

 nineteen and a half miles an hour. 



Tliis, however, had been equalled or excelled some years before. Sir 

 Edward Astley's Phenomenon mare, when twelve years old, trotted 

 seventeen miles in fifty-six minutes. There being some difference aboiit 

 the fairness of the trotting, she perfoi'med the same distance a month after- 

 wards in less than fifty-three minutes, which was rather more than nine- 

 teen miles an hour. Her owner then offered to trot her nineteen and a half 

 miles an hour; but, it being proved that in the last match she did one 

 four miles in eleven minutes, or at the rate of more than twenty-one and 



