232 ON THE PACES, AND 



Perhaps there never was an inftance of a bred 

 horfe being a capital trotter, or of performing 

 more than fourteen miles in one hour; or if 

 fuch inftances have been, they are fo rare as 

 not to affecl the general principle. The reafon 

 of this inability in the racer, I apprehend, to 

 confift chiefly in his too great pliability of 

 fmew, which occafions him to outftride the 

 limited compafs of the trot, and in the delicacy 

 of his feet and joints, which will not permit 

 him to endure the rude concufhon of the hard 

 road, inevitable in faft trotting. 



A trotter, as well as a racer, " rnufl have 

 length fomewhere," it muft not however ex- 

 ceed in the. legs. Horfes, in general, trot well 

 in proportion to the excellence of their fhape, 

 as 1 have already defcribed it; and it fcarce 

 need be remarked, of what confequence it is 

 for a trotter, on account of the feverity of his 

 fervice, to go clear of all his legs, and to have 

 ftrong feet. But although an extenfivc counter 

 fhoulder is abfolutely neeeflary to faft trotting, 

 yet that extreme obliquity, or ftant, fo much 

 in requeft for the racer, is not fo to the trotter; 

 or rather perhaps would be difadvantageous. 

 There is a certain fixednefs (fo to fpeak) re- 

 quired in the trotting horfe; he muft not over- 

 ftnde or out-lunge himfelf, for the injtant he 

 Jlr aightens his knee (remark) he is beat. He 

 muft alfo throw his haunches well in. If that 



natural 



