THE HORSE FOR FAST WORK. 15 



own weiii:ht on your back and yon will move with ease a weight 

 that defied all your efforts before. On the other hand if you try 

 to run a mile in the shortest possible time you will find that the 

 weight of a coat or a boot will tell sadly against you, and that it 

 is not your bones and sinews, your muscles, or even your nerves, 

 but your heart and lungs that set the limit to the time in which 

 you can do it. The Shire Horse, with his ponderous weight 

 and patient temper stands at the liead of all equine weight 

 movers, but the English Thoroughbred Horse, with his light 

 body, head, and legs, and magnificent heart and lungs, stands 

 without a rival at the head of every work demanding speed and 

 continuous exertion. 



2(). — Perhaps no animal ever stood so entirely on his own 

 merits as the English Thoroughbred Horse. His performances 

 have shown the fallacy of a thousand theories, have put down a 

 thousand prejudices, and have commanded the practical admiration 

 of those who would gladly have withheld it, and who had strong 

 motives to pull him down from his proud eminence. The more 

 experience a man gets with horses, the less he will calculate on 

 their size, bone or muscle, and the more he will demand to know 

 the pedigree of the horse upon which he is to rely for some 

 extraordinary exertion. The novice may look to the form of the 

 racer upon which he ventures his money, the experienced 

 handicapper or bookmaker enquires for his parentage. The young 

 bushman may expect an active cart horse to best carry him and 

 his heavy baggage day after day tlirongh rivers and forests, or 

 over mountains and plains, the old bush traveller knows by 

 experience that he will only be well carried by something nearly 

 thoroughbred. 



27. — AVe have seen that we cannot accurately trace the origin 

 of any horse, and we intend to avoid all uncertain speculations on 

 the subject ; but we have good data by which we can discover 

 the materials and processes that have combined during the last 

 300 years to form the fastest horse iti the world ; and the inquiry 

 is a very interesting as well as a very instructive one. AVe caimot 

 say that the result is flattering to our national pride ; disinterested 

 devotion, unselfish patriotism, as high and noble aims, do not 



