52 UNASKED ADVICE. 



show and safety is, when procurable,, to be preferred. 

 Of course the foot must be put dowu properly ; a hack 

 who stumbles is only fit for the boiler. A park hack 

 should canter nicely and slowly^ well back on his 

 haunches. The walk and the canter are the most 

 comfortable paces for Rotten-row. Of course he must 

 not hit himself anywhere; boots and bandages would 

 be unpardonable in the park. A fidgety horse is a 

 nuisance on a hot day; so is a slug. Here again the 

 happy medium must be sought for. Action in front will 

 avail him but little if he have not the use of his hind legs. 

 There are few sensations more unpleasant than that 

 afforded by a very high stepping animal^ who lifts his 

 foot to an amazing altitude, and puts it down again in 

 the place from whence he took it up. The colour of a 

 London hack is quite immaterial. Even piebald is per- 

 fectly permissible, if the animal be good-looking in other 

 respects ; but he must always be what ladies call " pretty." 

 Eibs and constitution are of less consequence in this kind 

 of horse than in most. His work is not severe, and with 

 decent grooming even an indifferent feeder may look well 

 when only out for an hour or two a day, and that not 

 every day, thanks to our climate. As good a bridle as 

 any for London is a Hanoverian Pelham; if the rider 

 have hands, the horse will bend to it more than to any 

 other with which I am acquainted. A standing martin- 

 gale is a matter of taste : a nice hack does not require 

 one, and it is no ornament. The hack should be some- 

 thing as described above, though such animals are not 

 over common, and command a price whenever they are 

 to be disposed of. The season of park hacks is now over, 

 and who can tell if it will ever retmm ? Another year 

 may see the Eow given over exclusively to the lovers of 



