88 HORSE POETRAITUBE. 



tions. We have retained the King part, and I am not 

 without hopes that " of trotters " may yet be added. I 

 have now paraded all the inmates of the trial stable, and, 

 if the description has been tedious, you may congratulate 

 yourself like the man just recovered from the small-pox, 

 that although he was badly scarred and seamed he would 

 not have to go through with it again. 



PRECEPTOR. I do not say from courtesy alone that your 

 descriptions have not wearied me. Your enthusiasm in 

 all that pertains to the horse, even your fervid admiration 

 of the blood horse, that leads you to such a length that 

 some of your positions will be untenable, please me. When 

 we have leisure time, as we sit on the verandah and smoke, 

 you must continue your history of the Iowa farm. As for 

 this young scion of nobility, I have been examining him 

 more closely while you were recounting his history, and 

 find him a very different animal from what my first im- 

 pression was. There is certainly no flesh in the way to 

 hide the study of the osseous structure. He will never 

 equal his sire in justness of proportion, though he has 

 more of his peculiar build than any of the rest of the 

 colts. I will not offer a word of advice as to breaking 

 him: convinced that your experience in that line has been 

 greater than mine. I will look on with interest, as he is 

 undoubtedly as hard a customer as could be found; and 

 if you succeed in making him " gentle and reliable," there 

 is nothing in the way of making him a trotter. 



I must now bid you good-bye, having business in town. 

 By the time the horses have had their morning walk I 

 will be here, when we will take the Falcon, Never Mind, 

 and Jane, to the shop, and have shoes put on that will do 

 for them to commence work in. 



Have the boys wet some tow and place in their feet to 

 soften the horn, and only walk them an hour. 



