142 HORSE PORTRAITURE. 



of France tried, over two hundred years ago, to get a bill 

 through the parliament, which would enable him to ex- 

 port mares, but it failed to pass. The privilege that 

 would not be. granted shows the importance English 

 horses had at a time prior to the advent of either the 

 Parley or Godolphin Arabians. What a dissimilarity 

 there is in the walk of the race horse and the rest of the 

 equine family ! He swings along with a low, long step, 

 his tail vibrating like the pendulum of a clock, hung care- 

 less and loosely, a consciousness of power in all his move- 

 ments. 



I will join in your enthusiasm for the royal blood, so 

 far as to admit there are no others that can vie with 

 them in grace or beauty of form. How often have I ad- 

 mired their symmetrical proportions, when I have seen 

 them in the first flush of youth stripped to start in a colt 

 race ! That is a part of the running usages that might be 

 well to adopt with the young trotters, more than is prac- 

 ticed now. I mean open stakes for three, four, and five- 

 year-olds, and would suggest that the amount should be 

 moderate, say two hundred dollars entrance, half forfeit, 

 with fiffcy dollars declaration. Entries to be made a year 

 before the race, with the time to declare forfeit extended 

 to within three months. This would stimulate breeders 

 to increase their endeavors to raise trotting horses, not 

 only giving a chance to win a stake that would be worth 

 a good deal of money, but would attract purchasers look- 

 ing for fast stepping colts ; and any that made a good 

 show would find a ready market. People are very much 

 afraid of trotting three or four year-colts, and a great 

 deal has been written and said about the danger of in- 

 juring them at that early period of their lives, by the 

 training requisite to make them trot fast enough to be of 

 any service. I cannot see that the risk of injury is so 

 very imminent, if they are handled with proper judgment, 



