184 HORSE PORTRAITURE. 



in a relative sense ; for, if the work is given judiciously, the 

 animal will keep on improving till the summit is reached. 

 Yet this is far short of the time a horse could be kept in 

 robust health, if not called on for the display of his utmost 

 speed and endurance. 



English trainers claim to be able to have the horse at 

 his topmost rate, the very acme of condition, on a desig- 

 nated day, but will not engage his staying there forty- 

 eight hours longer. When this point is reached the bent 

 bow must be unstrung, and that very carefully, or the re- 

 coil will be more dangerous than the bracing required to 

 bring it to bear the necessary strain. Training, then, is 

 to enable the horse to do deeds, without injury to his 

 health, that, before the preparation he was utterly inca- 

 pable of performing, and, by giving a season of rest to 

 recuperate the taxed faculties, render him capable of 

 repeating the feat, till the time comes when years abridge 

 his power to perform. Again : the trotter has the advan- 

 tage of the race horse, in not requiring so long a time to 

 recover ; the exertion of nerve and muscle not being so 

 great. It is useless to argue that a fast-trotting gait is as 

 tiresome as the run. Many claim so without having taken 

 steps to prove it ; like those who argued that a live fish 

 would not increase the weight of a pail of water, when 

 immersed in it, but that the "four-pounder," water and 

 all, would only be the same as before the addition. All 

 their arguments were of little avail when the test of the 

 balance was applied ; and any one who will bring trotting 

 and running to a practical test will be satisfied which is 

 the most arduous. 



It is very probable that Dexter could run in 2:18 1-5 

 easier than he trotted in that time ; but run him nearly at 

 his best speed lor the same distance, and I will warrant 

 the distress will be more apparent. This firstf stage, as I 



