THE WING-FOOTED OR SHINING 

 ONE 



THE worse the going, the better for the 

 horse. This paradox of the road is true 

 within its proper limits, and one should 

 not ask more of a paradox; but as the 

 saying seems obscure it may be well to 

 expound it. You readily grant me it is 

 the pace that kills. Never was animal 

 foundered at four miles an hour on the 

 longest course between daylight and 

 dark; look to him well, though, if you 

 urge him over the distance in half the 

 time. Speed is impossible where ruts 

 are axle-deep, bridges rotten, hills like 

 the bouldered channels of a water- 

 course, but the sorer your own sides the 

 safer your horse will be. The humane 



73 



