SECRETARY'S REPORT. 159 



Flora Temple, the fastest trotter over known, is fourteen and 

 a half hands high, and weighs about eight hundred pounds. 

 Her stride when at full speed measures sixteen feet, an evidence 

 of wonderful power in so small an animal. Her legs are so 

 short and her muscles so perfect, that she gathers with almost 

 lightning rapidity, and thus outstrips all her competitors. Her 

 pedigree is uncertain. 



Horses more than fifteen and a half hands high have usually 

 less endurance than those which have not so much day-light 

 under them. Long-legged horses are often spirited and fleet, 

 and, as has been said, " will go in a day so far that they cannot 

 return in a week." 



The weight of the roadster should be from nine hundred and 

 fifty to ten hundred and fifty pounds, though lighter horses are 

 often very useful and heavier ones may be desirable for special 

 objects. For fast work, however, one thousand pounds is suf- 

 ficiently heavy, as the legs and feet of larger horses are very apt 

 to fail. 



The form of the head and the expression of the countenance 

 are two of the most important points of a horse. The perfect 

 roadster should have a long, lean, tapering head. Below the 

 eyes as fine and delicate as is consistent with a large, open 

 nostril ; and above them as wide, high and full as possible, 

 indicating a large brain and great intelligence. The face should 

 be straight and the lips thin and firm, with a tolerably deep 

 mouth. A convex face denotes generally an honest, rather 

 sluggish, coarse animal, while a concave one is a pretty sure 

 evidence of high temper and great spirit and not unfrequently 

 of decided vice. It has been remarked that horses with faces 

 either decidedly convex, or concave, rarely possessed good, open 

 nostrils. The channel between the jowls should be wide and 

 the windpipe large, free from fat and muscle, and somewhat 

 detached from the neck. The eyes should be bright, large, not 

 too prominent and showing but little white. The expression of 

 the eye reveals the temper, spirit, and courage of a horse, with 

 great accuracy. Horses with very prominent eyes fear every 

 thing, and those showing much white around the eye are always 

 to be feared. The ears should l)e thin, pointed, erect, lively, 

 and not too far apart. A beautiful, expressive ear is rarely, if 

 ever, seen on an indifferent horse. 



