68 



DRIVING AS I FOUND IT. 



kind of vehicles used. If I were coimnissioned by a 

 person to get a fast trotting liorse I should not under- 

 take to fill the order without going to some horseman 

 whom I knew AAas a thorough judge of trotters. How a 

 man who has been used to handling nothing but trotters 

 should be considered an expert, and his judgment re- 

 quired to buy coach horses, is entirely beyond my field 

 of comprehension. These are the kind of men who, 

 whenever describing the qualities of a horse they have 

 for sale, never fail to assure the intending buyer that he 

 can go a three-minute gait. Whenever the mention of 

 speed is so forcibly brought into requisition as the 

 chief quality of the horse, it is time for the buyer to look 

 elsewhere for a dealer, who thinlvs more of the points 

 and appearance of the horses he keeps for coach or 

 carriage work. No one with any common sense wants 

 or expects to be driven tAventy miles an hour through 

 the park. If they ride along a six-minute gait they will 

 find it quite fast enough for towTi or park driving, and 

 in the next place trotting gaited horses are unsuitable 

 and entirely out of ]ilace in a carriage. They are, as a 

 rule, hard mouthed, long- gaited, and therefore awkward 

 in turning and unsafe to drive on the stones or asphalt 

 pavements. 



