142 THE HORSE. 



weight, should have a good shoulder, wide and sub- 

 stantial loins, be well spread behind, and straight in 

 his pasterns, with ample muscular fore arms and 

 thighs, clean and great bone of the leg, and tough, 

 strong feet : a nag, indeed, otherwise strongly built, 

 might put twenty stone to extreme risk, especially 

 down hill, by striking one of his legs in a tender 

 part, or treading upon a flint. Fast trotting has 

 been stigmatized as ungentlemanly ; but trotting is a 

 natural and most useful pace of the horse, and supe- 

 riority, in whatever qualification, must have its value. 

 We have beside, and always had in this country, a 

 number of gentlemen horsemen attached to speed in 

 this pace, which after all, is certainly the best adapted 

 to the road, galloping over which, has a flying high- 

 wayman-like appearance. Trotters too, are generally 

 great performers on the road, particularly for a long 

 day, their travelling rate giving them such an advan- 

 tage over ordinary hacks ; but, unfortunate animals, 

 their high qualification is their great misfortune, 

 since generally falling into ignorant and barbarous 

 hands, their rapid action upon the hard road, and 

 even stone pavements, soon brings them to the state 

 of cripples for life. Certainly a horse may be im- 

 proved in his trot ; but with respect to the real fast 

 trotter, it seems in some sort a parallel case with the 

 speedy racer, as contradistinguished from the stout, 

 and I suppose, I may venture to say, succussor nas- 

 citur non Jit. 



It cost me upwards of twenty years' solicitation and 

 botheration, both oral and scriptural, to induce our 

 trotting jockeys to set up racing weights, and make 



