18 THE HACK OR HACKNEY. 



the speed, or knocking his pastern joints, since those defects arise almost invariably 

 from the irregular pointing of the toe, inwards or outwards, and for which, neither 

 a wide chest nor the most skilful farriery, has ever yet provided a sufficient re- 

 medy. A saddle horse of any description can scarcely go too close before, or too 

 wide behind. 



Perhaps the best pedigree for a road horse is, that he is bred from hackney 

 stock on both sides, more particularly for a trotter. The BREAKING and education 

 of our road horses are too generally incomplete. A good mouth should be secured, 

 neither hard and insensible, nor too exquisitely sensible ; which latter extreme 

 causes the horse to ride loose necked, and his head, in the language of a practical 

 author, to vibrate like a pendulum. The nag should be set moderately upon his 

 haunches, as in the Riding School, which will enable him to carry his fore- 

 quarters lightly and pleasantly to the rider, and also to descend a hill with more 

 ease and safety ; the doing which in perfection, is one of the highest qualities in a 

 hackney. The horse being low or ill-formed in the shoulders, that the saddle 

 will ride forward; or, in the horseman's phrase, cock-throppled, which is to say, 

 having the crest reversed, that a martengale be required to keep his head in 

 its proper place, are great, and being irremediable defects, should be guarded 

 against in breeding*, by attention to the well-known principle like produces 

 like. In these confirmed cases of mal-conformation, there are no remedies worth 

 regard, but the martengale and the crupper ; and however unfashionable the 

 hitter, it is still preferable to the insecurity of riding upon a saddle gradually 

 shifting towards the horse's neck, there being no eminence or form of withers 

 a<: pted to its support in its place. The natural paces of the horse are WALK, 

 rut **, CANTER, and GALLOP and in this country, the artificial paces of PADDING 

 and RACKING have long since been out of use * yet cantering is with us almost an 

 art icial pace, our road horses being so universally accustomed to the trot, that few 

 will canter handsomely and steadily. The reverse of this is actually the case in 

 other countries, where horses, from disuse of the trot in work, almost forget that 

 natural pace. In breaking the colt, it should not be neglected, as it usually is, 

 to teach him a handsome, safe, and steady canter, more especially if he naturally 

 incline to that pace, so useful and pleasant in a variety of respects : for example, 

 as a lady's pad, or summer hackney ; and in case of the horse having much blood 

 and delicacy, an occasional canter of a few miles, being a great relief from the 

 haking of the hard road in a trot. Nor is there any ground for the common 

 apprehension that, being* taught to canter, will render a horse less steady in his 

 trot ; that depends upon good riding ; and the present writer has known capital 

 trotters also handsome and good canterers. 



STABLE CARE AND ARRAY OF THE HORSE, in this country, has suffered very 

 little \ariation on essentials within the last half century, which is to speak highly 

 in favour of their rationality and excellence. Certainly these animals are generally 



