EXrERIENTlA DOCET. 7<) 



for the horses then employed were not generally a 

 galloping sort : but now-a-days no horse is fit for fast 

 harness work who is not ; consequently, that pace is 

 as natural to him as the trot. He gains relief by 

 change of pace : either in trotting or galloping, nearly 

 all the tendons and muscles of the animal are more 

 or less at work; but in each pace the strain is 

 greater in some than in the others. By change of 

 pace, the points that have been the most strained on 

 are relieved, and others more directly called into 

 action. This produces something like the relief a 

 man finds from changing his burthen from one 

 shoulder to the other : he does not of course get rid 

 of any portion of the labour, but the fatigued muscles 

 are enabled to recover their tone and energy. There 

 is another reason why I am confident that a little 

 galloping, or, in road phrase, " springing 'em a bit," 

 is a relief, even should the pace be accelerated by it. 

 Pace of any sort becomes distressing when that pace 

 is forced to its utmost speed. A man compelled to 

 walk six miles within the hour is much distressed : 

 allow him to vary his pace, that is, run a portion of 

 the distance, he will do the six miles with very little 

 effort. Upon the same principle, the horse will do 

 his ten miles in forty minutes comparatively with 

 ease if allowed to gallop a portion of the 'distance. 

 The rate of fifteen miles an hour in a trot will keep 

 the tendons and muscles of a very fast horse to nearly 

 their utmost tension ; whereas the same rate in a 

 gallop, not being any thing like what they are in that 

 pace capable of, leaves them comparatively at ease. 

 Take a child by the hand, and walk at such a pace as 

 to enable him at his best walk to keep up with you, 

 you will very soon find the little fellow begin to run. 



