178 PEECEPT AND PEACTICE. 



would be spoiled as steeple-chasers, and would be no 

 better than many other horses as hunters.'* 



"Ifeel I am answered in this particular, but I do 

 not think you can gainsay what I have stated as re- 

 gards their goodness ; they must be undeniably good 

 horses." 



" About as undeniably good as is the horse that can 

 run a mile in an unusually short time. He is good 

 for that particular purpose, but as an animal he may 

 be good for nothing else. Beeswing, Catherina, 

 Doctor Syntax, old Isaac, were all really intrinsically 

 good animals ; they were good "at all games," as the 

 saying is, though each better at certain weights and 

 distances than at others. The race-horse (that is a 

 particular horse) is superior for a mile ; his ' bolt is 

 then shot ;' if you wanted him to run two miles and a 

 half, you might run the last mile yourself; for, figura- 

 tively speaking, he could not do it much faster. Now 

 we will give the steeple-chase horse credit for being 

 good for four miles. He may be able to do this in 

 about twelve minutes — a great pace certainly, when 

 we take into consideration variety of ground and ex- 



