8 INTRODUCTION. 



men, but is general to tlie whole people, so that the small 

 farmer, the smart mechanic, the butcher, the drover, or the 

 grocer at the corner, is just as likely to own his fast nag, that 

 can go his mile low down in the thirties, and to persist in keep- 

 ing him for his own delectation, in sj^ite of bids high up toward 

 the thousand, as any millionaire in the cities — it is remarkable, 

 that so little should be known, or sought to be known, concern- 

 ing the tliorough breaking, bitting, and managing of the horse, 

 whether for the saddle or for draught, as it is here. 



Horsemanship, also, though it be so general, that it might 

 almost be called universal, is at a lamentably low stage in the 

 northern and middle States of the Union. 



I am aware that this is an unpopular and will be found an 

 unpalatable statement, in general ; but nevertheless, it is a true 

 one, and I do not seek for popularity for myself or my book, at 

 the expense of truth. 



It would seem, for the most part, that the dealer and tlie 

 owner alike, consider that all has been done tliat can be done, or 

 that it is desirable to have done, when it is demonstrated that 

 the animal can go so fast — possibly at some almost incredible 

 rate — and so long — ^perhaps, almost beyond all records of horse 

 endurance — without the slightest reference to the how, in style, 

 in form of going, in ease or hardship to the rider or driver — 

 every thing in a word in the re, nothing in the modo. 



I should scarcely say too much, were I to say, that however 

 admirable the qualities of horses offered for sale in America, 

 whatever their natural style, action, or adaptation for the saddle, 

 or harness, the buyer does not meet one in one hundred, which 

 has received the slightest artificial education, which has the 

 rudiment of a mouth, that sine qua non in a finished animal, 

 the smallest knowledge of paces — even to setting off with the 

 right leg in the canter— or the least idea of carj-jing its crest up, 

 its chin to its chest, or its haunches under it. 



