CAUSE OF THEIR DECLINE. 71 



and that, except on the great tnrniDike roads, and in the immedi- 

 ate vicinity of large cities, private pleasure vehicles were almost 

 unknown. All long journeys, at that time, with few exceptions, 

 and all excursions for pleasure, for ordinary business, such as 

 calls the rural population to the post town on market days, and 

 all visitings between friends and. neighbors, were performed, by 

 both sexes, on the saddle. 



At that time, there was therefore a demand, not as a matter 

 of pleasure or display, but as an actual necessity, for speedy, and 

 above all, for pleasant and easy-going saddle-horses — since to 

 ride a bone-setting trotter, a journey of successive flays, over the 

 country as it then was, would have been a veritable peine forte 

 et dure, l^o horse, kept constantly at harness work, particu- 

 larly at farming work, can possibly be an agreeable, if even a 

 safe^ saddle horse to ride. For the use of hanging on the collar 

 accustoms a horse to depend on it, as if for support, although 

 in truth it can afford none ; and, when he cannot feel it, he is 

 sure to bear heavily on the hand, and is likely, if not delicately 

 handled, to come upon his head. 



Hence persons who are particular — not to say fanciful — about 

 their saddle horses, never allow them to look through a collar ; 

 and as, when the possession of an easy-going saddle horse was 

 a matter of as much consideration as that of an easy-fitting shoe, 

 every one was particular about his riding horse, pacers, when- 

 ever they could be found, were more than a luxury, and almost 

 a necessity, to men or women, who were used to be much in the 

 saddle. 



The expense of this was, of course, considerable, since the 

 pacer was useless for any other purpose; so soon, therefore, 

 as the roads improved, in proportion to the improvement 

 of the country and the general increase of population, wheel 

 carriages generally came into use, and the draft horse supj^lant- 

 ed the saddle horse. At the same time, as property became 

 subdivided among many heirs, the fortunes of the country gen- 

 tlemen diminished, and, in process of time, country gentlemen, 

 resident on their own estates, in affluence approaching to luxury, 

 ceased to be. 



It was soon found, that, whereas one could not have a toler- 

 able saddle horse, if he were allowed to work in the plough or 



