LONG LEGGED RACEKS. 113 



he chance to be well made, quick upon his legs, and gifted with 

 a turn of speed. 



Some thoroughbred horses are exceedingly speedy, some are 

 as slow as tops ; and so of horses of all other races and families ; 

 and speed is by no means, nor ever has been, considered, the 

 peculiar or exclusive attribute of the thoroughbred horse. On 

 the contrary, endurance is his forte. 



There are hundreds and thousands of half and tLree-part- 

 bred hunters, known and selected for their speed, in England, 

 which would to a certainty beat, for a single half mile, as many 

 thoroughbreds, of pedigree as pure as Eclipse, which by slug- 

 gishness of temper or awkward action, chance to be heavy 

 gallopers and slow goers. 



But make the half-mile four miles, or make the single dash a 

 heat race, and you will see, very soon, where the blood tells ; 

 for your thoroughbred will sail away at his ease, slow as he is, 

 when the speedy cocktail is past the power of being kicked 

 along, with tail flirting, flanks at work, in distress unutterable. 

 And so of all the degrees, from the thoroughbred down to the 

 lowest grade, which has a show of blood. It is not superior 

 speed, but the power to support the speed during superior 

 periods, and at more rapidly recurring intervals, that is given 

 by superiority of blood — and that no more at the gallop than at 

 the trot, or at the trot than at the walk — ^no more, in step- 

 ping away with a feather on the back, than in struggling to 

 move a ton in the shafts, until death would ensue in the collar, 

 if man's cruelty should urge the continued effort. 



Mr. Linsley, therefore, has entirely misunderstood the opin- 

 ion, which racing men would form in regard to the probable 

 qualities of an animal, framed as he describes the Justin Mor- 

 gan to have been framed. Still more does he misunderstand 

 the points of a race-horse, which are esteemed desirable, when 

 he speaks of " those who believe in long-legged racers ; '' and 

 when he confounds a long-striding horse with a long-legged 

 horse, which are two things as distinct from one another, as 

 any two things, in the world, well can be. 



Many years have passed, since I first heard the points of 

 horses discussed ; and when I first did so it was in a country 

 where probably more good horses, of every description, aie 

 Vol. II.— 8 



