600 THE HORSE. 



the speed and facility with which our journeys are performed, 

 but assuredly our convenience is served at the expense of an 

 unheard of degree of animal suffering. In no country does 

 so great waste of the lives of horses take place as in England, 

 and in no country, it is humiliating to own, is there so much 

 cruelty exercised towards these faithful servants. The mor- 

 tality of horses in the British Isles is, at least, as three to one, 

 as compared with that which exists in any other country in 

 Europe. Not only does the general demand for horses of 

 all kinds cause them to be employed at an earlier period of 

 life than in other countries, but the cruel service of these 

 .public carriages being one in which our finest saddle-horses 

 are often doomed to end their lives, a great increase in the 

 general mortality is produced. When the powers of our 

 saddle-horses begin to fail from age, or when they have met 

 with accidents, or have suffered from the effects of diseases, 

 they are transferred, in the course of trade, to this their new 

 and last employment. How many fine hunters and saddle- 

 horses of all kinds, after having rendered their best services 

 to successive masters, are forced into this terrible service, 

 from which they are never released until they have sunk 

 under their tasks ! How many beautiful creatures do we see, 

 spavined, greased, foundered, and otherwise lame, whipped 

 along in our heavily loaded vehicles, and forced to fulfil tasks 

 under which they must shortly perish ! Such are the spec- 

 tacles that meet our eyes on every highway; such is the 

 price paid for our convenience in the sufferings of our help- 

 less servants. But in the marvellous progress of invention, 

 an agent, by which mechanical is substituted for animal 

 power, has been called into action, which, amongst other great 

 changes, seems destined to lighten that mass of suffering 

 of which we have been so long the witnesses. 



Not only did the system of public conveyance by coaches call 

 forth a lighter and more agile race of horses, but it has acted 

 in another way on the saddle-horses of the country. By 

 altering the mode of performing journeys, it has diminished 



