HOW TO MAKE MO^'E^ BY HORSES. 29 



horses : I prognosticated that they would, if brought 

 to England, when I saw them in their own coun- 

 tries many years ago ; and some few years back, I 

 wrote to that effect. This does not arise from their 

 being, in a general way, finer horses than our own ; 

 but they are more active in their work. It is not 

 the fault of our horses that such is the case ; it is 

 the fault of the carters who drive them, and an 

 adherence to old practices, and old pace, in the 

 breeders and owners of them. They could be made, 

 in their breaking and using, just as active as the 

 continental cart-horses ; but Ealph the ploughman 

 and Giles the carter like, fi'om habit, to walk two 

 miles an hour : and if the cart-horse was accustomed 

 to walk four, Ralph and Giles must walk four also ; 

 and I know, from experience, it is far easier to alter 

 the habits of a horse, or even ass, than those of 

 ploughmen and carters. 



I must consider a really fine English cart-horse 

 a far handsomer animal than the Flemish ; the 

 latter, unless picked ones, are apt to be cat-hammed, 

 in at their hocks, and their necks too short for per- 



