HOW TO MAKE MONET BY HOESES. 125 



make it a point their horses should possess in a pre- 

 eminent degree, whether in hunters, harness-horses, 

 or hacks ; and are quite content to sacrifice other, 

 perhaps more intrinsically valuable, qualifications, 

 provided they possess the favourite one. Thus, in 

 hunters, some men are all for speed — I admit my 

 having ever been prone to sacrifice no little for this 

 quality — some men will have astonishing leapers, 

 some will have beautj^ and content themselves with 

 other qualifications in mediocrity. 



I^umberless persons, and now-a-days more than 

 ever, will not be content without, in technical phrase, 

 '^ extravagant action ;" others look for speed. Some 

 few will have, as their hacks, regular trotters — and 

 a most execrable taste I must hold it to be — for, in 

 the first place, if a horse is what may be termed 

 wager-fast, it is not one in twenty that is pleasant to 

 ride, or fit to carry a gentleman ; and it must, in a 

 general way, ever be so, for mouth, carriage, style of 

 going, are all sacrificed for increase of speed. But, 

 supposing it otherwise, the speed of the trotter is 

 onl}' called forth in a wager ; for a gentleman has no 



