1 66 Our Noblest Friend, The Horse 



the all-round useful slave that his less pretentious 

 brother-in-leather becomes. Of course, many people 

 detest pacers, and dislike the sidelong gait, nor, in 

 sleighing time, will the former provide as much 

 sport, for the reason that, except on ice or very 

 smooth snow, his gait is seriously interfered with, 

 and he is not unlikely to shift into the trot as an 

 easier form of locomotion. 



It is another evidence of the superficial way in 

 which we observe things that our roadsters are so 

 severely and cruelly overchecked. We see horses 

 on the track for a race, and we notice that the head 

 is checked up to a certain altitude. Later, possibly, 

 we acquire the animal by purchase, and from that 

 day on the unfortunate creature is compelled to 

 carry his nose at the same angle, whether he is out 

 one hour or six ; goes one mile or forty. We 

 ignore entirelv the fact — and to our eternal shame 

 be it that we are thus careless and indifferent — that 

 when we saw the horse in his race his head had not 

 been thus confined for more than a few minutes 

 before we noticed him (or at the time he first came 



