CHAPTER XIX. 



THE MUSTANG, OR WILD HORSE. 



" Round-hoof 'd, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long, 

 Broad breast, full eye, small head and nostrils -wide, 

 High crest, short ears, straight legs, and passing strong, 

 Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide 

 Look what a horse should have!" 



" LOOK what a horse should have !" "Willie of Avon being 

 judge ! and acknowledge, gentle sportsman, that the wild, 

 rattling, poacher scamp had as sharp an eye for the parts 

 of the noble animal on four legs, as he exhibited in his 

 rpiritual anatomy of the animal on two. Can any of you 

 \'eat that with all your modern breeding, in and out, crossings 

 and improvements ? Can even the Napoleon of the turf 

 himself suggest an addition or subtraction to or from this 

 masterly summary of what the "horse" should be? not 

 the draught-horse, the race-horse, the saddle-horse, the hunt- 

 ing-horse, the trotter or the pacer ! but the nonpareil, 

 uniting in himself the nearest approach to the perfection of 

 all these ! 



"But," says the gent., "deuce take it! where are you 

 [King to find such a horse, now you've got him described? 

 li/s like shaking a basket of spring strawberries under the 

 nose of a convalescing man, and then pleading the doctor 

 on him, to tantalize us by dilating upon Shakspcare's ideal, 

 when such an animal has long since been crossed and trained 

 out of being !" 



Very true, sir! very true! "The horse," with his exube- 

 rance of power and unity of splendid traits, is ruled down. 



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