276 THE MORGAN HORSE 



of him, published three years ago in your paper and reprinted the next year 

 when the horse had appeared among you, a misprint occurs thus, 'his loins 

 are not of great length' ; what I wrote was, 'his loins are not of great ap- 

 parent length ; they are not very much developed'. The want of power in 

 these parts is probably what has kept him from signally rivalling Lady Suf- 

 folk ; and it will prevent his ever being the champion of the trotting course. 

 Note ye, I have a runtling stud pony of the same breed as Moscow, his sire 

 being out of Moscow's dam, and inheriting the same true stride in trotting, 

 which has a stout loin and tolerable thigh. 



" Twelve miles beyond the Yamaska we strike the broad St. Lawrence, 

 a league across at Sorel, where flitting steamboats yield a choice of transit 

 eithei to Montreal or Quebec. The whole of the immense plain stretching 

 far beyond either of these cities, and embracing a tract on both sides of the 

 great river some three hundred miles in length and nearly one hundred broad, 

 is filled with French-Canadians, ' as a nut is with meat', and well peppered 

 with pacing horses ; I say peppered, for their presence forms the seasoning 

 of their owners' life throughout the long cold winters. 



" The Canadian pacer is probably not thoroughly a descendant of the 

 Norman breed imported by the early settlers. The purest known descend- 

 ants from the original importations are emphatically draft horses, bull-necked 

 and stout of limb. 



" The ambling pad pony was a favorite riding horse in France under 

 the ancient regime, and perhaps some few cavaliers, et dames et demoiselles, 

 banishing themselves to this dreaded clime, concerning which one of the 

 earlier adventurers wrote home, ' // y'a sept mot d' hiver et cinq de mauvais 

 temps' (seven months winter and five of bad weather), brought over a few 

 luxurious nags, which became a pattern for the more able and ambitious of 

 the bourgeousie. Nearly fifty years ago my father bought Narragansett 

 pacers coming from Rhode Island, and took them in droves to the French 

 country about and beyond Quebec, where they were readily sold or exchanged 

 for the stout native white horses. Fashion and fancy have much to do with 

 a Canadian's fondness for a fast pacer ; and they generally take pains to 

 breed a rattling mare to a grand marcheur, if there be one in the parish. 



" Yearly, ever since my recollection, the northern residents of the 

 United States have been taking numerous droves of the best Canadian horses, 

 but mostly for draught, and recently the fastest trotters. Few of the pacers 

 have gone, obviously for two reasons : First, the Yankees do not like their 

 gait, and, second, Jean Baptiste does not care to part with his favorite for 

 either clocks or nutmegs. An X will pay expenses of a week's stay in the 

 very heart of the French country, where I have been, upon like errands, a 

 score of times, within as many years, leaining something of the qualities and 

 rates of speed of the best horses, taking note of the choice mares' nests, a 

 point not to be disregarded in selecting a breeding sire. By the time that 

 I can hear from you again there will be sufficient snow for such a trip by 

 sleigh ; and even if the horse be not required before spring, it is now a favor- 



