THE BRITISH HOESE 27 



Why should that common-place animal, as he appears 

 to the uninitiated, the roadster, be more difficult to be met 

 with in perfection than even the hunter and racer ? 



There are many reasons for this. The price of the hack, 

 or the horse-of-all-work, is so low that he who lias a p^ood 

 one will not part with him ; and it is by mere accident 

 that he can be obtained. There are also several faults that 

 can be overlooked in the hunter, but which the road horse 

 must not have. The hunter may start, may be awkward 

 in his walk, or even his trot, he may have thrushes or 

 corns, but if he can go a good slapping pace, and has wind 

 and bottom, we can put up with him or prize him. But the 

 hack, if he be worth having, must have good fore-legs and 

 good hinder ones, too; he must be sound on his feet, even- 

 tempered, no starter, quiet in whatever situation he may 

 bo placed, not heavy in hand, and never disposed to tumbiC 

 down. 



The hack, like the hunter of the present daj^ is always 

 a horse with some portion of racing blood, the whole 

 English race, even to the cart-horse, being more or less 

 imbued, and equally improved by it. Thus our road 

 horses are half, three-parts, seven-eighths, or thorough- 

 bred. The two latter degrees are, in several respects, less 

 fitted for the purpose of travelling the roads than the 

 former : chiefly on account of the tenderness of their legs 

 and feet, their longer stride, and straight-kneed action, not 

 so well adapted to the English road pace, the trot. 

 Nevertheless, well-bred hackneys are elegant and fashion- 

 able, and, when good canterers, pleasant to ride ; insomuch 

 that, a certain colonel of the Guards of former days in- 

 sisted, there was the same difference to be felt in riding a 

 bred hack and one without blood, as between riding in a 

 coach and in a cart. One good property in the thorough- 

 bred road horse is, that he seldom shies, many of them 

 never. 



The road horse should have a considerably lofty yet 

 light forehand or crest, a deep and extensive shoulder, well 

 raised at the withers, straight back, Avith substantial loins 

 and wide fillets, the crou]) not suddenly drooping, nor the 

 tail set on low. The head should not be thick and fleshy, 

 nor joined abruptly to the neck, but in a gradual and 

 tapering form ; the eye full, clear, and transparent. The 

 fore arms and thighs, with plenty of muscular substance, 



