EXPERIENTIA DOCET. 79 



for the horses then employed were not generally a 



galloping sort : but now-a-days no horse is fit for fast 



harness work who is not ; consequently, that pace is 



as natural to him as the trot. He gains relief by 



change of pace : either in trotting or galloping, nearly 



all the tendons and muscles of the animal are more 



or less at work ; but in each pace the strain is 



greater in some than in the others. By change of 



pace, the points that have been the most strained on 



are relieved, and others more directly called into 



action. This produces something like the relief a 



man finds from changing his burthen from one 



shoulder to the other : he does not of course get rid 



of any portion of the labour, but the fatigued muscles 



are enabled to recover their tone and energy. There 



is another reason why I am confident that a little 



galloping, or, in road phrase, " springing 'em a bit," 



is a relief, even should the pace be accelerated by it. 



Pace of any sort becomes distressing when that pace 



is forced to its utmost speed. A man compelled to 



walk six miles within the hour is much distressed : 



allow him to vary his pace, that is, run a portion of 



the distance, he will do the six miles with very little 



effort. Upon the same principle, the horse will do 



his ten miles in forty minutes comparatively with 



ease if allowed to gallop a portion of the distance. 



The rate of fifteen miles an hour in a trot will keep 



the tendons and muscles of a very fast horse to nearly 



their utmost tension ; whereas the same rate in a 



gallop, not being any thing like what they are in that 



pace capable of, leaves them comparatively at ease. 



Take a child by the hand, and walk at such a pace as 



to enable him at his best walk to keep up with you, 



you will very soon find the little fellow begin to run. 



