78 TEMPORARY EXERTION AND CONTINUED EXERTION. 



fence, say of furze fagots, and see what width he can 

 carry this weight over; then put list, on him, and 

 see the difference it makes in the horse's powers of 

 jumping. If this be tried with three or four horses, 

 we should come a little at the effect (on an average) 

 the weight in this particular makes ; and this I do not 

 think has ever been ascertained. I am inclined to 

 think that the horse being fresh, the difference that 

 weight would make for a temporary exertion would 

 not be so great as might be imagined : it is in con- 

 tinued exertion where it tells such tales. 



I have stated thus much on the power of carrying 

 weight ; let us now look at it as regarding the race- 

 horse. There is no comparison between the effect it 

 has on a horse in a race and in crossing a country. Let 

 a man of list, or 12st., whcse horse is as equal to his 

 weight as a hunter should be — by which I mean, he 

 should always be equal to a stone more than he is 

 bought to carry — put a saddle-cloth under his saddle 

 loaded with fourteen pounds of shot; probably he 

 would find little or no difference in his horse in the 

 chase : put it on in a race, and it in most cases Avould 

 make it a horse to a hen. This arises from two 

 causes : first, weight telling so much more on a horse 

 when extended than when going within himself: and 

 secondly, because the race-horse is called on to the 

 utmost extent of his powers : he could not last at it five 

 minutes. A race-horse, in making severe running, 

 may appear to be going at the top of his speed, and he 

 is going at the top of the speed he can go on at ; but 

 no race-horse was ever at his very best for half a 

 minute. No one ever ascertained at what pace a 

 race-horse can go for a very short distance. Eclipse 

 and Flying Childers are reported to have done a mile 



