V, 



144 BAD ROADS WORSE THAN BAD RIDERS. 



of the horse when drawing than when ridden. We 

 will suppose a horseman to be a moderate weight, 

 1 3st. in his saddle : it quite clear that, be he the best 

 or worst horseman living, he cannot make his weight 

 either lighter or heavier than the real avoirdupois of 

 that specific weight ; and provided he has a saddle 

 under him that fits his horse comfortably, and he 

 rides him twenty miles at a fair pace only, his horse 

 could not suifer much from any want of knowledge of 

 horse affairs on the part of the rider. There can be 

 no doubt but that a man with a neat steady seat, good 

 hands, and good judgment, must be pleasanter to the 

 horse to carry ; but the difference between the two 

 riders in such a situation would not materially affect 

 him: under such circumstances the case would be 

 very materially different were the horse drawing a 

 carriage that distance, unless the road was as level as 

 a canal and as hard as a railroad. Twenty miles of in- 

 judicious driving on an ordinary road will take a good 

 deal out of very good horses ; but make that road 

 heavy, such a one would affect the saddle-horse but 

 little, though it would go a long way towards bringing 

 the harness-horse to a stand-still. This, if any one 

 chose to attend to the sort of thing, he might easily see 

 exemplified with weak horses : he might ride behind 

 a team to-day, and see them run over their ten or 

 twelve mile stage, and come in fresh and cheerful : let 

 there then come two or three wet days, and then a 

 dry one ; let him the day after ride behind the same 

 four horses, he would find them, on coming in, in a 

 very different state. He saw them a few days before 

 springing without a word into a gallop : he would now 

 see they wanted a little tying together to keep them 

 from being all over the road, and only a workman 



