BIPEDS AND QUADKUPEDS. 139 



person thinks of, or appreciates the goodness of roads, 

 from the pleasing gratification of knowing his ani- 

 mal is working with comparative ease, hundreds only- 

 hail the circumstance as enabling them to transport 

 a greater load, and get from one place to another 

 with increased rapidity. Those, therefore, who have 

 any proper consideration for their faithful, willing, but 

 dumb servants, should bear in mind, that there are 

 limits to the advantages of good roads, as regards the 

 exertion of the animal; if these are exceeded by unrea- 

 sonable weight, or pace, such advantage is rendered 

 an infliction, instead of a boon. 



In alluding to the pace, that is, rate of speed, that 

 we may call on an animal to perform, I must occupy 

 a small space explanatory of its nature and effects. 

 There are, I will say, four leading causes of distress, 

 or only fair exertion, to horses, as relates to pace or 

 speed ; the weight he has to draw, or carry ; the 

 pace demanded as regards his capability of speed, 

 his being in a proper or improper state to perform that 

 pace, and the description of ground (that is, its being 

 firm and smooth, or the reverse) over which he goes. 



