RIDING RECOLLECTIONS 



compelled to jump all sorts of fences out of all 

 sorts of ground. 



Now a yearling, quick enough on its legs to 

 promise a turn of speed, is pretty sure to be 

 esteemed worth training, nor will it be condemned 

 as useless till its distance is found to be just 

 short of half a mile. In plain English, when it 

 fails under the strain on wind and frame, of 

 galloping at its very best, eight hundred and 

 seventy yards, and " fades to nothing " in the 

 next ten. ^ 



Now this collapse is really more a question of 

 speed than stamina. There is a want of reach or 

 leverage somewhere, that makes its rapid action 

 too laborious to be lasting, but there is no reason 

 why the animal that comes short of five furlongs 

 on the trial-ground, should not hold its own in 

 front, for five miles of a steeplechase, or fifteen 

 of a run with hounds. 



These, in fact, are the so-called " weeds " that 

 win our cross-country races, and when we reflect 

 on the pace and distance of the Liverpool, 

 four miles and three-quarters run in something 

 under eleven minutes, at anything but feather- 

 weights, and over all sorts of fences, we cannot 

 but admire the speed, gallantry, and endurance, 

 the essentially game qualities of our English 

 horse. And here I may observe that a good 

 steeplechaser, properly sobered and brought into 



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