40 THE AMERICAN TROTTING-HORSE. 



tie and constant exercise of the plough, he is preparing them for 

 that continued and equable pull at the collar, which is after- 

 wards so necessary. These horses are adapted more for parade 

 and show, and to gratify the ambition which one brewer has to 

 outvie his neighbor, than for any peculiar utility. They are cer- 

 tainly noble-looking animals, with their round fat carcases, and 

 their sleek coats, and the evident pride which they take in them- 

 selves ; but they eat a great deal of hay and corn, and at hard 

 and long-continued work they would be completely beaten by a 

 team of active muscular horses an inch and a half lower. 



The only plea which can be urged in their favor, beside their 

 fine appearance, is, that as shaft-horses over the badly-paved 

 streets of the metropolis, and with the immense loads they often 

 have behind them, great bulk and weight are necessary to stand 

 the Unavoidable shaking and battering. Weight must be opposed 

 to weight, or the horse would sometimes be quite thiown off his 

 legs. A large heavy horse must be in the shafts, and then little 

 ones before him would not look well. 



Certainly no one has walked the streets of London without 

 pitying the poor thill-horse, jolted from side to side, and exposed 

 to many a bruise, unless, with admirable cleverness, he accom- 

 modates himself to every motion ; but, at the same time, it must 

 be evident, that bulk and fat do not always constitute strength, 

 and that a compact muscular horse, approaching to sixteen hands 

 high, would acquit himself far better in such a situation. The 

 dray-horse, in the mere act of ascending from the wharf, may 

 display a powerful effort, but he afterwards makes little exertion, 

 much of his force being expended in transporting his own over- 

 grown mass." 



THE AMERICAN TROTTING-HORSE. 



Before leaving the consideration of our present topic — ^the con- 

 sideration of the principal breeds and varieties of horses now in 

 the United States — ^we cannot refrain from calling attention to 

 our trotting-horses, though in reality they do not, at least as a 

 whole, constitute a breed, or even a distinct variety or family. 

 Thf re is a family of superior trotters, including several the best 

 our coimtry has ever produced, the descendants of Abdallah and 

 Messenger, and running back through their sire Mambrino, to the 

 thorough-bred horse, old Messenger. But many of our best trot- 

 ters, including the extraordinary animal of which we have given 

 a cut, have no known pedigrees, and some of them, withoul 

 doubt, are entirely destitute of the blood of the race-horse. La:dy 

 Suffolk is by Engineer, but the blood of Engineer is unknown 

 ^she is a gray mare, fifteen hands and two inches hiarhV. Dutch 



