586 
THE TROTTER. 
the surface and gave it to the Horse. The animal tried to push away the chaff and get his nose 
into the mash, but was unable to do so, and when he tried to draw the liquid into his mouth, 
the chaff flew into his throat and nearly choked him. Being baffled, he paused awhile, and 
then pulled a lock of hay from the rack. Pushing the hay through the chaff, he contrived to 
suck the liquid mash through the insterstices until the hay was saturated with moisture. He 
then ate the piece of hay, pulled another lock from the rack, and repeated the process until 
he had finished his mash. 
Like the Race Horse and the Hunter, the Hackkey or Road House is obtained by 
judicious breeding, and is said by Mr. Youatt to be “more difficult to fieri than even the 
hunter or the courser. There are several faults that may be overlooked in the hunter, but 
which the Road Horse must not have. The former may start, may be awkward in his walk or 
even his trot, he may have thrushes or corns ; but if he can go a good slapping pace, and has 
wind and bottom, we can put up with him and prize him. But the Hackney, if he is worth 
having, must have good fore legs and good hinder ones, too ; he must be sound on his feet, 
even-tempered, no starter, quiet in whatever situation he may be placed, not heavy in hand, 
and never disposed to fall on his knees. A Hackney is far more valuable for the pleasantness 
of his paces and his safety, good temper and endurance, than for his speed. We rarely want 
to go more than eight or ten miles an hour, and on a journey not more than six or seven. The 
fast Horses, and especially the fast trotters, are not even in their paces, and although they 
may perform very extraordinary feats, are disabled and worthless when the slower Horse is in 
his prime.” 
The same author, to whose valuable work on the Horse the reader is referred as a treasury 
of valuable information, proceeds to observe that pure blood is disadvantageous to a Hackney, 
as it gives small hoofs, slender legs, and a long stride, each of which qualities would be hurtful 
on the hard stony road. There should, however, be a spice of high breeding in the animal, 
the amount to be regulated by the country in which it lives and the work which it has to 
perform. 
When properly managed and kindly treated, the Hackney is a most intelligent animal, 
displaying a singularly excellent memory. This extraordinary memory of the Horse has often 
proved serviceable to its owner, and in many instances has been made the means of saving his 
life. An ordinary Hackney had been ridden to a spot far from home, very difficult to 
find, and into which neither he nor his rider had previously been. Two years afterwards, 
the same journey was repeated, but at a distance of three or four miles from his destination 
the night closed in and the rain poured in torrents. Having entirely lost his way, the rider in 
despair flung the reins on his Horse’s neck, and left him to his own desires. The intelligent 
animal proved himself equal to the trust which was reposed in him, and in half-an-houf drew 
up at the house which his master was visiting. 
The power of the well-bred Hackney may be imagined from the following feat, recorded 
in the above-mentioned work : 
“A mare was matched to trot one hundred miles in ten hours and a half. She was one of 
those rare animals that could do almost anything as a hack, a hunter, or in harness. On one 
occasion, after having, in following the hounds and travelling to and from course, gone through 
at least sixty miles of country, she fairly ran away with her rider over several ploughed fields. 
She accomplished the match in ten hours and fourteen minutes, or deducting thirteen minutes 
for stoppages, in ten hours and a minute’s actual w T ork, and thus gained the victory. She 
was a little tired, and being turned into a horse-box, lost no time in taking her rest. On the 
following day she was as full of life and spirit as ever. The owner had given positive orders 
to the driver to stop at once on her showing decided symptoms of distress, as he valued her 
more than anything he could gain by her enduring actual suffering.” 
Ouk country has long been celebrated for the excellence of its Trotting Horses, and we 
have succeeded in obtaining a breed of Horses that are intended exclusively for that pace. In 
America the trot is the only pace that is valued, and the energies of the animal are all directed 
