The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1849-02-02
From Chambers Miscellany.
The Horse.

rLEETSrss, STRENGTH, AND ENDURANCE.
Although ileetness, strength, and power
of endurance are strictly physical proper
ties, yet they depend 50 intimately upon
courage, emulation, and other moral quail
ties, that we cannot do better than consider
them in this place. Taken separately,
greater degree Of swiitnosS or Of strength
may be found in certain other animals, but
IN none are all these properties 80 fully and
perfectly developed as III the horse. Aud
what is also remarkable, IN him they are
improved by domeSiiCation, n process which
tends TO deteriorate them IN most other aul-
mails. 1t is thus by the unweared atten-
iiOn OF breeders, that our own horses are
now capable of performing what no otheis
can. In 100, Matchcm ran the Beacon
Course at Newmarket-in length four miles
one furlOng and one hundred and thifty-S ght
yards-with eight stone seven pounds, il
seven minutes aud twenty seconds. Flying
ChilleTS ran the same course in seven min
utes and a half; and the Round Course,
which is three miles six furlongS aud nine
ty-three yards, III six minutes aud forty see
on8S, carrying nine stone and two pounds
In l712, mile was ran by Firetail in one
minute and four seconds. III the year l1ij,
the postmaster Of Sretton rode, on different
horses, along the road TO and from London
no less than 2l5 miles, in eleven hours and
a hali-a rate of above eighteen miles an
hour; and in July 1873, horse belonging
TO gentleman Of Bitter Square, London,
was ,rotted for a wager thirty miles in an
hour and twenty-five minutes which is at
the rate Of more than twenty one miles an
hour. In September 1884. a shetland PONY.
eleven hands high, carrying five stone, wuS
InaIchedfO for Que hundred g,jinea> TO run from
NOrw ich 10 Yarmouth and back again, which
IS forty -four miles. He performed il with
case III three hours and lOIty five minutes,
which was thought to be the greatest feat
ever done by horse Of his height. In DC
iOOer lIll, at the Curragh meeting in Ire
land, Mr.. Wilde engaged to ride ~ miles
IN nine hours; he performed il in six hours
and twen'y-cue minutes, riding ten horses,
and allowing for mounting and dismCuuting.
aud moment for reireshmsn!; he rode for
six hours al the rate of twenty miles All hour.
Mr.. Shaito, in 1862, with ten horses. and five
Of them ridden twice, accomplished fifty
miles and quarter in one hour and forty
nine minutes. In l1G3 he wen second
match, which was 10 provide person TO
day, for twenty.nine days together, and To
have any number Of horses not exceeding
twenty-hine: he accomplished the task on
fourteen horses; aud ON one day he rode lGO
miles, on account Of the firing of his first
horse. The celebrated Marquis de Ia Fay
cite rode, in August l77S, from Rhode is.
land TO Boston, distance Of nearly seventy
miles, in seven hours, and returned in six
at,H halt NJ
er, afforded the most extraordinary instance
ON record Of the stoutucss as well rs Spccd
81 the race. horse, when. in December 1856.
! Z ran twenty three miles round the fiat It
Nesnarket in iiity-sevcn minutes and ten
seconds. Hundreds Of other examples might
be quoted, some Of them even perhaps more
wonderful than those above cited, but the>e
will serve at least to show the astonishing
fec'mess Of the horse, and TO confirm our as
serlion, that in this particular he is not sur
passed by any other quadrupCd.
The strength and power Of draught in the
horse is not less remarkable than his swift
ness. SIN London,' says Binelcy in his
Animal Biography, thore have been in
stances of a single horse draw ing. for short
space, the weight Of three tous and some
Of the pack horses Of the month usually car.
~ burdens weighing upwards Of 200 pounds
but the most remark able proof Of the strength
Of the British breed is in our mill-hrr>es.
some of which have been known to cary,
at one load, thirteen measures of com, that.
in the whole, would amount TO more than
900 pounds weight" Useful as the horse
may be TO man on account Of his great nat.
ural strength, his utility is increased tcnfold
by the assistance of ant, as is well illustrated
blythe following trial Which took place near
Croydon, in Surrey The Surrey iron rail
way being completed. aud opcnsd for the
carriage of goods from WandSwOrth 10 Melt.
sham, bet was made that a common horse
could draw thirty-SiX tons for six miles along
the road, and thHthc should draw his weight
from dead pull, MS vel as turn il round tic
occasional windingS Of the road. 4 num-
Der of gentlemen assembled near IrIt>han
10 witness this extraordinary triumph OF ant,
Twelve wagons loaded with stones, each
wagon weighing about three tons, were
chained together, and \ horse belonging Ia
Mr., llarwood yokcd TO the team. lie star.
ted from near the Fox public house, and
drew the immense chain Of wagons. with
apparent ease, 10 nearthe turnpike at Croy
don, distance of six miles, in one hour aud
forty.siX minutes, which is nearly al the rate
of four miles an hour. In the course Of the
undertaking he was stepped -four times, 10
show that it was not by the impetus Of the
descent the power was acquired. After
each storpagc, chain of four wagons was
added 10 the cavalcade, with which the same
horse again set of with undminlshcd pow.
er. And still farther to show the effect Of
the railway in facilitating motion. the attci,-
ding worknen, to the number Of about fifty,
were directed to mount the wagons still
the horse proceeded without the least dis.
ircsS; and, III truth, there appeared 10 hr
scarcely any limitation to the row or Of hi,
draucht. After the trial, the wagons were
taken 10 the weighing machine, whcni, was
I found that the whole weight was little short
| Of fifty five tons and n half
The endurance of the horse is also exceed.
iusly great, and cquallcd only perhaps 10y
[ that of the camel. The elephant either
breaks down undcr his own weight, or be.
comes Infatuated when goaded beyond his
accustomed powers; the OK, though ex-
trcmcly patient, soon suffers in his feet. q,
becomes faint through hunger; but the
horse tolls on untinobingly, till not uufrc.
qupn,ly he drops down dead through sheer
exhaustion. The mares Of the Bedouin
Arabs will often travel fifty miles withou,
IL a Al.