Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-08-08
HORSE TALK-ENGLISH AND AMER
loan HORSES.

Dr. Holland writes from London to the
Springfield Republican about horses. He
says:
In London there are three general classes
of horses to be seen in the streets. The
omnibus and cab horses average, in weight,
from ten hundred and fifty to eleven hun
bred pounds. The draft horses are i'm
mense creatures-some ofthem elephantine
in proportions. They are originally OF
Flemish blood and were so large as to rem
der it necessary to cross the breed with
the English horses. The result is some
what smaller, but every way a brighter and
better horse. What the original Flemish
horse could have been / am at loss to
conjecture, for really some of the London
horses would quite place the Herring sale
mans ponies in the shade. The third
class is made up of breed of ponies, or
small horses, weighing not more than five
hundred to five hundred and fifty pounds.
| have had no opportunity to learn what
breed of horses they belong to, but they
are TOO numerous, and too much alike to be
of distinct blood. They have none of what
is known in America as the PONY build"
bat are simply small horses, neatly made,
and as nimble az foxes. Now, with all
these horses the rule follows that every
pound of muscle does just az much work on
the road as two pounds do in America.
The cad and omnibus horse does twice az
much az the same horse does in America.
The draft horse does as much at the dray
as two ordinary dray horses in America,
and the little horses, which are driven
mainly in butchers carts and grOCers' carts,
will tire cab horse to follow them with
no load at all
In connection with these statements, 1t
should be recorded that the speed of all
vehicles in the streets of London, whether
the localities be crowded or not, is at least
a third faster than it il in corresponding
streets in American cities. The ordinary
speed Of vehicles In London, in which pas
sengers or light loads are transported, ia
one which is considered not entirely safe
in Main street, Sprinfield, Massachusetts,,
and one which, in some streets of Boston or
New York, would be at once checked by
the police. Aman who sits in a "hansOm"
finds himself driven at an unprecedented
pace through crowded thoroughfares, aud
Yankee though he may be, he will often
wonder whether he is going to bring up at
last without broken neck.
| mention this matter of speed particu-
larly, because it shows that even more work
is done by one horse in London than by
two in New York. He not only draws az
large a load, but he travels with greater
rapidly. The streets of London present
such a spectacle of headlong activity as no
American city can show, in consequence of
the rapid passage of all sorts of vehicles
through the streets. | might add to this
statement, touching the superior speed of
London horses, a word about the greatest
weight of the carriages which they are
obliged to draw behind them. All carriages
are built more heavily in Great Britain
than in America. They are built to last,
and many Of them seem to me to be super
Ruously heavy. .
The point which l wish to imress upon
my American reader is simply this: that
the English horse, employed in the streets
of 4 city, or on the roads Of the country,
does twice as much work as the American
horse similarly employed in America.
This is the pateS, undeniable fact. No
man can fail to see it who has eyes about
him. How does he do it? Why does he
do II? These are most important questions
to an American. Is the English horse any
better than the American? Not at all. Is
he overworked? l have seen no evidence
that he is. have seen but one lame horse
in London. The simple explanation is
that the Englishman has invested in perfect
and permanent roads which the American
expends in perishable horses that require
to be fed. We are using to-day, in the little
town of Springfield, Just twice as many
horses as would be necessary to do its bnsi-
ness if the roads all over the town were as
good as Maine street is from Ferry to Cen
trail. We are supporting hundreds Of hor-
SEES to drag loads through holes that ought
to be filled, over sand that should be hard
ened, through mud that ought not he per
mitted to exist We have the misery Of
bad roads, and are actually or practically
called upon to pay premium for them.
| 1t would be demonstrably cheaper to have
good roads than poor ones. 1t is 80 here.
A road well built is easily kept in repair.
A mile Of good macadamized road is more
1 aasiIv unmarried than a moor horse.