Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-10-26

til railway communication had made
Norfolk buyers comparatively independ-
ent of Scotch dealers The description
of the animals, which had evidently been
bought for Sir Johns use as road horses,
being given without comment, 1t is
evident that there was then a recognized
type of horse, in Norfolk at all events,
which was commonly known as trot-
ter. In the present day we have yet an
other term, roadster. Till the close of
the last century the description given in
advertisements was usually "horses OF
the road sort" and roadster does not
seem to have been an accepted word till
early in the present century. The word
itself is not formed in accordance with
the established rules which govern the
English tongue. Hakluyt, in his Col
lection of Travels, published in the year
1000, uses word roader, and we may
conclude that il was then in use in Vir-
ginia. Roadster, being more easily pro-
nounced, would grow out of such word
as roader. 1t seems to have been in gen
era use in America, as the common
designation for horse for the road,
when as vet it was unknown in Eng
land, where the earliest use | have found
is in Lawrence's History. In his uphill
osophical and Practical Treatise on
Horses, published in 1916, he thus sets
forth-Vol. L., pages 26I, 26S, third
edition, 1Sl0-the appellatives:
II )rses tor the different purposes OF the
saddle, were in former days termed nags,
amblers, pacers, stilrers, trotting horses.
Obbies, great horses or horses tor the pun
saddle (1or war;, hunting horses, coursers,
The tpnellatives, whether Synonymous or
distinctive in present equestrian Us among
Us are road horses, riding horses saddle
horses, naEs chapmen's horses, mack 5, Hack
neys, lad 'es' horses or pads. hunters, running
horses, racers rae horses, gallopers, Welter
horses, IN naged horses, chargers, troop
horses, post hacks or post horses, trotters,
cantering hacks or canterers, horses which
carry double, cobs, Galloways, ponies ana
mountain Merlns
But in his history (page I'D he uses
the novel word roadster as synonymous
with Hackney:
oar present varieties of he horse, and
their denominations, are as follows
The race race horse or running horse; the
hunter; the charger; the heavy INA GIT
troop horse; the hack, lIac <ney, roadster,
road horse or chapmans horSei Il clOuuy
compact horse or geld ny of this des rlptlo I
is now and then styled II cobb. The lady }
horse or pad; the coach horse, chariot ana
currice horse; zig horse CT cha1se horse The
machner and post hack; the cart ana dlay
horse, Galloways, ponies.
This last extract shows that the desig-
nation cob is also modern term.
While new terms have been thus i'll
troduced, some old ones have fallen in
to comparative dlsuse. Galloway was Il
general name for the best nagS' when
the Duke of Newcastle wrote A. D..
1861. Cob has been generally accepted
to signify Il horse below II hands 3
inches. and which is also compact, low,
and able to carry weight out of pro-
portion to its height, and the general
name applicable to horses for the road
as saddle or driving hOrses-whch range
in height above fourteen hands, con-
tinues to be Hackney or roadster.
The difference in meaning between the
words Hack and Hackney save that we
vet speak of park hack and lady's
hack which has been established by
customary use. is we'll stated in the fol-
lowing extracts from William Taplin's
"Sporting Dictionary and Rural RepOsi-
tory of General Information upon every
subject appertaining to the sports of the
field, published in the year 1903:
Hack.-Any horse appropriati I'd to every
kind OF purpose (and upon which no great
estimation or value is placed it has been the
custom from time immemor1al to distinguish
by the appelation of hack. Custom, how
ever, has permitted Il slight deviation fro Il
prac tee of long standing, and II hack is now
generally understood to imply the idea of II
hired horse.
word With the spottImg World, a horse SUI
perior to all others upon the score OF utility;
being rendered subservient to every once %, OF
yo ~ s ali tb oI drmd@erv and labor Of his
situation, from which his contemporaries,
the racer, the hunter and the charger bX the
nnds aesr NJ sre aiwavs ex
empt. II is the peculiar province of tn ,
Hackney to carry his master twel' e or fifteen
ini'es IN an hour 10 covert lwherG te hqtGt
the groom with greater gpedltion, whose
engagements may probably have occasioned
nm to be much more IN haste man ms mus
TO encounter II, I'M, and oyercome emereencies and
dfilculties OF every d .scnption his consti-
tuition should be excellent ana his spirit in;
o ne s' ni at to so ithnt
drawing bill, and without the least respect to
the depth OF the roads, or the dreary state OF
Ine M1atnfh anG II ne Is nG5 e h 10 my NY
held in no estimation as a Hackney OF
fashion.
The Romans would appear to have
distinguished accurately no fewer than
eight classes, according to the action of
the horse or the use to which 1t was APP
piled; the Hackney, or common road
horses, being denominated ltinerarii,
anI rho aplLlars or papars Anhnlo-