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CHAPTER IX. 
ON THE LOCOMOTIVE ACTION IN THE VARIOUS PavEs. 
NATURAL AND ACQUIRED PACES—DISTRIBUTION OF WEIGHT—ATTITUDE ASSUMED IN 
STANDING—MODE OF PROGRESSION— THE WALK —TROT—CANTER— HAND-GALLOP — 
EXTENDED GALLOP—THE AMBLE—RACKING, PACING, AND RUNNING—THE PACES OF 
THE MANEGE—LEAPING, 
NATURAL AND ACQUIRED PACES. 
IN A STATE OF NATURE it is probable that the horse only possesses two 
paces, namely, the walk and the gallop; but when he is the produce of a 
domesticated sire and dam, even before he is handled, he will generally 
show a slight tendency to trot, and sometimes to amble, rack, or pace, if 
any of his progenitors have been remarkable for these artificial modes of 
progression. In this country, however, it may be assumed that the horse, 
without being taught, walks, trots, and gallops, more or less perfectly, 
according to his formation and temperament. 
DISTRIBUTION OF WEIGHT. 
EXcEPT IN THE GALLOP AND CANTER, in the fast trot, and in leaping, 
the weight of the horse is borne by two or more of the legs, and we shall 
find that in consequence of the projection forwards of the head and neck, 
the larger moiety is sustained by the fore leg (or legs) than by the hind. 
This can easily be demonstrated in the act of standing ; but the same rule 
which applies to that position will also serve for any other. 
It is important to the horsemaster to ascertain the circumstances which 
will change these proportions, because he finds practically that, in road 
work, the fore legs wear out faster than the hind, and consequently any 
means by which the weight on them can be reduced will be a gain to him 
in a pecuniary point of view. M. Baucher placed a horse with his fore 
and hind legs on separate weighing machines, and found that a hack mare 
when left to assume her own attitude, weighed on the fore scales 210 
kilogrammes, while her hind quarters drew only 174, the total weight of 
the animal being 384 kilogrammes, each of which is equal to 2lbs. 
2ozs. 4drs. 16grs. avoirdupois. By depressing the head so as to bring the 
nose to a level with the chest, eight additional kilogrammes were added to 
the front scales, while the raising of that part to the height of the withers 
transferred ten kilogrammes to the hindermost scales. Again, by raising 
and drawing back the head, in a similar way to the action of the bearing 
rein, eight kilogrammes were transferred from the fore to the hind scales, 
and this should not be forgotten in discussing the merits and demerits of 
that much-abused instrument of torture. M. Raucher then mounted the 
mare, when it was found that his weight, which was sixty-four kilogrammes, 
was placed in the proportion of forty-one kilogrammes on the fore quarters 
to twenty-three on the hind. A considerable change was of course pro- 
duced by leaning backward, and by using the reins in the manner of the 
bearing rein, the former transferring ten kilogrammes from the fore to the 
hind quarters, and the latter act adding eight more, 
