128 THE HORSE. 
carried, it is safely deposited on it. On the contrary, a high action, with 
the heel raised, is never safe, either on the walk or the trot. It is quite 
contrary to the experience of horsemen out of the veterinary profession to 
assert that either toe-action or heel-action is invariably met with in sound 
horses, and I believe the facts to be as I have stated them. That in 
laminitis the toe is raised in an exaggerated form no one will deny, but 
the extent is far greater than any one supposes to exist in a healthy foot. 
I have possessed one or two horses which, though perfectly sound, would 
wear out the heels of their shoes before their toes, and one of them was a 
high-stepping mare with remarkably good feet. Now the friction in ali 
cases after the foot is put down must be greater on the toe than the heel, 
because it scrapes the ground, more or less, as it leaves it. When, there- 
fore, the heel is worn out iirst, it proves that this part touches the ground 
first, though the converse does not hold good, for the reason which I have 
given. 
Having discussed these two questions, I come now to examine what is 
done in each movement of the legs, independently of the order of their 
going, and of the above toe and heel controversy, and shall proceed to 
consider in what the good walk differs from the bad. 
WRITERS ON THE HORSE divide each movement of the leg into three acts, 
consisting of the lift, the swing, and the grounding. In the first act, the 
foot is raised ; in the second, it is thrust forward ; and in the third, it is 
firmly but lightly deposited on the ground. But these may severally be 
well performed, and yet the horse be a bad walker, because his body is 
not well balanced on the legs in contact with the ground while the other 
or others are moving. A geod walker should take short quick steps, with 
his hind legs well under him, and then he will be able to plant his fore 
feet firmly but lightly on the ground in succession. If his stride is too 
long, his hind legs cannot be always well under him, because they must 
be wide apart when both are on the ground ; and the body cannot then 
be balanced securely, because there is too long an interval elapsing while 
the one hind leg is passing the other. Hence, in such a horse, there is a 
waddling movement from side to side, so often seen in the thoroughbred 
horse, whose full tail shows it very manifestly, but whose rider feels the 
inconvenience much more clearly than it is seen by the uninterested 
looker-on. The clever hack, on the contrary, moves forward without his 
body deviating a hair’s breadth from the line in which it is progressing, 
neither undulating to the right and left nor up and down. ‘The rider of 
a first-rate hack should be able to carry a full glass of wine in his hand 
for any distance without spilling a drop ; and if the action on the walk is 
not smooth enough for this, it cannot be considered as approaching to per- 
fection. Many horses step short and quick, and yet do not walk well, 
because their shoulders have not liberty enough to thrust their arms 
forward during the act of swinging the leg; and hence the pace is slow, 
for the foot is put down very near to the spot from which it was lifted. 
In choosing a good walker, therefore, see that his feet are lifted smartly, 
that they are well thrust forward, and placed firmly but lightly on the 
ground. Look at him well from behind, and observe whether he hits 
himself on the fetlock joints as one foot passes the other; and at the 
same time examine whether, as he lifts his fore feet, he turns them out, or 
“dishes,” which is a very serious fault, in consequence of the loss of time 
which it occasions. In most horses the hind foot oversteps the place from 
which the corresponding fore foot has been removed ; but in a good hack 
this should not exceed an inch, or the pace will not be smooth and smart, 
