136 TUE HORSE. 
when viciously trying to dislodge his rider, but that his action resembles 
to a considerable extent this true bucking, in which little or no progression 
is made. I therefore hold that Percivall’s exception is not founded in 
truth ; and that the act of leaping necessarily implies progression, for 
without it the perpendicular spring into the air is properly distinguished 
by the term bucking, as admitted by Percivall himself. Then, turning 
back to the first sentence, I think every careful observer will admit that 
in the leap, whatever may be its kind, the feet do not quit the ground 
simultaneously. Manifestly in the standing or slow leap the fore feet rise 
first, unless the horse “ bucks,’ when all rise almost but not quite at the 
same moment. A careful examination of the mechanism of the horse 
will show that this must be the case, because, as the fore legs are straight 
to the last, there is no spring in them, and if they were not first raised by 
the action of the loins and haunches, as in rearing, they would remain on 
the ground until they were dragged by the hind quarters turning a 
somerset over them. In the human body, as the legs are ordinarily kept 
straight, they must be bent before a spring can be taken, for even the 
angular ankle joint requires a bent knee to enable it to act upon the toes. 
In the horse the fore leg resembles that of man in this respect, but the 
hind leg in the standing position is bent at the stifle and hock, and is 
then exactly like a man’s when he is prepared to take a standing jump. 
As a consequence of this the fore quarter of the horse when he is standing 
must be raised by the hind, since it has no angles to give a spring with, 
and if so it must leave the ground first, as I have already shown. The 
flying leap may readily be seen to be accomplished by the fore feet leaving 
the ground first, and no one I believe disputes this, so that it is unneces- 
sary to discuss it. 
It may, therefore, I think, be asserted with truth that the leap is always 
made by the horse raising his fore quarter, and then suddenly and power- 
fully straightening his hind limbs; with the ground as a fulcrum he propels 
his whole body forwards, and more or less upwards, according to the 
height of the obstacle to be overcome. In descending from the height to 
which the whole body has been raised, there is a considerable variation in 
the relative periods of time at which the fore and hind feet touch the 
ground. Sometimes the fore feet come down almost perpendicularly, and 
so far before the hind that they have to bear the whole force of the united 
momentum and gravity before the hind ones reach the ground, and then 
a very slight mistake will occasion a fall. At others they come down ‘all 
fours,” that is, all the feet touching the ground at the same moment, 
occasioning a great shock both to horse and rider, and also a considerable 
loss of time in getting away again into the stride. In the best style the 
horse touches ground with his fore feet first, but being well extended they 
are In a position to do no more than act as a spring to break the shock, 
and the hind legs coming down immediately afterwards bear nearly the 
whole force of momentum and gravity, which the fore legs are unable to 
do safely, as I have already shown. 
Mr. Percivall is also in error as to the width of ground which horses 
have been known to clear; for he gives twenty-two feet as an extraordi- 
nary effort in a steeplechase, whereas such a distance is covered by any 
hurdle-jumper in ordinary practice, as I have twenty times proved by 
careful measurement. I have myself seen thirty-two and thirty-three feet 
cleared by steeplechasers, and it is well known that Proceed and Chandler 
covered respectively thirty-seven and thirty-nine feet in two separate 
steeplechases. So a jump six feet in height is a very great performance, 
