ON PROGRESSION. 205 



inertias of the carriage is sufficient to counterba- 

 lance it. 



When a horse, whose fore ]egs are much 

 shorter than his hind legs, or whose shoulders 

 are very upright, trots fast, he is obliged to go 

 with his hind legs very wide, so that his hind 

 feet may come on the outside of his fore feet. 

 By this means he sinks his croupe, and brings it 

 more on a level with his fore quarters, and at 

 the same time he avoids striking his fore feet 

 with his hind feet. Horses of this conformation 

 sometimes go in the same form as dogs generally 

 do, namely, with their fore and hind legs in 

 two ditferent lines of direction, by which one 

 hind foot comes on the outside of the fore foot, 

 and the other hind foot between the two fore 

 feet, and this is done with the same intention as 

 in the former instance. They are, hoi^ever, 

 very unsafe to ride, for the hind foot is always 

 more or less in danger of catching the fore foot, 

 in which case, except the shoe is torn oft', they 



must 



