THE FRAMEWORK OF THE HORSE. 35 



taking place. They cannot act sufficiently as propel- 

 lers.* What is said here applies equally to canter or 

 gallop as to trot. It has been pointed out above that, 

 in the case of the horse covering its own footsteps 

 exactly, and leaving only a single track, the fore legs 

 are always lifted somewhat sooner than the hind ones, 

 and not exactly simultaneously with them, which pro- 

 duces, as we have seen, the cadence peculiar to each 

 pace, audible to the ear. If the beat be regular, and, 

 the ground remaining the same, the intensity of the 

 sound alike for each footstep, the presumption is that 

 all four legs are equally good ; but if one tread be 

 heavy and another light, we may take it for granted 

 that there is something amiss with the foot or leg that 

 makes the latter. With horses, however, that either 

 overstep or tread short (C and D, fig. 2), the case is 

 different; we hear constantly two stronger and two 

 weaker beats, supposing the legs and feet to be sound. 

 The former stronger ones will be found to proceed, if 

 we pay attention, from the fore legs in the horse that 

 oversteps, the two hind ones, chiefly used as propel- 

 lers, "dinting" into the ground with the toes ; with the 

 short stepper, on the contrary, we perceive that they 

 proceed from the hind legs, which are stamped down ; 

 and if one leg be defective, we hear, in such cases, three 

 different degrees of intensity of sound, which vary ac- 

 cording to the leg and the mode of action, t 



* Horses that at first naturally overstep will, after a certain 

 amount of work, come to step short ; the fore legs having suffered, 

 they ease them by throwing the weight on the hind ones. 



t Dishonest dealers are well aware of this, and, to cover it, will 

 sometimes make a horse temporarily lame on one foot to conceal 

 a permanent defect of the corresponding one ; the horse will then 

 tread " gingerly " on that pair. 



