SEATS. 85 



with one pair of legs than with the other. The rider 

 should observe this in difficult cases, and try to find 

 out, which he soon can, with which hind leg he should 

 rise or fall : men who have this instinct are able to trot 

 horses that perfectly good riders fail with. 



Lieutenant-Colonel von Oeynhausen tells us * that 

 the veterinary surgeon Trager, of the famous stud at 

 Trakehnen, has observed that the near hind and off 

 fore legs of most horses are stronger than the other 

 two; and he attributes some well-known but hitherto 

 seemingly inexplicable facts in connection with horses 

 to this circumstance as, for instance, that they natu- 

 rally prefer, in cantering and galloping, to lead with the 

 near leg, the weight being then supported by the two 

 strongest limbs (near hind, off fore) ; that spavin occurs 

 more frequently on the off than the near side ; and that 

 horses in wheeling about through restiveness always do 

 so to the left, on the near hind leg, &c. Mr Trager 

 advances in support of his views the well-known fact 

 that men's right arms and left legs are naturally most 

 relied on, being also stronger ; and he believes this to 

 be the case with very many other animals dogs, for 

 instance, whose method of going diagonally seems to 

 prove it. Now it is quite possible that this is also 

 the cause of what has been alluded to above namely, 

 that in trotting after the English fashion the horse 

 endeavours to accommodate the strong and weak pairs 

 of legs to the rise and fall of the rider in the saddle ; 

 and if so, it is worth the attention of practical men. 



It is, however, quite clear that if we desire to train 



* B. von Oeynhausen, KK. Oberst-lieutenant, &c. ; ' Der Pferde- 

 liebhaber' (Vienna, 1865), at p. 162 a book that cannot be too 

 highly recommended. 



