THE GALLOP. 175 



touch of the two legs, affirms a third; no, 

 some others remark, very seriously, you 

 must let the horse act naturally. 



How can the truth be made out in the 

 midst of this conflict of such contrary prin 

 ciples? Besides, they come from such re 

 spectable sources; the most of their authors 

 were possessed of titles and dignities which 

 are generally only granted to merit. Have 

 they all been deceived for a hundred and 

 fifty years ? This is not possible ; for many 

 of them joined to long practice a perfect 

 knowledge of physics, anatomy, mathema 

 tics, &c. &c. To doubt such authorities 

 would be as presumptuous as imprudent; 

 it would have been considered a crime of 

 high treason against horsemanship. So the 

 riders kept their ignorance, and the horses 

 their bad equilibrium; and if any one suc 

 ceeded, after two or three years of routine 

 labor, in making certain horses of a privi- 



