24 SEATS AND SADDLE?. 



loins, corresponding to the point p^ of fig. 1. What 

 does the horse do, if compelled to stand still under a 

 burden that is more than his hind legs can easily sup- 

 port with perpendicular hocks 1 Let the reader turn to 

 Plate VII. where the English hussar there presented 

 shows the horse extending his hind legs precisely in 

 the way indicated in fig. 1, x^ x^. What between the 

 rider sitting at the hinder part of the saddle and the 

 weight of the enormous pack, the perpendicular passing 

 through tlie centre of gravity of the whole falls con- 

 siderably in rear of the fourteenth vertebra. This 

 figure is photographed from life, and is very instructive. 

 The horse, certainly not a fair specimen of the regiment 

 or of the cavalry in general, was selected, probably, for 

 no other reason than because he could be easily brought 

 to stand still during the operation ; and the clearness 

 of the lines of the original everywhere except about 

 the head, which he probably tossed once or twice, 

 shows that he did so, which was rendered possible, 

 under the burden he had to bear, and the mode in 

 which it was placed on his back, only by this very 

 position of his hind legs ; he could not stand straight 

 under it, and the less so because his hind quarters are 

 weaker in proportion than the forehand. The position 

 of the head and neck has much to do with it, but this 

 we shall have to consider further on. 



The cases in which a horse, when standing still, and 

 weighted chxpfiy on his forehand, assumes with his fore 

 legs the positions indicated in fig. 1 by aj' r' or oi? a?, 

 occur so frequently that it is quite superfluous to de- 

 vote a figure to their illustration. Put a man on a ' 

 horse without a saddle, and with nothing but a halter 

 on the animal's head, and he will inevitably slip for-^ 



