THE FKAMEWOPtK OF THE HORSE. 2d 



wards till his seat comes in contact with the withers.x 

 Let him then stand still, and the horse, especially if 

 a young or untrained one, will most probably shove 

 forward his hind or fore legs in one of these two ways. 



There remains a third case for consideration — namely, 

 where the horse, being weighted back to the line G H, 

 Plate I., brings his liind legs under him up to the line 

 I K, hut imth the hocks bent. This is the position into 

 which manege-horses have to be brought for certain 

 definite purposes, the general object being to enable 

 them to make short turns on the hind quarters or 

 croup, the forehand turning round this latter; whereas, 

 with a horse weighted on the centre line E F; Plate I., 

 the hind and fore quarters both turn equally round a com- 

 mon point, and with one weighted principally on the 

 forehand, the hind quarters will turn round the former. 



Now, in order to avoid drawing false conclusions 

 from these facts, we must take another view of the 

 question. AYhat we have hitherto inquired into is, the 

 effect of certain modes of distributing the weight on 

 a horse's back when in a state of rest on the position 

 of his legs with regard to that weight ; but the really 

 important thing to know is, how these various modes 

 influence the horse's action. It was, however, necessary 

 to enter into the preliminary inquiry, because most of 

 the conditions governing a horse's attitude in a state of 

 rest continue to be equally imperative after action has 

 commenced, and some even more so ; for it is more 

 dangerous to the horse to lose his balance when in 

 motion, especially at high degrees of speed, than when 

 standing still. 



We may put the questions to be resolved as follows : 

 1st, How does the distribution of the weight to ba 



