LAYnrO DOWN THE FOOT. 151 



died in the year 1850, -wathout ever having had a hair 

 oflf his knees. A friend of mine in Coleraine has at 

 present a pony, which I know to be twenty-seven years 

 of age, and which, for more than twenty years, carried 

 its master — a medical practitioner, and a heavy weight 

 — on the road ; and its legs, after all, were as sound as 

 a bell, although it was a well-marked example of laying 

 the heel first to the gi'ound. I never passed it on the 

 road without admii'ing the beautiful way in which it 

 did deposit the heel on the ground. Its action in this 

 respect was most beautiful. Hence one reason of its 

 great lasting powers and capability of endurance. 



There can be only one right method of laying down 

 the foot. Whatever it is, eveiy deviation from it must 

 be a defect. This principle is so self-evident, that I 

 would never think of reasoning with any person who 

 would dispute it. The works of Xature are not so 

 clumsy and ill-arranged, as that there is no definite 

 method. Man can walk backwards ; but the only na- 

 tural and correct plan is forwards. They are not in- 

 terchangeable. The one cannot be substituted for the 

 other, with comfort, ease, and full speed. So is it with 

 the horse, and every other animal. Each has a right 

 method ; and every deviation from it must be unnatural 

 and defective. In regard to the horse, then, what is 

 the correct plan ? Let us just look at the three views. 



