30 HORSEMANSHIP. 



CHAPTER III. 



ACTION. 



Too much stress cannot be laid on true, " corky," easy, 

 and safe action. It is essential both to horse and rider. 

 There must be nothing forced about it. Without gliding 

 smooth action, which comes from perfect symmetry and 

 just balance, there can be no manners, no intrinsic value 

 in the hack, no great pleasure to the rider, and no con- 

 servation of energy. A labouring goer can never be a 

 thorough stayer. The walk should be bold and free, the 

 foot picked up smartly, with well bent knee, raised clear 

 from the ground, thrown forward straight to the front, and 

 placed again on the ground lightly yet decidedly and with- 

 out hesitation. I like to see a horse marchifig with a bold, 

 swaggering, airy walk, looking about him at passing objects, 

 and swinging his tail like the plumes and sporans of the 

 Black Watch, as the splendid corps proudly sweeps past the 

 saluting flag. If he can swagger along at the rate of five 

 miles an hour in such form, fair "toe and heel," then he 

 is not only a comfort to his owner but a luxury. Objection 

 may be taken to such horses as are constantly looking about 

 them on the score of their being addicted to tripping on 

 inequalities, over a rut, on a freshly " darned " or metalled 

 road, but they are generally of the light-hearted mercurial 

 sort which, if they make a false step; never permit the trip to 

 degenerate into a downright stumble, and are sharp in their 

 recovery. Of such is the Arab, one of the surest footed 

 animals in the world ; he is constantly tripping at the walk, 

 but rights himself in a second, as if his foot had trodden on 



