DISTRIBUTION OF WEIGHT. 67 



mean the act of increasing the weight on the hind limbs, by 

 taking it off the fore ones. It follows from the fact that 

 the presence of a rider alters the proportion of weight in the 

 manner mentioned ; that the heavier the intended rider, the 

 more should the weight be brought back. The well " set 

 up " soldier gives us an admirable illustration of the great 

 influence which training has on gait. 



We know from experience that muscles which are 

 practised at one particular kind of work, gradually acquire 

 the ability to perform it in the easiest possible manner. 

 Thus, a man who has to carry heavy burdens on his back, 

 will in time unconsciously acquire the action most suitable 

 to his task. It might therefore be argued that any attempt 

 to teach a horse to carry himself in the manner described, is 

 useful merely for saving time, and that the horse would, 

 after a while, automatically rectify matters. Even if this 

 were true, which it might not be in the large majority of 

 cases, we must remember that horses which are allowed 

 to go " heavy in front," especially at fast paces, are particu- 

 larly liable to become unsound from injuries to their fore 

 legs, which injuries greatly exceed in number all the other 

 accidents that incapacitate saddle horses, and especially 

 racehorses, from " standing " work. In this country little 

 or no attempt is made, except in the Army, to form the paces 

 of riding horses. Despite the influence of careful selection 

 in breeding, we cannot ignore the fact that the legs of the 

 average horse are but ill adapted to bear, under ordinary 

 conditions of work, the strain of a greater weight than that 

 of his own body. The old adages that any horse is able 

 to wear out four sets of limbs, and that a horse is as old as 

 his legs, are unhappily too true. Therefore it behoves the 

 careful horseman, by judicious breaking, to diminish as far 

 as possible the chances of his animals becoming unsound. 



As the preponderance of weight on the forehand increases 



5* 



