96 THE HORSE. 



amble is distinguished by the name of racking, or pacing. It is 

 performed by two legs of the same side acting synchronously as in 

 the amble, but they are moved with much more rapidity, and the 

 result is a speed greater than that of the fastest trot, by several 

 seconds in the mile. This will be apparent on consulting the re- 

 cord of the best performances of the American horses, at pp. 504-6, 

 where Pocahontas, a pacer, is set down as doing a mile in 2 minutes 

 17 seconds, while their fastest mile trot on record occupied 2 

 minutes 19f seconds. Running is an indescribable kind of trot, 

 in which the limbs do not move regularly together, but each seems 

 to act independently as in the walk. The consequence is that it is 

 impossible for the rider of a running horse to rise in his stirrups, 

 but the action being very easy there is no occasion for this relief. 

 It is not capable of being performed at a slow rate, and it is gene- 

 rally produced among horses which are ridden without a saddle, 

 and in which as a consequence the riders do not relieve themselves 

 and their horses by rising in it. 



THE PACES OF THE MANEGE. 



IN THE MILITARY SCHOOLS OF RIDING a variety of paces are 

 taught even in the present day, but the old riding masters adopted 

 many more, which are now discontinued. Some of them are in- 

 tended to enable the soldier to use his sword or spear with double 

 advantage, as the volte and semi-volte, but the majority of those 

 still retained are for the purpose of carrying out the combined evo- 

 lutions necessary to cavalry. The " passage," for instance, is a 

 side movement, that enables a number of horses to be changed 

 from close to open order, which would be a difficult task to per- 

 form with horses not taught to perform it. Backing is likewise 

 necessary for similar purposes ; but this should always be taught 

 to every horse, whether used by the military or by civilians. A 

 minute description, however, of the several paces of the manege 

 would occupy too much space here, and is only useful to the cavalry 

 soldier, who will learn their nature much better from practical in- 

 struction by the riding-master of his regiment. 



LEAPING, OR JUMPING. 



THE DESCRIPTION of this act given by Mr. Percivall is most 

 unsatisfactory. He says, " The leap is either a sudden spring into 

 the air, in which the feet quit the ground simultaneously, or else 

 it is an act compounded of an imperfect rear and kick in quick or 

 slow succession, according to the manner in which it is performed. 

 The leap can hardly be regarded as an act of progression ; com- 

 monly it being in a forward direction, undoubtedly progress is 

 made by it, but it is possible for it to amount to no more than a 

 jump or a bound off, and upon the same ground, as is the case 



