8o 



wide in the chest .3 for if he be^ this spreads 

 his fore legs too far asunder, and renders it 

 impossible for him to throw the hind legs out- 

 side the fore ones ; and it is consequently im- 

 possible for 71 horse of this form ever to exceed 

 eighty nine^ or ten miles in the hour , but this 

 he may do in a good stile. 



A good trotting horse ought to bend his 

 knees well up to his chest, be supple in -all the 

 forehand joints^ and throw his foot forward 

 courageously, alighting a little on the heel, and 

 springing from the toe. There are some horses 

 that bend their knees very well^ but do not put 

 their feet boldly forward. This arises from a 

 defect in the joints of the knees, which are so 

 formed as not to be capable of straightening j 

 and sometimes from a stiffness and contraction 

 of the back tendon, v.'hich will not suffer the 

 knee to become straight again after bending. 

 Such horses step very heavy •, for instead of 

 using their strength in getting forward, they 

 come down with their whole v/eight at a short 

 distance from their last step. The Holstein, 

 Hanoverian, and m.ost of the continental 

 horses, chiefly move in this stile, except that 

 they straighten the knee better after bending it, 



