INTRODUCTION 15 



ground, and yet go safe. Perhaps it may not be 

 generally known that a horse may go very near the 

 ground, and never make a trip ; and that another 

 may lift his knee almost up to his nose, and yet be 

 an arrant tumble-down. Were I to say which was 

 the safest animal in all its paces that ever came under 

 my observation, I should have no hesitation in saying 

 it was a mare that was in my own family for upwards 

 of fifteen years, that touched every stone which she 

 passed her foot over, but never made a mistake in all 

 that time. Lifting up the leg, or what the London 

 people call the " knee-up action," has nothing to do 

 with a horse going safe on the road. It is not on the 

 taking up of the foot, but on the putting of it down, 

 that the safety of a horse's action depends. Although 

 I do not go so far as to say (though it has been said) 

 that the fore-legs are merely pillars under the body 

 of a horse, and have little to do with his action, yet 

 I do maintain that they are entirely obedient to the 

 shoulder ; and if the shoulder command that the toe 

 shall touch the ground first, instead of the foot coming 

 down flat, with the heel well down, it is no matter 

 how high the foot is taken up by the bending of the 

 knee. What I have said may appear rather para- 

 doxical ; but a little consideration will establish the 

 justness of my observation. When the leg is bent, 

 as in action, in the form of a C, and the foot suspended 

 in the air, turning inwards, with a curve towards the 

 body, were it in that state to come in contact with a 

 stone or any other substance, it would pass it over 

 without resistance — being, as it were, at that time in 



