i6 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



a flaccid state ; but when the foot approaches the 

 ground, the limb is extended, and the whole weight 

 of the fore-quarters is about to be thrown upon it. If, 

 then, the base for that weight be not even and firm — 

 if the toe dig into the ground before the bearing is 

 completed, a trip, and a dangerous one, is the conse- 

 quence. My argument is exemplified thus. Man 

 walks very near to the ground, but seldom strikes it 

 with his toe. Follow him over a path where the 

 snow is deep enough to trace him, and you will im- 

 mediately perceive that he strikes the snow with his 

 heel, but scarcely ever with his toe. If he did, he 

 would constantly be injuring himself, and would 

 soon become a cripple. The action of a man proceeds 

 from his hips ; whereas that of a horse, as far as his 

 fore-legs are concerned, is from his shoulders ; but 

 the principle is the same with each : each is a piece 

 of curiously-wrought mechanism ; and according to 

 the correctness of that mechanism is their action 

 true. 



When I try a horse with the view of purchasing 

 him for a hack, my trial is a very short one. I get on 

 his back, and, loosing his head, let him walk a hundred 

 yards on a foot-path. If Nature has designed him to 

 stick his toe into the ground instead of putting his 

 foot down quite flat, by which alone he can go safe, 

 he will do so two or three times before he goes that 

 distance. There are little undulations in a road of 

 that description which are scarcely perceptible, and 

 for that reason will immediately detect this sort of 

 action. If, on the other hand, he walk smoothly over 



