FARMERS' REGISTER- iMOVEMENTS OF HORSES. 



627 



hies, tlie only horses which are represented trot- 

 ting, have both their leys on the same side of" I he 

 body raised at once, the other two being lirm upon 

 the ground — a position which horses of the pre- 

 sent day never assume while trotting. 



In the case of these relievos, it is true that 

 there are only tour horses, out of more than two 

 hundiotl, which are in the action of trotting, all 

 the others being represented in a canter or gallop; 

 and onlv two of these four are entirely in the lore- 

 ground, and distinct from the other figures. It 

 would not be safe, therefore, to draw too general a 

 conclusion from this example alone; but we have 

 another decided proof of the remark we have 

 made, in the case of txie four horses of the church 

 of St. Marc at Venice. 



Whether this was then the mode of trotting or 

 not, it is certain that it is never seen to occur in 

 nature in the present day; and indeed it appears 

 f|uite inconsisient with the necessary balancing of 

 the body, and was, therefore, more probably an 

 error of the artist. 



It perhaps may have been found difficult or 

 troublesonie to watch the movement of a horse's 

 legs; but a very little practice will enable any body 

 to verif^y what we are about to state: by keeping 

 near the side of a horse that is walking, it will be 

 easily seen that, inunediately after the raising of 

 either of the hind legs from the ground, the fore 

 leg of the corres|:>onding side is also raised, so that 

 the latter leaves the ground just before the former 

 touches it. If the fore legs be then watched, it 

 will be seen that, immediately af crthe movement 

 of either of these, the hind leg upon the opposite 

 side is put in action, so that the order of succession 

 appears to be in walking, as follows — 1st the left 

 hind leg, 2nd the lell fore leg, 3rd the right hind 

 leg, and 4th the right fore leg. 



ll' the horse be now examined from a short dis- 

 tance, it will be seen that, when he is walking free- 

 ly, the successive movements of the legs are at 

 equal intervals of time, and that the muscula,r 

 force of one limb only is brought into action at 

 the same moment. But if a horse, which is drag- 

 ging a load with some considerable exertion, be 

 watched, it will be seen that he then acts longer 

 upon his legs, and allows a less interv'al of time 

 for raising and advancing them; and at the same 

 time, the regularity of the movement is generally 

 destroyed; the limbs on the same side generally 

 being moved more simultaneouslv, or at nearer in- 

 tervals of time than those at the opposite corners: 

 thus, the muscular forces of two limbs are always 

 acting together, the movetiient of the whole body 

 is less continued and uniform than in the former 

 case; but each impulse is more powerful, and a 

 resistance, which would be too great for the mus- 

 cles of one leg, is overcome by the united exertion 

 of two. We shall point out, hereafter, the neces- 

 sity of attending to this in tiie application of his 

 power to drauglit. 



In trotting, the action is of course quicker, and a 

 less resistance will, as might be expected, cause 

 the horse to move his legs at two inter\-als instead 

 of at four equal intervals of time: indeed, a horse 

 accustomed to go in harness generally acquires 

 the habit of that action. There is this striking 

 difference between trotting and walking: in walk- 

 ing, we have seen that the interval between the 

 movement of the legs on the same side was loss 

 than the other inter\ al of time: in trotting, on the 



contrarj^, the legs situated diagonally, or at oppo- 

 site corners, move almost simultaneously. Owing 

 to the velocity and the momentum which the body 

 acquires in consccjuencc of that velocity, in trot- 

 ting last, the successive impulses are less distinctly 

 |;erceptible, and the movement more continued 

 and imiflirmthan in a slow trot, or in walking. 



In galloping, the movement is totally diti(;rent: 

 the fore legs are thrown forward nearly simultane- 

 ously, and the hind legs brought u}) quickly, and 

 nearly together; it is, in fact, a succession of leaps, 

 by fiir the greatest interval of time elapsing while 

 the legs are extended afler the leap is taken: this 

 is the position, therelcire, which catches the eye, 

 and wliich must be represented in a drawing to 

 j)roduce the effect of a horse in a gallop, although 

 it is the moment when the animal is making no ex- 

 ertion. 



The canter is to the gallop very much what the 

 walk is to the trot, though probably a more artifi- 

 cial pace. The exertion is much less, the spring 

 less distant, and the feet come to the ground in 

 more regular succession: it is a pace of ease, quite 

 inconsistent whh any exertion of draught. 



The consequence of these peculiar movements 

 in the limbs of the animal is, that a succession of 

 impulses is conveyed to the bod}'; and when the 

 movement is slow, and the body of the horse does 

 not acquire any considerable impetus or momentum, 

 the resistance should be such an to receive each (tf 

 these impulses, and leave the horse unrestrained in 

 the intervals. 



It must, therefore, be a rigid resistance, void of 

 elasticity. 



It must not, however, be a constant, unremitted 

 resistance. 



For it is a well known flict, that, however pow- 

 erful may be the nuiscles of a limb, they must not 

 be kept constantly on the stretch. Thus we feel 

 even more fiitigue by standing than by walking, 

 because one particular set of muscles is then kept 

 constantly exerted. It is evident, therefore, that 

 the resistance or draught nutst not be perfectly 

 constant but should afiord fi-equent opportunities 

 of relaxing the efforts. Neither must it be a 

 yielding resistatice, as in that case the animal.could 

 not make any great exertion; for if he applied too 

 much power, he would be liable to fall forward, 

 and should he at any time fall short of the neces- 

 sary exertion, he would be drawn back by the 

 strain, and it would require a considerable effort to 

 restore the motion. 



If a horse be made to drag a rope passing over 

 a pulley and descending into a well with a certain 

 weight, say of" 200 lbs. attached to it, it is obvious 

 that he could not make an efibrt greater than 200 

 lbs. without instantly considerably increasing his 

 velocity, which would be a waste of power; nor 

 must he lor an instant relax hiseffbrls, orfiill below 

 that mark, for he would then be unable even to re- 

 sist the pull, and would be o\ercome by the weight. 

 Such an extreme case as this, of course, is not 

 likely to occur often in practice, but the disadvan- 

 tage of the principle is obvious. 



An arrangement of this sort is, indeed, some- 

 times made use of, for raising the eartli from exca- 

 vations, or the materials of a building; but the ex- 

 ertion is continued only for a few seconds, or for a 

 distance of not more tlian ten or twenty yards: if" 

 l^rolongcd, the inconvenience would be seriously 

 felt, as it is, to a certain degree, in towing canal 



