20 THE GALLOP. 



In the canter, the action is so low and weak that a fore- 

 foot is planted before the second hind-foot reaches the 

 ground (see Plate II.). The rising of the fore-hand as 

 the horse takes the weight, from the leap, upon the hind- 

 leg is hardly perceptible, and the fore-hand drops almost 

 at that moment. 1 It has four irregular beats, and in the 

 middle of each cadence there is a sensation to the rider 

 of settling back. It is impossible to make the changes 

 of lead in such a pace, nor could the rapid turns of the 

 gallop be accomplished by a cantering horse. 



The gallop is a pace of three beats, the pauses regu- 

 larly observed, and the intervals between the beats even 

 as are those between each cadence ; the sensation of 

 motion is always forward. At each stride, as the horse 

 takes his weight upon the hind-leg, from the leap, the 

 fore-hand rises, and the changes of lead or the quick 

 turns may be readily effected. It is because the horse is 

 collected that a hind-leg and a fore-leg come together to 

 the ground. If the horse were disunited, the pace might 

 be either a canter or a run. 



1 When the horse takes the weight upon the first hind-leg, in the gallop, 

 the fore-hand is in air (figure 3, Plate III.). But it will be observed (figure 4, 

 Plate II.) that in the canter the first fore-foot is within a few inches of its 

 place on the ground at the instant the weight is received upon the first hind- 

 foot, and that the second hind-foot is only up even with the first fore-foot, 

 and has still to be moved twenty-four inches (fig. 6). 



