28 now TO BIDE. 



the stirrups to the first movements ; he will have to feel his way, as it 

 were, to the proper leg, and perhaps be obliged to sit out two or three shakes 

 before he can get at it ; for many horses trot unequally — that is, take a 

 longer stride with one pair of legs than with the other. The rider should 

 observ^e this in difficult cases, and try to find out, which he soon can, with 

 which hind leg he should rise or fall. Men who have this instinct are able 

 to trot horses that perfectly good riders fail with. 



A celebrated German veterinary surgeon has observed that the near hind 

 and off fore legs of most horses are stronger than the other two ; and he 

 attributes some well-known but hitherto seemingly inexplicable facts in 

 connection with horses to this circumstance — as, for instance, that they 

 naturally prefer, in cantering and galloping, to lead with the near leg, the 

 weight being then supported by the two strongest limbs (near hind and off 

 fore) ; that spavin occurs more frequently on the off than the near side ; 

 and that horses in wheeling about, through restiveness, always do so to the 

 left, on the near hind leg, etc. He advances in support of his views the 

 well-known fact that men's right arms and left legs are naturally most 

 relied on, being also stronger ; and he believes this to be the case with very 

 many other animals — dogs, for instance, whose method of going diagonally 

 seems to prove it. Now it is quite possible that this is also the cause of 

 what has been alluded to above, — namely, that in trotting after the English 

 fashion, tlie horse endeavors to accommodate the strong and weak pairs of 

 legs to the rise and fall of the rider in the saddle ; and if so, it is worth the 

 attention of practical men. 



It is scarcely necessary, after what has been already said, to demonstrate 

 over again how conducive to handiness, perfect mastery over the horse, inde- 

 pendence of the rein, and therefore good bitting, a central position of the 

 saddle, stirrups, and seat must be ; and these are, we take it, the conditions 

 under which road-riding may be done safely and agreeably. 



