24 HORSES AND RIDING. 



Other horses put their feet well forward, and go 

 very fast over the ground, but do not bend their 

 knees or lift up their feet. This kind of action, 

 though of more use than the other, cannot be called 

 good, for this reason, that a horse which goes like 

 that, although he can travel fast on smooth, flat 

 ground, cannot trot without tripping over broken or 

 uneven ground. A horse with good action should 

 lift his knee as high as the first instance I have 

 given of faulty action and throw his feet as far 

 forward as the second. 



In addition to watching a horse's legs you should 

 carefully observe the appearance the saddle and the 

 rider present on the horse. If you take away all the 

 neck and head in front of the horse's breast, the 

 body of the rider should look to be in the middle of 

 the horse, that is, half-way between his breast and 

 his tail. Avery good method of estimating a horse's 

 make when someone else is riding him and you have 

 not an opportunity of watching his action closely, is 

 as follows : A saddle is composed of two parts, the 

 back or body of the saddle, which lays on the horse's 

 back, and the flaps, which come down his sides. The 

 front of the saddle is one continuous line from the 

 bottom of the flap to the pommel or top of the saddle, 

 but behind the flap there is a corner where the flap 

 and body meet. Now, to judge of a horse's shape, 

 draw two imaginary lines from this corner, one to 

 the lowest part of the horse's breast, and the other 



