SHAPE. 25 



to the furthest part of his hind quarters ; these two 

 lines, with an ordinary-sized saddle, ottght to be, but 

 rarely are, nearly of equal length. Generally the 

 line drawn from this corner to the hind quarter is 

 much louger than the line drawn to the breast; and 

 the more difference there is the worse the horse's 

 action will be as regards safety on uneven ground. 



This is as good a method of forming an opinion 

 of a horse at a glance as any I know. If a horse is 

 much longer behind the saddle than in front of it, 

 he may have very good action to look at, but if he 

 stumbles he has much greater difiiculty in picking 

 himself up again without falling. I once had a 

 singular confirmation of this in a pony which a man 

 was riding alongside of me. It had sloping shoulders, 

 but was very much longer behind the saddle than in 

 front of it. It had very good action to look at, and 

 trotted very fast — so much so that I thought my rule 

 must be a fallacious one, when, just as I was beginning 

 to doubt the correctness of my theory, it stumbled 

 slightly, and then instead of picking itself up again, 

 as it should have done, it went on its head and knees 

 for some yards and rolled over. . 



After seeing a horse trot you should see it gallop ; 

 and here the chief thino^ to note is to see if its fore 

 leg action corresponds with the hind leg action ; that 

 is, whether he puts his fore legs as far in front of 

 him as he puts his hind legs under him, and vice 

 versa. 



