CHOOSING. 29 



piece of grass raised six or eight inches above the 

 road. Now ride the horse quietly a few yards along 

 the raised edge of the footpath at a walk, and then, 

 letting his head remain quite loose, turn him slightly 

 so that he steps off the footpath slantways on to the 

 road. 



If his shoulders are good he will step off without 

 any diflB.culty, and if you had your eyes shut you 

 would not be able to tell when he did so. If his 

 shoulders are bad he will either stumble, or drop 

 heavily on to the foot he puts first on the road, so that 

 he gives you a disagreeable shock up your backbone. 



You will probably think the first time you do 

 this that the horse has made a false step or stumbled, 

 but if you repeat it three or four times you wiU find 

 that he always does the same thing, and that it is 

 the fault of his make, and he cannot help doing it. 



I have tried this plan on several horses, and have 

 always found the test to answer. The explanation 

 I take to be this. 



When a horse's shoulders are good he can step 

 down a foot or nearly so and reach the ground with 

 one foot before he takes the weight off his other 

 foot. When the horse's shoulders are straio:ht he 

 cannot do this, and comes down heavily on the foot 

 he first puts off the raised part on to the lower. 



In addition to this, if you trot a horse slowly 

 over rough, broken, ground, he will go freely and 

 pleasantly and safely, if his shoulders are good ; and 

 if not he will not go pleasantly, and will feel as if he 



