52' HORSES AND RIDING. 



it is of mucli importance wliicli leg a horse puts in 

 advance, especially when a man is riding him. 



There is, I think, great misapprehension on the 

 subject of the difference between cantering and gal- 

 loping. A real gallop is quite a distinct pace from 

 the canter, but horses rarely gallop. What people 

 generally mean by horses gallopiug is simply a 

 quicker canter. In the real pro23er gallop the horse's 

 fore feet come to the ground simultaneously and close 

 together, neither of them in advance of the other ; 

 and the hind feet also come to the ground together, 

 but very wide apart, and not one in front of the other. 

 In a canter or ordinary gallop the fore legs come to 

 the ground one after another, and one in front of the 

 other, and the hind legs the same, in both fore and 

 hind legs the one that is forwardest in point of 

 position being brought to the ground the last in 

 point of time. 



Ponies gallop the true gallop oftener than horses, 

 and compact, cobby, short horses oftener than long, 

 ■ sprawling, lathy ones. 



Anyone who has ever been run away with for a 

 hundred yards or so, especially on a pony, will know 

 that it has a totally different feel to an ordinary 

 gallop. 



Racehorses, as far as my observation goes, rarely 

 gallop, properly speaking ; in fact, I never remember 

 having seen a horse finish a race at a gallop unless it 



