218 THE IMPROVED ART OF FARRIERY. 



bending, and the limbs are elevated nearer to the 

 body. 



The canter and the gallop are the next to be taught, 

 as also the motions of turning and breaking from one 

 pace to another at the option of the rider : these will 

 be discussed in the next subject. Ambling is a pace 

 that should never be allowed, and the sooner the horse 

 is broke of it the better : it is performed by moving a 

 fore-leg and a hind-leg of the same side at the same 

 time, and does not appear to be a natural motion, al- 

 though in some countries, and especially the east, it is 

 preferred to the walk or trot, as giving less motion to 

 the rider ; it is, however, by no means so safe as the 

 natural paces : many horses amble at the rate of six or 

 seven miles an hour. 



The Earl of Pembroke recommends, in his admi- 

 rable treatise on military equitation, that when horses 

 carry their heads low while in the lounge, (which is 

 frequently the case), a cord should be buckled to the 

 top of the head-stall, passing from thence through the 

 eye of the snaffle into the hand of the person that holds 

 the lounge ; and this must be slackened or drawn tight 

 as circumstances require. 



No horse should be suffered to advance one step 

 with a false gait, and his head should not be tied up 

 for any length of time, for this would give him the 

 habit of leaning on the rein and throwing himself 

 heavily on his shoulders when he grew tired : too much 

 work at this time frequently makes the horse vicious. 



When the bit is used, it should be both large and 

 smooth, and the reins carried back to a ring on either 

 side of the pad, rather slack at first, but gradually 

 tightened : the twisted, sharp, and cutting bits, only 

 tend to harden the mouth and render it callous to all 

 feeling. 



