THE AMBLE— RACKING, ETC. 95 



the cliange continually. Sometimes this causes the loss of a race, 

 for it cannot be done without interfering with the action, and con- 

 sequently with the pace. A good horseman prefers that his horse 

 should not confine himself to one lead, but he does not like him to 

 change after he has once started, for the above reason. The right 

 leg in front is more easy even to the male rider than the left, but 

 not materially so, and except for female equestrianism no horse 

 should be taught to lead invariably with the right leg either in the 

 gallop or canter. In the change the truth or harmony of action is 

 often disturbed, and the horse jerks himself and his rider in a 

 disagreeable manner, which is another reason why the change of 

 legs should not be encouraged. 



There is a great variation in the length of the stride, and 

 in the rounding or bending upwards of the foot under the knee. 

 Sometimes even in a fast gallop the distance between the prints of 

 the same feet will be no more than sixteen feet, while in others it 

 will measure twenty-four, twenty-five, or even twenty-six feet. 

 The first is too short for any race-horse ; but a moderately short 

 stride enables the horse to get ofi" with a quicker start, and to 

 ascend and descend hills better than a very long one. Where, 

 however, a distance of level ground is to be covered a long stride 

 tells, and a horse possessing it has a great advantage over one 

 whose gallop is short, however quick and smart it may be. For 

 this long stride there must be length of limbs, especially of the 

 two bones meeting at the stifle joint; and this is the perfection of 

 the form of the race-horse, as I have already described at page 73. 



THE AMBLE. 



Like the trot, this pace is performed by two legs alternately 

 moving in exact correspondence with each other. Instead, how- 

 ever, of these being of opposite sides, they are of the same side, 

 and one lateral half of the body is moved forward while the weight 

 of the whole is supported on the other. The pace is altogether 

 unnatural to the wild horse, but in some domestic breeds it has 

 become naturalized, and the foal will in them display the amble 

 long before it is taught anything by the hand of man. In the 

 cameleopard the amble is the only kind of progression, whether 

 the animal goes slowly or fast ; and in dogs, especially in pointers, 

 greyhounds, and Newfoundlands, this pace is occasionally displayed 

 Formerly an ambling palfrey was in great request for ladies' use, 

 but in the present day the pace is not regarded with favor by any 

 of the inhabitants of the British Isles. 



BACKING, OR PACING, AND RUNNING. 

 In this country no other paces are recognised than the five 

 which I h%ve already described, but in America a fast kind of 



