GAITS. 2>7 



If it be a question of a little ditch or of a stream 

 with clear-cut banks, the displacement will be accom- 

 plished by an almost horizontal leap, with the head low 

 and the detention close to the ground. 



In the case of horses which bravely encounter the 

 obstacle, the rider, giving the horse as much liberty as 

 possible, firmly seated, the legs pressing close and 

 progressively closed, need only possess flexibility and 

 should give free permission to the horse to take its own 

 course. 



Should the animal put too much animation into its 

 gallop, its energy must be checked, for its exaggerated 

 use will cause a fall ; the rider will come to the assistance 

 of such a horse by sticking his spurs in behind the 

 girths to prepare and support them, so as to cause them 

 to rise with sufficient promptitude and into an attitude 

 elevated enough for success. 



The see-saw motion can then work freely, the anterior 

 members being the first to attain the ground, almost 

 simultaneously and very near to one another. These, by 

 a violent effort, instantly set off again, leaving space for 

 the hind-leQ-s which undergo extension in order to touch 

 the ground : the two trails are very close to one another 

 and their impression is even in front of those left by the 

 anterior members. 



During the displacement of the leap and from the 

 time of the detention of the posterior, the animal has 

 maintained its anterior members close to the breast and 

 to the medial plane ; the posterior members bend in 

 closing the angle of the hocks, the hoofs being almost 

 joined. The error is usually made of separating them by 

 posing them parallel to one another as if they were 

 kicking, and the fore members are made to diverge at 

 the moment of their extension in order to fall, so that 

 the animal has the appearance of swimming over the 

 obstacle. Examination of the trails left on the ground 

 will assuredly convince any one of the impossibility of the 

 direction, tending to separate the feet from one another, 

 which it is customary to give to the members, since the 

 trails are very close to the medial line. 



I support these observations with the wood-cuts, 



