38 DETERIORATED CONDITION OF 



CHAPTER IV. 



On the form and action of good saddle-horses. 



A good hack has become so rare in this 

 country that few people are practically ac- 

 quainted with one ; and few, in consequence, 

 have experienced the pleasure which riding 

 one affords to a competent judge of action. 

 On a horse of this class a rider does not think 

 it necessary to pick his way, even on the worst 

 roads, feeling an instinctive but correct assur- 

 ance that he is riding an animal which will not 

 fall. The fore-feet of such an one, be the pace 

 it is going what it may, are ever well forward, 

 and fall flat on the ground, while the fore-legs, 

 when in action, are sufficiently, but not too 

 much bent, while their action comes from the 

 shoulders. But the most striking characteristic 

 in these horses is the ease with which they 



