HOW TO KNOW HIM. 47 



cutter. The medium course is the only safe one. If 

 the horse lifts his foot clear of the road, and lays his 

 heel first to the ground, he cannot fall ; as stumbling is 

 usually occasioned by sticking the toe into the road, or 

 striking it against a stone, just as the foot is being 

 brouo-ht down into contact with the surface. A horse 

 seldom, if ever, falls in the act of lifting his foot ; simply 

 because, in that position, he has no weight depending 

 upon it. He will fall only when he places the toe on 

 the ground before the heel. Under these circumstances, 

 a slight obstacle will bend the pastern forward ; and, as 

 the weight of the body is now intended to be thrown 

 on the limb, away he goes. Let the horse with a 

 well-slanted shoulder and pastern throw his foot well 

 forward, and then bring his heel first to the ground, 

 and I will answer for his safety. He will also stand 

 more work than the very high-stepper, whose peculiar 

 action is certain to inflame his feet, as well as to pro- 

 mote the development of a variety of diseases to which 

 the fore-legs are liable. Of course, the observations I 

 have made are applicable to shape and action alone, 

 and have no reference to those cases where a fall is 

 caused by the pressure of a sharp stone on a tender and 

 diseased foot. It must be evident, a case of that sort 

 is very different from one of ordinary tripping. The 

 one is the result of disease ; the other, of development 

 or form." — Carson on the Horse. 



We have now examined the head, neck, chest, shoul- 

 ders, and fore-legs of a horse, and pointed out the 



