CHAPTER X. 



THE HAXD GALLOP. THE FLYING GALLOP. 



*' Now we 're oft like the winds to the plains whence they came; 

 And the rapture of motion is thrilling my frame! 

 On, on speeds my courser, scarce printing the sod, 

 Scarce crushing a daisy to mark where he trod! 

 On, on like a deer, when the hound's early bay 

 Awakes the wild echoes, away, and away ! 

 Still faster, still farther, he leaps at my cheer, 

 Till the rush of the startled air whirs in my ear! 

 Now 'long a clear rivulet lieth his track, — 

 See his glancing hoofs tossing the white pebbles back! 

 Now a glen dark as midnight — what matter ? — we '11 down 

 Though shadows are round us, and rocks o'er us frown ; 

 The thick branches shake as we 're hurrying through, 

 And deck us with spangles of silvery dew ! " 



Grace Gijee>-wood. 



The hand gallop is an intermediate gait be- 

 tween the canter and the flying gallop. Its 

 motion, though rather rapid, is smooth, easy, 

 and very agreeable for both rider and steed. 

 Nearly all horses, especially spirited ones, prefer 

 this movement to any other ; the bronchos on 

 the plains of the far West will keep up this 

 long, easy lope or hand gallop for miles, without 

 changing their gait, or requiring their riders to 

 draw rein, and without any apparent fatigue. 

 This pace is likewise a favorite one with riding 



