PHYSICAL CONFORMATION". 63 



or even solely, in determining whether the motion shall be a walk, a 

 trot, a pace or a gallop, the form or manner of executing that impulse 

 must and does largely depend upon the fitness, the adaptation and the 

 perfection of the machinery with which the action is to be accom- 

 plished. Moreover, how far the mental impulse that chooses or leads 

 to the particular gait is also influenced by the adaptation and perfec- 

 tion of the machinery, can not altogether be estimated, but must not 

 be overlooked. An animal that is lame in one leg limps; but the 

 limping or shielding the limb from its full task comes from a mental 

 impulse; and the horse that acquires a certain weight of limb and 

 proportion that makes it easier to trot than to go at the same rate of 

 speed in a gallop, will have a mental impulse inclining him to choose 

 the trot, and adhere to this gait so long as he can accomplish a rate of 

 speed satisfactory to his mind more easily than by galloping; and 

 when his trotting action fails to carry him as fast as his impulses 

 require him to go, he will at once gallop. Hence, it is clear that if his 

 limbs are precisely adapted and proportioned in the highest degree to 

 the exact motions of the trotting gait, at a fast rate of speed, he will 

 be induced or led by impulse to choose that way of going, and adhere 

 to it. On the other hand, if it is easier for him to go at a slow rate 

 of speed in that gait, but difficult for him to retain his poise of body 

 and perfect control of Hmb at high speed, he will seem to take natu- 

 rally to the trot, but nevertheless will leave it when the speed is forced 

 at a rate too high for his capacity. This accounts for the extraordi- 

 • nary precocity of some families of trotters, and their utter failure after 

 they have come to full age and the demands of high speed. 



Sitting in the grand stand at Cleveland, in 1876, I was deeply 

 impressed with the fact that the horses that evenly followed a certain 

 mean proportion or conformation were the ones to rely upon for all the 

 beats of the race; and, following the same horses through the history 

 of several campaigns, I was forced to observe that the same forms 

 accompanied success in the main; while those that varied from that 

 form were less reliable, and less enduring, although now and thea 

 showing speed that indicated qualities of the highest order. 



Goldsmith Maid, Rarus, Jay Gould, Albemarle, Gen. Grant, Joe 

 Brown, Sam Purdy, Gov. Sprague, Bodine, Huntress, Trio, Enfield, 

 Allie West, will all be recognized as very evenly-gaited horses, while 

 Fullerton, a horse of very great superiority, lifts his front feet a little 

 too high, bringing his knees at about a square angle, and consequently 

 striking the ground too hard. Otherwise he is the perfection of a 



