CHAPTER II. 



OF THE FORCES OF THE HORSE. 



Of their causes and effects. — The horse, like all organ- 

 ized beings, is possessed of a weight and a force peculiar 

 to himself. The weight inherent to the material of which 

 the animal is composed, renders the mass inert, and tends 

 to fix it to the ground. The f^rce, on the contrary, by 

 the faculty it gives him of moving this weight, of divid- 

 ing it, of transferring it from one of his parts to another, 

 communicates movement to his whole being, determines 

 his equilibrium, speed and direction. To make this 

 truth more evident, let us suppose a horse in repose. His 

 body will be in perfect equilibrium, if each of its mem- 

 bers ^ipports exactly that part of the weight which de- 

 volves upon it in this position. If he wishes to move 

 forward at a walk, he must first transfer that part of the 

 weight resting on the leg he moves first to those that 

 will remain fixed to the ground. It will be the same 

 thing in other paces, the transfer acting from one diago- 

 nal to the other in the trot, from the front to the rear, 

 and reciprocally in the gallop. We must not then con- 

 found the weight with the force ; tlie latter determines, 

 the former is subordinate to it. It is by carrying the 

 weight from one extremity to the other that the force 

 puts them in motion, or makes them stationary. The 

 slowness or quickness of the transfers fixes the difierent 

 paces, which are correct or false, even or uneven, accord- 



