BEMEDY FOR FAULTY CONSTRUCTION. 75 



judge, to make the bets void, and to prove that the pre- 

 tended trotters were not trotting really, but were amb- 

 ling. 



The condition indispensable to a good trotter, is per- 

 feet equilibrium of the body. Equilibrium which keeps 

 up a regular movement of the diagonal fore and hind 

 feet, gives them an equal elevation and extension, with 

 such lightness that the animal can easily execute all 

 changes of direction, moderate his speed, halt, or increase 

 his speed without effort. The fore-parts have not, then, 

 the appearance of towing after them the hind-parts, 

 which keep as far off as possible; everything becomes 

 easy and graceful for the horse, because his forces being 

 in perfect harmony, permit the rider to dispose of them 

 in such a way that they mutually and constantly assist 

 each other. 



It would be impossible for me to count up the number 

 of horses that have been sent me to break, and whose 

 paces have been so spoiled that it was impossible for them 

 to trot a single step. A few lesson^ have always been 

 sufficient for me to get them back into regular paces, and 

 these are the means I employed. 



The difficulty which the horse experiences in keeping 

 himself square in his trot, almost always proceeds from 

 the hind-parts. Whether these be of a feeble construe 

 tion, or be rendered useless by the superior vigor of the 

 fore-parts, the motions of these parts, which receive the 

 shock and give the bound, in each case become power- 

 less, and in consequence, render the movement irregular.* 



» I am not of the opinioa of those connoisseurs who imagine that the quali- 

 ties of the horse, as well as his speea in trotting, depend principally on the 

 height of his withers. I think, that for the horse to be stylish and regular 

 in his movements, the croup should be on a level with the withers ; such was 

 the construction of the old English horses. A certain kind of horses, very 

 much d la mode, called steppers, are coustructed after an entirely different 



