THE GAITS IN PARTICULAR. 573 



Fig. 268 gives the notation of a leap over a hedge, after the photo- 

 graphs from Lissa; the annexed explanatory legend simplifies its 

 comprehension. This notation enables us to follow the series of the 

 phenomena as to their times, while the. trail represents them to us as 

 to their distance. 



At the commencement of the figure, the horse, which was trotting, disasso- 

 ciates the elevations oi AG and PD, during which he hastens the contact of the 

 anterior right. In phase 4 he prepares to support himself immediately (5) upon 

 the posterior member. The two hind-limbs, in contact with the ground, remain 

 there during the whole duration of phase 6, and effect simultaneously an ener- 

 getic impulsion ; the body, under this influence, is projected upward and forward 

 to clear the barrier (8) ; it then falls successively upon the anterior members, 

 the right first. 



Fig. 268.— Notation of the leap over a hedge. 

 (From the photographs from Lissa.) 



At 4, the preparation ; 5, elevation of the anterior part of the trunk ; 6, the impulsion ; 7, 

 the body suspended ; 8, passage over the obstacle; 9, descent; 10, clearing by the hind-limbs; 

 13, descent of the hind-limbs. 



The anterior biped, however, is immediately raised (11), and, as the posterior 

 has not yet come into contact with the ground, there results a new and very short 

 suspension (12), after which the posterior members are rested. The leap is ac- 

 complished ; the horse starts afresh in a broken gallop. (See above, page 571.) 



It is not without interest to cite here some examples of remarkable 

 leaps. 



We have seen in the school at Alfort a horse that jumped out of a box-stall 

 3.80 m. in length, and enclosed by a railing 1.20 m. in height. 



According to Youatt,' a horse, which had been cauterized in three members, 

 was placed at liberty in a box closed by a door 1.80 m. high, above which was a 

 space of 1 square metre; his height was 1.60 m. This animal, on hearing at a 

 great distance the shouts of the hunters and the yells of the dogs, leaped with 

 one bound over the door of his box, without showing under his chest, his neck, 

 or his sides the least evidence of an abrasion or a wound. 



De Curnieu "^ relates the following feats : 



" In 1792, for a wager of 500 guineas, an Irish horse was brought into Hyde 

 Park, to leap over the wall of Park Lane, 2.22 m. high on one side and only 2.08 m. 



1 Youatt, History of the English Thoroughbred. 



' De Curnieu, Le^'Oiis de science hippique generale, Paris, 1857, t. ii p. 413. 



