THE FBAMEWORK OF THE HOESE. 25 



him then stand still, and the horse, especially if a young 

 or untrained one, will most probably shove forward his 

 hind or fore legs in one of these two ways. 



There remains a third case for consideration namely, 

 where the horse, being weighted back to the line G H, 

 Plate I., brings his hind legs under him up to the line 

 I K, but with the hocks bent. This is the position into 

 which manege-horses have to be brought for certain 

 definite purposes, the general object being to enable 

 them to make short turns on the hind quarters or 

 croup, the forehand turning round this latter ; whereas, 

 with a horse weighted on the centre line E F, Plate I., 

 the hind and fore quarters both turn equally round a 

 common point, and with one weighted principally on the 

 forehand, the hind quarters will turn round the former. 



Now, in order to avoid drawing false conclusions from 

 these facts, we must take another view of the question. 

 What we have hitherto inquired into is, the effect of 

 certain modes of distributing the weight on a horse's back 

 when in a state of rest on the position of his legs with 

 regard to that weight ; but the really important thing to 

 know is, how these various modes influence the horse's 

 action. It was, however, necessary to enter into the 

 preliminary inquiry, because most of the conditions 

 governing a horse's attitude in a state of rest continue 

 to be equally imperative after action has commenced, 

 and some even more so ; for it is more dangerous to the 

 horse to lose his balance when in motion, especially at 

 high degrees of speed, than when standing still. 



We may put the questions to be resolved as follows : 

 1st, How does the distribution of the weight to be 

 carried affect the horse's speed ? and, 2ndly, How does 

 action affect equilibrium and balance ? 



