THE FRAME WORK OF THE HOUSE. 35 



What is said here applies equally to canter or gallop as 

 to trot. It has been pointed out above that, in the case 

 of the horse covering its own footsteps exactly, and 

 leaving only a single track, the fore legs are always 

 lifted somewhat sooner than the hind ones, and not 

 exactly simultaneously with them, which produces, as 

 we have seen, the cadence peculiar to each pace, audible 

 to the ear. If the beat be regular, and, the ground 

 remaining the same, the intensity of the sound alike 

 for each footstep, the presumption is that all four legs 

 are equally good ; but if one tread be heavy and another 

 light, we may take it for granted that there is something 

 amiss with the foot or leg that makes the latter. With 

 horses, however, that either overstep or tread short 

 (C and D, fig. 2), the case is different ; we hear con- 

 stantly two stronger and two weaker beats, supposing the 

 legs and feet to be sound. The former stronger ones 

 will be found to proceed, if we pay attention, from 

 the fore legs in the horse that oversteps the two hind 

 ones, chiefly used as propellers, "dinting" into the 

 ground with the toes ; with the short stepper, on the 

 contrary, we perceive that they proceed from the hind 

 legs, which are stamped down ; and if one leg be 

 defective, we hear, in such cases, three different degrees 

 of intensity of sound, which vary according to the leg 

 and mode of action. * * 



We must now remind the reader that we have, up to 

 this point, taken no account of the influence exercised 

 by the overhanging weight of the horse's head and neck 

 on the animal's equilibrium, having proceeded altogether 



* Dishonest dealers are well aware of this, and, to cover it, will 

 sometimes make a horse temporarily lame on one foot to conceal 

 a permanent defect of the corresponding one ; the horse will then 

 tread " gingerly " on that pair. 



