ATTITUDES. 



441 



have almost reached their limit of extension. As to the anterior, they 

 cannot take as long a step, being likewise in a state of extreme exten- 

 sion. In order to be able to walk, therefore, the horse must shorten 

 his base of support, draw the feet towards one another, and return, to 

 a certain degree, to the preceding attitude, the attitude really prepara- 

 tory to all movements. 



To recapitulate, the camper, very fatiguing to the back and the 

 loins, is detrimental to the horse only in the eye of the acute observer, 

 for it gives neither grace nor elegance to the subject. Still, dealers 

 have brought this particular attitude into vogue either to show to the 

 purchaser that the animal will thus cover much ground and should, 

 consequently, take long strides, or to take the attention away from the 

 defect of the axis, to mask some other vices, to give greater prominence 

 to the obliquity of the shoulder, the horizontally of the croup, the 

 strength of the loins, or, finally, to modify the appearance of a trunk 

 which is not irreproachable. At first intended only as a simple prep- 

 aration for the sale, this custom, which we have for a long time 

 opposed, 1 is at present very fashionable in pleasure-horses, the coach- 

 horse, for example. The evil would not be great if its only conse- 

 quence were to render the horse ungraceful ; but what is of greater 

 importance in this attitude is that it inflicts a useless torture upon the 

 animal, even if it be not prejudicial to him. 



The placer (Fig. 146), or "upright stand," is the station in which 

 the direct axis of the members has a direction intermediary between 

 the preceding two, and more or 

 less approaches the vertical. 



We will call the direct axis, 

 or line of direction of the mem- 

 ber, the line which joins the 

 point of suspension of the trunk 

 upon this member (centre of 

 movement) to the middle of the 

 foot.' The angular displacement 

 of this axis in front of the ver- 

 tical, when the animal walks or 

 trots, is equal to a half-step. FIG. 146. The placer. 



We should endeavor to make 

 the columns of support take this direction, which is more favorable to 



1 Arm. Goubaux, De 1'enrenement des chevaux, in Bulletin de la Societe protectrice des 

 animaux, annee 1872, p. 126. 



