522 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



very mobile ; stifle projecting outward ; buttock and leg long, wide, 

 muscular ; hock fine, clean, wide, thick, well directed. Finally, reg- 

 ular axes; muscles dense, compact, prominent; skin fine and mane 

 little abundant. 



In France there are no equine races whereof the individuals are 

 exclusively trotters, as in Russia, England, and America, for example. 1 

 But we meet, among our Anglo-Normans, many horses which, in races 

 to harness and under the saddle, vie with the preceding. 



All horses do not trot in the same manner. There are some in 

 which the extension of the whole anterior member is carried to such 

 an extreme that the contact of the foot with the ground, after a short 

 time of arrest, almost seems to be effected upon the heels. The move- 

 ments of the posterior members are equally very extended, whence an 

 energetic effort of propulsion, much more action, as we are in the habit 

 of saying. 



Again, there are some, light trotters, which emit but faint beats 

 when trotted upon a hard road or a pavement ; others, on the contrary, 

 emit heavy sounds under these circumstances. Some roek themselves 

 from the fact of very great corpulence or a vicious axis of the members. 



Some raise their members insufficiently from the ground, scrape the 

 floor ; others elevate them excessively, trot from the knees, which is so 

 much loss of force. 



Others, again, lack harmony between the movements of the fore- 

 and those of the hind-limbs, or have some anatomical defect of certain 

 regions which detracts from the grace and ease of the gait, and even 

 exposes them to many accidents to be described farther on ; such are 

 horses which forge, have string-halt, pegged shoulders, rotating hocks, etc. 



Finally, some show their shoes, from excessive flexion of the pastern 

 upon the fetlock. 



Most of these defects are not peculiar to the trot, but are common 

 to all the other gaits. We will examine them in a special chapter. 



Nevertheless, there are some defects whose study cannot be sepa- 

 rated from that of the trot ; they become manifest when the horse is 

 overdriven, fatigued, or exhausted. We will immediately pass them in 

 review. 



The Broken Trot ; Flying Trot ; Racking. 



All these expressions are synonymous in that they are applied to 

 characterize the same phenomenon, modifying the rhythm of the trot 



1 This expression is scarcely correct, for the trotter does not constitute a race, but only a 

 variety of a race. (Harger.) 



