1002 TRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



the chambriore will animate him by trotting him, or striking the ground with it. If he offers to gallop 

 instead of trotting, the groom must shake or jerk the cord that is tied to the cavesson, and he will fall into 

 his trot. {Bcrenger's Art of Horsemanship, vol. i. chap. 4.) The value of this longing in a circle is 

 incalculable, inasmuch as it supples the shoulders, and gives them a greater extent of action. It also in. 

 creases the action of the whole limb downwards, and accustoms the horse to effect other movements, to be 

 performed with an elevated hand. 



66rt3. 7"^^ g-rt//o/j is the swiftest natural pace of a horse, in which the two fore feet become elevated 

 almost at the same moment, but one slightly takes the lead of the other, and must therefore be set down 

 beyond and somewhat after it : previous to this, however, the hinder legs have become elevated, with 

 also a little precedence in the leg of that side wiiich has been led by the fore. Such is the natural gallop 

 of the horse; when it is performed with its utmost velocity the limbs are simultaneous and synchronous. 

 (6664.) In galloping the horse may lead with which fore leg he pleases ; the most usual way is that with 

 the right, in which case the gallop is said to hcjiist; but whichsoever it be, the hind leg of the same side 

 must follow it next, which forms an even or equal gallop ; otherwise the legs are said to be disunited, and 

 the gallop to he false ; to remedy which disorder, the rider must stay the horse a little on the hand, and 

 help him on the spur on the contrary side to that on which he is disunited. However, this rule has not 

 been always strictly observed ; for hunting horses have been trained to lead indifferently with both legs, 

 because it has been found, that a horse which has never been suffered to gallop but with his right fore 

 leg, has been worn out on one side, when he has been fresh and sound on the other. In order to make a 

 stop in a gallop straight forwards, the rider should carefully put his horse together, without altering or 

 disturbing the appui, and throw his body back a little to accompany the action, and to relieve the horde's 

 shoulders. In doing this he should seize the time of making the stop, keeping the hand and body quite 

 still, exactly when he feels the horse put his fore feet to the ground, in order that by raising them im- 

 mediately by the next motion which he makes, he may be upon his haunches. When horses do not 

 answer to the lessons in the gallop, they should be galloped briskly, and then slowly again by turns, and 

 they will thus be compelled to obey the hand and heel. In the slow gallop, as well as in the trot, it is 

 sometimes necessary to close the heels to the horse's sides, which is called pinching ; but this should be 

 done in such a manner as not to make the horse abandon himself upon the hand, and care must be taken 

 that he be upon his haunches, and not upon his shoulders ; and therefore, when he is pinched, he should 

 be kept in the hand. To put a horse well together, and make him bring his hinder legs under him, the 

 rider must close his legs upon him, putting them very much back ; this will oblige him to slide his legs 

 under him ; at the same instant let the hand be raised a little to support him before, and yielding again 

 immediately. Let him be thus supported, and have the rein again from time to time, till he begins to 

 play and bend his haunches, and gallops leaning and sitting down, as it were, upon them ; let the rider 

 then press him with the calves of his legs, and he will thus become quick and sensible to the touch. If 

 a horse has too fine a mouth, gallop him upon sloping ground ; this will oblige him to lean a little upon 

 the hand, in order the better to put himself upon the haunches ; and through fear of hurting his bars, he 

 will be prevented from resisting the operation of the bit. If the horse is heavy in hand, gallop him up 

 sloping ground ; and when his appui is too strong, this will lighten him. The gallop serves to assure and 

 make steady a weak and delicate mouth, and also to supple a horse, and make him steady and active in 

 his limbs. {Berenger's Hisfort/ and Art of Horsemanship, vol. ii. p. 104., &c.) In galloping in a circle, 

 the horse is confined always to lead with his fore leg within the turn; otherwise he is said to gallop 

 false. 



6664. The varieties of gallop may be reduced to the gallop of speed, the ordinary or hand gallop, and 

 the canter : all others are but compounds of these. The gallop of full speed is the most simple of all the 

 paces, being nothing more than a succession of leaps ; but it requires repeated efforts to acquire its full 

 celerity : the fore parts being first raised and thrown forwards are followed by the hinder immediately; 

 as the velocity increases, the fore and the hind legs become opposed to the ground at almost the same 

 instant, thus forming a repetition of leaps. The ordinary or hmid gallop does not differ from the gallop 

 (6;i63.), except that the leading leg being elevated still earlier, and being carried still more forward, is 

 followed also by an earlier and a more considerable displacement of its fellow leg behind, which of course 

 retards the velocity considerably, and lessens the exertion. The school gallop is formed of this, with the 

 haunches drawn more under, and the fore hand more thrown up. 



6665. The canter is different from the gallop in some essential particulars. Whether the gallop be fast or 

 slow, still the legs are at one period wholly removed from the ground, and the hor.e is all in air. In the 

 canter, on the contrary, at no period is the horse completely elevated from the ground, but has always one 

 or more points of contact with it. Blaine describes its operation thus : When performed on the right, the 

 horse commences by first placing his off hind leg a little beyond the other ; at nearly the same instant he 

 elevates the fore hand, and places first the near foreleg on the ground ; the off doubling over and beyond, 

 is placed in an instant after it. In the next movement the hind legs are thrown in, and, while elevated, 

 the off fore leg becomes raised from the ground ; but the near fore leg is not elevated until the hinder 

 ones are replaced. The near fore leg is, therefore, the whole point of support in cantering at each re- 

 move, and thus it is that cantering horses always first fail on that leg. 



iy(y6Q. The amble is a peculiar kind of pace, by which the horse changes sides at each remove ; two legs 

 of a side being always in the air, and two on the ground. An amble is usually the first natural pace of 

 young colts, which, as soon as they have strength enough to trot, they quit. There is no such thing as an 

 amble in the modern manege ; the riding-masters allowing of no other paces besides walk, trot, and gallop ; 

 their reason is, that a horse may be put from a trot to a gallop, without stopping him; but not from an 

 amble to a gallop without stopping. 



6667. The training of cavalry horses is exclusively performed in the military establishments, and there- 

 fore can never be required of the farmer or breeder. 



6668. The training of coach horses commences with taming, walking, trotting, and repeated longing ; 

 and next with yoking and driving in a break or four-wheeled frame, with no other load than that of the 

 coach box or seat placed in the usual position, the driver and his assistant sitting on a board fixed to the 

 perch or liind axle, in order to be ready at a moment's notice to descend and restrain or direct the horses. 

 Coach horses, from fifteen to sixteen hands high, should walk light five miles an hour, and trot twelve. 

 They should be first accustomed to this exercise in the country, next in the outskirts of a large city, and 

 lastly in the most crowded streets. 



6669. The age at which a horse is fit to be worked in a coach is four and a half or five years ; but by the 

 fraudulent practice both of the country and town dealers, horses of three and four years old are frequently 

 employed. Tlie first business of the Yorkshire dealer, who has three or four years old colts to dispose of, 

 is to draw their corner teeth, in order to make them have the mouths of those of five. The also undergo 

 the operation of docking and nicking ; and after having been kept two or three months on mashes, macte 

 of bran, ground oats, or boiled corn, they are sold to the London dealers, who, it is said, sell these three 

 or four years old horses as if they were five years old. They are then taken into immediate work, either 

 for the coach or saddle ; and in a few months are completely destroyed by this premature and too severe 

 labour. The drawing of the teeth is not a fraud practised on the London dealers ; they know the decep- 

 tion, and insist upon its being done by the country dealers. It is requisite to be done some months before 

 the London dealers finally sell them for use, or the tooth which denotes a horse to be five years old would 

 not be grown, consequently the deception could not have taken place. 



6670. The training of cart and plough horses commences with taming before they are a year old, with 

 walking and rubbing them down in the stable when they are two, and with training to work when they 

 are of three years' growth. They should be placed under the charge of a very steady careful servant, who 



