THE HALT. 249 



by the respective fore feet. An excess of this tendency, 

 which decreases according as the speed increases, and which 

 is usually displayed only when one particular fore leg leads, 

 should be guarded against during the breaking in of the 

 horse ; for it detracts from the beauty of his action in the 

 paces in question, and interferes with his handiness and 

 speed. I may point out that the more a horse, at the canter 

 or gallop, carries his head to the side opposite to that of the 

 leading fore leg, the more will he be inclined to bring his 

 hind-quarters round to the other side. Hence, to obviate 

 this objectionable tendency, we should bend the animal's 

 head slightly to the side of the leading fore leg. The best 

 means for correcting this fault, if for instance it is apparent 

 when he leads with the near fore, is frequent practice at 

 turning on the forehand (see page 229) to the left, and 

 passaging (see page 295) to the right ; and vice versa. 



I may repeat that, when mounted, we should handle the 

 reins as nearly as possible in the same manner as we did 

 the long reins, while circling the horse on foot. 



The halt. — If we examine the anatomy of the horse, we 

 shall find that the fore legs, being connected to the body 

 by muscles, are far better able to bear the shock of weight 

 suddenly imposed on them than the hind limbs, which are 

 attached to the body by ligaments. We see that the fore 

 pastern is more oblique than the hind, and that the bones 

 from elbow to fetlock are practically straight when bearing 

 the weight of the body, while the analogous column of 

 bones of the hind extremity, from stifle to fetlock, are more 

 or less bent at the hock under similar conditions. In normal 



