> 220 MODERN FARRIER. 



' When the knee is bent too much, and raised too 

 high, there must be a great deal of unnecessary ac- 

 tion, and consequently a loss of time. On the other 

 hand, when the leg is thrown out too straight, with 

 the toe pointed, the leg remains stationary for a 

 short period, gaining no more ground than what is 

 acquired by the momentum of the body. The best 

 action, therefore, is when the leg is moderately 

 raised, and the shoulder thrown forward; but the 

 principal source of speed in trotting, as well as in all 

 other paces, is in the hind-quarters. The action of 

 some horses in this respect is extremely beautiful ; 

 that is to say, when there is an equal flexion in the 

 hock and stifle-joints. Hence they appear to go, as 

 it were, upon springs ; but when this bounding mo- 

 tion is carried to an extreme, it constitutes wiiat is 

 called the darting trot, and is never so speedy as the 

 quick repetition of action in the different legs in the 

 less extended trot. Twelve miles in the hour is 

 considered fast trotting ; but there are many horses 

 capable of trotting sixteen, and even eighteen miles 

 witliin the hour. In these cases, however, of ex- 

 treme speed, the motion ought not to be considered 

 as a trot, for it becomes decidedly a run, as may be 

 perceived by the legs moving separately and succes- 

 sively one after the other ; whereas, in the trot, two 

 are moved at once, namely, a fore and a hind-leg on 

 opposite sides. Horses that are badly fonned in 

 their fore-quarters, when pressed in the trot, are apt 

 to strike the shoe of the fore-foot with the toe of the 

 hind-foot, making a disagreeable clacking noise, 

 which is called forging, and rendering the pace un- 

 safe by the risk of the hind-foot getting locked with 

 the heel of the shoe of the fore-foot ; in which case, 

 except the shoe be torn off", the horse must inevita- 

 bly fall, and with great violence. 



' This defect arises from the horse's being unable 

 to advance his fore-leg with suflicient celerity, so as 

 to get it out of the way of the hhid-leg when it is 





