224 MODERN FAURIEK. 



left or near hind-leg' follows, he is then said to gal- 

 lop false, and should be stopped immediately, for 

 fear of his legs interfering, and thereby rendering 

 him liable to fall. 



Different horses gallop in very different fomns. 

 Some gallop very high with their fore-quarter, 

 throwing up their knees as high as their chests, and 

 even higher. This action is peculiar to most foreign 

 horses, particularly the Spanish ; and, although it 

 adds to the pomp and parade of a war-horse, or a 

 maneged horse, yet it reduces the speed in a very 

 great degree, as well as adds to the labour and fa- 

 tigue which the animal has to undergo. 



The English thorough-bred horse, on the con- 

 trary, gallops low, and with his fore-legs nearly in a 

 straight line of elevation; nor are his head and 

 neck much raised beyond the line of his body. — > 

 This style of galloping is much better adapted for 

 speed, and is almost imiversal amongst race-horses : 

 but it requires great muscular power and command 

 of the limbs, to enable the body to preserve this 

 steady and straight line during its progression ; for 

 the hind-quarters must be doubled up, as it were, 

 to enable them to clear the ground at the moment 

 when they are thrown forwards under the body. 

 Hence the necessity of the thighs and hocks being 

 well formed ; that is to say, that the thigh should 

 be broad and muscular, and the hock broad also, so 

 as to increase the fulcrum, or mechanical purchase 

 in the hock-joint, from whence the spring is princi- 

 pally taken. It must also be evident, that a good 

 conformation is necessary in the fore-quarters, to 

 preserve a proper harmony of action in all the limbs, 

 although instances sometimes occur of hoi-ses that 

 are badly formed in their fore-quarters being pos- 

 sessed of great speed. But this casual variation 

 fi'om an established rule may be attributed princi- 

 pally to the animal's being endowed with some 

 peculiar properties in the conformation of his hind- 



