THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 9 



The various uses for which the horse is habitually 

 employed, require corresponding varieties in the make 

 and shape of the animal. The dray horses of the 

 London brewers are very handsome ; but their beauty 

 is of a different kind from that of the Newmarket 

 racer. That which is a good quality in one kind of 

 horse may be a defect in another. An animal, for 

 instance, which is intended for the saddle ought to 

 stand with his fore legs erect ; if they slope back- 

 wards from shoulder to hoof the rider must be very 

 cautious, for he has to do with a stumbler. A draught- 

 horse, on the other hand, ought to lean a little for- 

 ward over his fore feet when at rest. That portion 

 of his own weight which brings down the ill-made 

 saddle-horse on his knees, is by the draught-horse 

 thrown against the collar, and helps him in his labor. 

 Look at a team straining hard to drag a heavy wagon 

 out of a rut or over some obstruction : they fling them- 

 selves forward, so as to be kept from falling only by 

 the traces, just as you may see a man doing who tugs 

 at a rope fastened to a canal-boat, or a truck. Again, 

 though the hunter and the racer are both made for 

 speed, they must each exhibit certain peculiarities of 

 form adapted to the work they have respectively to do. 

 The hunter requires great strength and elasticity in 

 his forehand, to enable him to bear the shock with 

 which he alights on the ground from a leap. In the 

 racer, on the contrary, the principal power is wanted 

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