THE GALLOP. 175 



touch of the two legs, affirms a third; no, 

 some others remark, very seriously, you 

 must let the horse act naturally. 



How can the truth be made out in the 

 midst of this conflict of such contrary prin- 

 ciples? Besides, they come from such re- 

 spectable sources; the most of their authors 

 were possessed of titles and dignities which 

 are generally only granted to merit. Have 

 they all been deceived for a hundred and 

 fifty years? This is not possible; for many 

 of them joined to long practice a perfect 

 knowledge of physics, anatomy, mathema- 

 tics, &c. &c. To doubt such authorities 

 would be as presumptuous as imprudent; 

 it would have been considered a crime of 

 high treason against horsemanship. So the 

 riders kept their ignorance, and the horses 

 their bad equilibrium; and if any one suc- 

 ceeded, after two or three years of routine 

 labor, in making certain horses of a privi- 



