HOESES CUTTING. 193 



put to work" (I need scarcely say "interfering'* is 

 a technical term for cutting); in others the form has, 

 perhaps, been so faulty, that I have remarked in 

 stronger terms, ** That horse would cut his legs off 

 when he came to work," without pretending to parti- 

 cular perspicuity in this particular — any man, with 

 moderate judgment, might have foretold the same thing 

 with equal certainty. 



I will instance the giraffe. Any common observer 

 will remark, if this animal attempted to gallop with 

 the ordinary action of the horse, his hind legs must 

 overreach his fore ones. The animal is aware of 

 this, or habit or instinct teach him ; so he brings his 

 hind legs outside of his fore ones, and in his gallop 

 they actually show before them. It is thus with the 

 way in which some horses' legs are put on ; as I have 

 expressed it, "They must cut," unless they had a pe- 

 culiar style of going, to do away with the effects of 

 their unusual form ; and this it will not be found they 

 possess. 



Horses that turn their toes much out are very apt to 

 cut ; and horses with their ankles much in, the same. 



o 



