THE LENGTH OF THE STIRRUP 17 



There is no problem to solve ; but directly the 

 horse breaks into a trot (or even the very common 

 " jog") we find, at once, the question is one that 

 demands immediate solution. Directly a horse is 

 trotting his body is in suspension for a brief period. 

 When "jogging" the distance is probably only 

 about half a foot in length before one foot or other 

 meets the grovmd; when trotting short, the dis- 

 tance is about two feet. The " trot out " may be 

 three or even four feet, depending very largely 

 upon the action of the horse. A free horse with 

 good shoulders will be in suspension considerably 

 loncrer than a stiff animal with a tied-in action 

 and bad shoulders. The canter, again, can vary 

 from one foot to five, while the gallop can be as 

 much as ten feet. When a horse is jumping, the 

 distance he is in suspension may vary from ten 

 to twenty or even twenty-five feet. Consequently 

 what we have to consider when first mounting is, 

 what are we going to ask the horse to perform, 

 and what he is likely to perform. 



In all questions where movement is concerned, 

 it is necessary to anticipate the future, so as to be 

 prepared for sudden emergency. For example, the 

 track runner, when waiting for the pistol, is leaning 

 actually further forward than he does when he 

 has commenced the race, the reason being that 

 he is anticipating the kick off he intends giving 

 on the pistol sounding; and were he not in this 

 position he would either find himself unbalanced 

 when starting, or on the other hand, if he intended 

 to avoid this, he would not be able to kick off 

 c 



