him out. His choppy gait makes him uncomfortable, and, 

 above all, he lacks solidity; he is exposed to frequent 

 stumbles and falls. 



One cannot give the name of stumbling to the fact of 

 knocking against a hump in the road or against a rock 

 during the rotation of the leg in suspension ; the old-fash- 

 ioned horse was as capable of this carelessness as the 

 horse of the present day, perhaps even more so.^ 



But this negligence offers no danger because the leg 

 which hits the obstacle folds up and clears it. The true 

 stumble takes place at the moment of grounding; it is 

 dangerous only when the horse has not the time to cor- 

 rect it, that is to say, if the critical moment when 

 equilibrium is broken takes place almost immediately 

 after the grounding of the foot. The latter is almost 

 exactly the case of the horse whose shoulder is ver- 

 tical, and whose arm is sloping (we have already demon- 

 strated this), of the horse in which the oscillation of the 

 legs on the ground is reduced to its minimum. The old- 

 fashioned horse did not stumble in this way, or, if he did, 

 he recovered himself in time, and it is in vain that we 

 have searched in our memory for a thoroughbred of 

 thirty years ago with broken knees. I wish we could 

 say as much of the horse of to-day. 



This lack of steadiness of which the animals them- 

 selves are well aware has changed in a very appreciable 

 way the behavior, and even the " morale " of the horse. 

 Formerly one of the favorite manifestations of the thor- 

 oughbred, whether from bad temper or from excess of 

 joy, was kicking out behind. To-day horses no longer 

 kick, they no longer have any confidence in their fore 

 hand; besides, perhaps, the action is made harder for 

 them by the new angle of their hip. 



'The reason for this was the greater length of the arm. The old 

 fashioned type of horse used to drag his foot a little. The present 

 day horses have a higher action, but they are far from being steadier 

 on their feet for that reason. 



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