ACTION. 119 



often the most unsafe to ride, for, when they do 

 fall, they fall with a violence proportioned to the 

 height of their action ; but, although we do not 

 advocate such extremes, there are thousands of in- 

 stances of horses going mry near to the ground, 

 and never making a trip. It is, however, a well 

 established fact, that if the form of a horse's shoul- 

 der, and the consequent position of the fore-leg, 

 enable him to put his foot to the ground flat^ with 

 the heel well down, his lifting up his foot high is 

 not at all necessary ; whereas, on the other hand, 

 if, by an improper position of the leg, issuing out 

 of a short, upright, ill-formed shoulder, the toe 

 touches the ground first, and, as it were, digs into 

 it ; no matter how high such a horse may lift up his 

 leg in any of his paces, he will always be danger- 

 ous to ride. And this will be clearly shown, if we 

 consider the position of the fore-leg, when off the 

 ground, or in action. It is bent in the form of a 

 (7, and the foot suspended in the air, turning in- 

 wards, with a curve towards the body. When in 

 this state, were the foot to come in contact with a 

 stone, or any other substance, it would pass over it 

 without resistance, the limb being at that time in 

 a flaccid state ; but when it approaches the ground, 

 the limb being extended, and having the whole 

 weight of the fore-quarters about to be thrown upon 

 it, if it strike against a stone, or any hard substance, 

 then the case is greatly altered, and a stumble is 

 the inevitable consequence. The base now requires 

 to be firm and even, which it can only be by the 

 foot being placed flat upon the ground. Man, in 



