118 THE HACKNEY. 



fact, walks very near the ground, but his toe rarely 

 strikes it. If it did so frequently, he would soon 

 become a cripple, putting falling out of the ques- 

 tion. His action proceeds from his hips ; that of 

 the horse, as regards the fore-legs, from his shoul- 

 ders ; but the principle is the same with each ; 

 each is a piece of curiously-wrought mechanism, 

 and according to the correctness of that mechanism 

 is their action true. A wrong notion, however, 

 prevails here, which may lead the purchaser of a 

 hackney astray. It has been asserted by various 

 writers, that, if the shoe of a roadster be found 

 worn at the toe, it is a sure sign of his possessing 

 the dangerous action to which we have alluded. 

 This is false ; many horses wear at the toe, solely 

 by the act of picking up the foot, and quite inde- 

 pendently of placing it down. That many hack- 

 neys, however, fall from their shoes being neglected, 

 and suffered to wear too much at the toes, we are 

 well aware, as well as from their pressing upon the 

 heels and quarters, from the want of being removed 

 in proper time. When a horse is given to wear at 

 the toe, the wearing part should be steeled. 



The best method of ascertaining the manner of 

 putting down the foot, on which we have shown 

 the safety of a hackney depends, is, to ride a horse 

 with a slack rein, on a foot-path, on which there 

 are trifling undulations, scarcely perceptible, but 

 sufficient for our purpose. If he walk smoothly 

 over such ground, and do not strike it with his toe, 

 we may be sure he puts his foot properly down, and 

 will not, from that cause, be a tumble-down. But 



