Horse Buying and Horse Trying 117 



lifts his foot clear, and lays his heel first to the 

 ground he cannot stumble, this being caused by 

 sticking the toe into the road, or striking it against a 

 stone just as the foot is being brought down into 

 contact with the surface of the ground. As a horse 

 has no weight dependent upon his foot in lifting it, 

 he seldom or never fails when it is in that position; 

 but only when returning it, and then only when 

 the toe is placed upon the ground before the heel. 

 Under such circumstances a slight obstacle will bend 

 the pastern forward — and away he goes ! Of 

 course, these observations are applicable to shape 

 and action alcne, and have no reference to those 

 cases where a fall is caused by a sharp stone pressing 

 upon a tender and diseased foot." Or, the doctor 

 might have added, by painful speedy-cutting, or 

 interfering. 



A long back is reputed weak, if the back ribs are 

 shallow, and the coupling at the hips angular, the 

 hip-joints ragged ; yet, although some of our best 

 hunters and steeplechasers are shaped in this way, 

 it does not seem to affect their weight-carrying or 



