THE PASSAGE BACKWARD 



that case, start the horse to galloping on three legs 

 to its great confusion. 



Moreover, during the gallop on three legs, the 

 horse is completely on his haunches. The hind legs 

 carry all the weight, advance by very short steps, 

 and always very close to the ground. Therefore, 

 unless the horse is sent forward by the weight of the 

 rider and by a strong effect of legs and spurs cou- 

 pled with great tact of hand, the creature is exactly 

 in the position to rear high. The gallop on three 

 legs, like the gallop backward, demands a com- 

 bination of favorable conditions as to both horse 

 and rider that is in practice pretty difficult to 

 find. 



Considering, then, the danger to the horse's hocks 

 and to its temper, and the peril to the rider, I can- 

 not feel that the usefulness of the gait at all compen- 

 sates for the wear and tear on the one or the risk to 

 the other. Fillis has, indeed, executed the air most 

 brilliantly, on the different occasions when he has 

 exhibited his horses. I have performed the feat 

 with several different animals. But, on the whole, 

 the game has not been worth the candle. 



THE GALLOP A TEMPO 



THIS form of the gallop is a slow canter, in which 

 the lead changes rhythmically from one biped to the 

 other with each completion of a fixed number of 

 steps. For example, the horse gallops ten steps 

 to the right, and then on the eleventh it changes 



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