VII] 



RIDING AND SADDLES 



87 



generally be answered by an expert instructor 

 after a few weeks. 



341. Paces. The paces of the horse are 

 various, and are generally little understood. 

 The natural pace is the canter, which is a pace 

 of three time. The trot has become general with 

 the advancement of the horse's domestication. 

 In the long rides carried on in Europe the horses 

 that cantered at the slow paces instead of trotting 

 were less fatigued than those that trotted. The 

 ranch horse canters or ambles most of the time ; 

 we find the same with the South African pony. 

 They never seem to tire, and there is no doubt 

 that it is the easiest pace for the rider. P. 75 

 shows the tracks made by a horse at the walk. 

 The horse raises his legs from the ground in the 

 following order : near hind, near fore, off hind, 

 and off fore. If the walk is a long, striding one, 

 then the hindleg touches the ground a little 

 ahead of the spot from which the foreleg was 

 lifted ; in the slow walk the hindfoot is placed 

 behind the forefoot's imprint. In ambling or 

 single-footing, the horse brings the near legs 

 forward together, and then the off. In trotting 

 (P. 96) the diagonally opposite legs are advanced 

 together, the legs remaining on the ground for 

 a shorter period. In the fast trot the hindleg 

 is brought ahead of the foreleg, and in the 

 slow trot it is placed behind the imprint of 

 the foreleg. In pacing (P. 9a) the lateral pairs 

 move together. This is natural with some 

 horses whenever they are in motion, but with 

 others it is not a natural pace, but an acquired 

 one. With these, and also with some natural 

 pacers, hobbles are used while racing (P. 44a). 

 The gait is much faster than trotting. 



342. The following are the world's records 

 for the various pacers : 



Pacing. Dan Patch, 1 mile in i min. 55 sec. 



(P. to). 

 Trotting. Uhlan, 1 mile in 1 min. 54 sec., 



at Lexington, Kentucky, October 9th, 1913. 

 Trotting on Ice. The Eel, i mile in 2 min. 



Hi sec., on the Ottawa River, at Ottawa, 



January, 1909 (P. 40fe). 

 Two-year-old Trotting. Peter Volo, 1 mile in 



2 min. & sec. 



343. In the canter, which can be made at the 

 same pace as the trot or faster (P. 75), the horse 

 places the leading foreleg on the ground, then 

 the opposite foreleg and leading hindleg 

 together, and then the hindleg diagonally oppo- 

 site to the leading fore. The true canter is a 

 movement of three time. In P. 55a the near 

 horse is leading with near fore, the off horse 

 with the off foreleg. 



In the gallop (P. 75) the motions are quite 

 different. The leading fore is brought to the 

 ground, followed by the diagonally opposite 

 hind, then the other hind, and then the other 

 fore. A horse while galloping (sometimes called 

 running) cannot be collected as he can while 



cantering, but is stretched out ; the faster he 

 goes the farther will he be stretched out. The 

 true gallop is a movement in four time. 



With the canter or gallop a horse leads with 

 one or other of the forelegs. A trained horse 

 will never turn on a circle or to one side unless 

 he is leading with the inward leg ; untrained 

 horses will not do this as a rule. If a horse is 

 turned while leading on the wrong leg, he is 

 very liable to cross his legs and throw himself 

 down ; this frequently happens and often causes 

 accidents, generally due to want of knowledge 

 on the part of the rider. Schooling is most 

 essential for every hunter or military horse. A 

 good rider knows by the feel with which leg 

 the horse is leading ; at any rate, a glance at 

 the shoulders in front of the saddle will settle 

 the question, because if the horse is leading with 

 his near fore, the off shoulder-blade will move a 

 little forward first, followed by the near shoulder- 

 blade. 



344. A horse that canters or gallops with his 

 legs moving in the correct order, but with, let 

 us suppose, the off legs leading while turning to 

 the near side, is said to be cantering united but 

 " false." If his legs are not moving in the correct 

 order, he is cantering "disunited." In order to 

 canter "true" he must, therefore, canter united. 

 " True " is the opposite to " false." 



345. Conformation of the Saddle Horse. 

 When judging a saddle horse it is more im- 

 portant that he should go well at the walk, trot 

 and canter than that he should look well when 

 standing. Both conditions are ideal, but difficult 

 to get. A saddle horse must be sure-footed and 

 must not drag his toes, but place each foot flat 

 on the ground. Of course, the heels really come 

 to the ground first. He should be impetuous, 

 i.e. a free goer at all times, thus keeping up to 

 the bit. A sluggish horse is always behind the 

 hand (or bit), and has not the pluck and 

 reliability that it is most essential a saddle horse 

 should have. He must not be nervous. His con- 

 formation must be carefully examined. He 

 must have a long rein, i.e. neck, and a well-set- 

 on head. The neck should be fairly light, 

 shoulders long and oblique, withers prominent 

 and well covered with muscle, but not too broad, 

 back and loins short and strong, croup long, 

 pelvis not too horizontal. He must be well 

 ribbed up, i.e. as short as possible between the 

 last rib and the point of the hip (ilium). He 

 must have a long forearm (humerus) ; hocks 

 well let down, and not too much bent or tied in 

 below the hock. 



" Good bone," which means good width 

 between the cannon bones and the back tendons 

 below the knees and hocks, is essential. The 

 tendons should stand out distinctly, cannon 

 bones short, not tied in below the knee, pasterns 

 fairly long and at an angle of 45 with the 

 vertical, long feet, and heels not contracted. 



