172 THE STUD. 



suffer in the horse with fast and at the same time 

 very high action. The legs and feet suffer from 

 concussions ; the animal powers suffer from ex- 

 haustion ; and, when tired, such horses become 

 very unsafe, which will be seen in a few lines. 



I shall perhaps surprise some readers when I 

 give it as an opinion, founded on practical experi- 

 ence, that horses with slow and very high action 

 are as unsafe as any horse short of an absolute 

 cripple can be ; nay, even more so, if the cripple be 

 a game one ; for, though the latter from infirmity 

 may faulter ten times in every mile, the genuine 

 bit of generous spice in his composition will induce 

 him to catch himself up, as if ashamed to show the 

 failing of his wasted powers. Xow the horse with 

 fast and high action, when fatigued, good though 

 he may be, is brought against his will to the level 

 of the high and slow mover when fresh : the want 

 of power in the one reduces him to the standard 

 of want of activity in the other ; and where the 

 want of activity prevails, be it from natural causes 

 or fatigue, the effect is the same ; treading on a 

 stone, a rolling one, or a blow on the leg from the 

 other foot, down both must come. 



If terms always carried a proper signification 

 with them, it might appear somewhat of an incon- 

 gruity when I state that horses with high, slow ac- 

 tion are very apt to cut speedy ; and this tfliows a 

 fact known to most men judges of action, that 



