THE WALK. 79 



relating to the part of tlie foot which first touches the ground. 

 Of each of these, therefore, I must enter into a particular de- 

 scription. 



In examining the order of sequence in which the feet are 

 taken off the ground, it appears to me that a very simple matter 

 has been converted into a complicated one No one with a grain 

 of observation can dispute that all the foui legs in this pace move 

 separately, and not, as in the trot and amble, by twos of opposite 

 or the same sides, Solleysell, however, says that " in a walk the 

 horse lifts the near fore leg and far hind leg together '^ and Perci- 

 vall, in quoting this passage, calls him " this true observer of Na- 

 ture ;" but, nevertheless, the latter author goes on to disprove the 

 correctness of the very passage he has just quoted, though he does 

 not seem very clear upon the subject. His description is as fol- 

 lows: — " At the mandate of the will to move forward, the fore leg 

 is first put in motion, the order of succession in the walk appearing 

 to be this : — supposing the right or off fore leg to move first, that is 

 no sooner carried off the ground than the left or near hind foot is 

 raised, the former being placed upon the ground prior to the latter. 

 The two remaining feet move in respect to each other, in the same 

 order of time, the left or near fore after the off hind, the right or 

 off hind after the near fore; it being observable that as each 

 hind foot follows in the line of movement of its corresponding fore 

 foot, the latter would very often get struck by the former, did it 

 not quit its place immediately prior to the other being placed upon, 

 partly or entirely, the same ground." Can anything be more con- 

 fused than this jumble of words, which is solely so because it is 

 desired to make the horse begin with a fore foot in preference to a 

 hind one. Any one who examines the action of the feet of one 

 side only will have no difficulty in perceiving that the hind foot is 

 raised from the ground and moved forward for half its stride before 

 the fore foot is disturbed, the same order being observed on the other 

 side in succession. Hence, if the horse is started from the stand- 

 ing position with all the feet on the ground, it follows that he must 

 begin with a hind foot, because with whichever of the sides he 

 starts he lifts the hind foot half a pace before the fore foot, as is 

 admitted by Percivall himself, for he says, " the latter (fore foot) 

 would often get struck by the former (hind foot) did it not quit its 

 place immediately prior to the other being placed upon, partly or 

 entirely, the same ground." It is very difficult to convey a correct 

 idea of this fact by illustration, because the eye has become accus- 

 tomed to the erroneous view which is conventionally received by 

 artists. However, with the assistance of Mr. Zwecker, who has 

 himself studied the subject carefully, I am enabled to present the 

 following engraving, which, though apparently awkward and un- 

 graceful, is literally correct. Here the near hind foot (1) is just 



