172 STABLE MANUAL AND HORSE DOCTOR 



ground, and not, as is too often the case, the toe being placed 

 first and then the heel. The breaking of the horse will 

 have much influence on his method of walking ; the angles 

 of his limbs will have much more ; and not a little will 

 depend on the hand of the rider. One horseman, by seat 

 and hand, will force the horse to carry his head in the right 

 place, and to elevate and extend his limbs the one in unison 

 with the other ; another rider, by his bad seat and worse 

 hand, will bring the horse he rides to step short and irre- 

 gular, and so to mix the trot with his walk as to do little 

 more than shuffle over the ground. Tiie maximum of 

 speed in the true walk of the horse is under six miles per 

 hour ; there are but few can do thus much, but it has been 

 done. Five miles per hour is the common pace of a fast 

 walker. Charles Westhall, the pedestrian, who can, or 

 could, clear seven miles' walking in fifty-eight minutes, 

 would dead beat the best walking horse, and break him 

 into a trot before fifty yards were covered. 



Of all the paces, the walk is the easiest to the rider, pro- 

 vided he sits in the middle of his horse's back, as it consists 

 of an alternate elevation and depression of the animal's 

 fore and hinder quarters. The motion may be compared 

 to the vibration of the beam of a pair of scales. It is 

 difficult to confine young and high-mettled horses to a 

 walk ; good temper and a firm light hand are requisite to 

 accomplish this. When such horses change to a trot, stop 

 them for a minute or two ; then walk them on again. If 

 the horse carry his head well, ride him with a moderately 

 loose rein, raising the hand when he tries to break into a 

 trot. 



The Trot. — The trot is also a mixed pace ; it combines 

 the true trot, and the running, pacing, or American trot. 

 In what may be called the true trot the legs are lifted 

 diagonally, and brought down simultaneously. This motion 

 is repeated more or less rapidly, the off hind foot and near 

 fore foot being in the air together, and vice versa. Acceler- 

 ate the trot to ten or twelve miles the hour, and a spring 

 will have been imparted to the pace, by which the off" fore 

 and near hind leg, having struck the ground, the near fore 

 and off* hind leg not only are ready to elevate themselves, 

 but have actually left the ground, and all four feet are 

 in the air at the same time, as in the racing gallop, or 

 flying leap. In a sprint race, you may easily see that a man at 



