PROGRESSION. 135 



the latter a propulsion is given to the body which throws the fore 

 foot in air to a point farther forward than of itself it could have 

 attained. 



Restricting our observation to a single limb, three motions are 

 evident in progression : by the first motion the limb is flexed, and 

 the foot lifted off the ground ; by the second, a sort of sweep or 

 segment of a circle is described by the foot in the air ; by the 

 third, the foot is replaced upon the ground. The French, who 

 have paid more attention to this subject than ourselves, have — 

 after the " inventor" of them, Solleysell — designated these three 

 motions by the apposite terms, le lever, le soulien, et Vappui, 

 which we may render in English by, the lift, the stay, and the 

 rest. The slower the pace the more distinctly these motions are 

 seen. In no pace are they better demonstrable than in what is 

 called "a good walk ;" the animal then, with a flexion of the leg, 

 sharply catches his foot off the ground, subsequently making a 

 sweep with it upward and forward, and lastly plants it firmly 

 and flatly down again. Insufficient lifting gives no room for 

 the sweep, and insufficient sweep occasions the toe to strike against 

 the ground before the foot has revolved into a position proper to 

 be placed down; and the consequence is, from the weight alighting 

 upon the toe instead of upon the foot flatly planted, knuckling over, 

 and stumbling, and now and then falling. The quicker the pace, 

 of course, the quicker these motions are performed. In the 

 walk they are distinguishable enough, each limb taking its re- 

 gular turn in them. In the trot this is likewise the case, until 

 the speed comes to be augmented to (hat degree that three and 

 even four feet are off the ground at once, and then, though the 

 motions still have to be performed by each limb in succession, 

 subject to interruption from incidental circumstances, they are apt 

 at times to be irregular. 



The lift, or raising of the foot from the ground into the air, 

 may be faulty from naturally defective action ; from a habit of 

 careless going ; from lameness ; and from any one of these causes 

 a horse may stumble, and prove unsafe to ride. Without, as 

 many writers on this subject have done, endeavouring to shew in 

 what manner or by what rule a horse, in a walk or a trot, should 

 take up his foot and put it down again, or what particular sort of 



