142 FORM AND ACTION. 



the horse that has been for any length of time in a state of disuse, 

 or standing in the stable without exercise, as well as from that of 

 the foundered or groggy horse. In cases where any doubt exists 

 in the mind of the examiner, whether the short-stepping walk 

 proceed from one cause or the other, a trot will commonly dispel it, 

 and exhibit the case in its veritable light. 



The LIFT of the foot in walking may be insufficient, or it may 

 be greater than is required for the purpose of progression. Tn the 

 former case, the horse will be likely to hit his toe against any 

 stone or prominence in his way, occasioning him to stumble ; and 

 through the effort he makes with the opposite fore leg to save him- 

 self, will run great risk of again faltering and falling; the foot 

 coming to the rescue of the other, not perhaps prepared to come 

 flatly down, descending upon its toe, upon which the imposition of 

 weight is sure to cause knuckling over, and so down inevitably the 

 horse must come. But there may be too much lift — over much 

 action in the air : the animal may in his walk even, and. more still 

 in his trot, throw his legs about, cross them probably, in that manner 

 that he makes but short advances in progression, being after all 

 but a slow walker, and moreover is extremely likely to strike one 

 leg with the opposite foot, either at the fetlock or beneath the knee, 

 the latter being what is called speedy-cut. Independently how- 

 ever of the liability to strike, it by no means follows, because 

 a horse has high or free action in his walk, ergo, that he is a safe 

 walker. Some of the foreign horses are any thing but secure 

 steppers; they drop and suddenly fall down upon their knees, and, 

 I believe, from weakness in those joints. Neither does it follow 

 that horses that go near the ground, daisy-cutters as they are 

 often called, are of necessity unsafe walkers — many instances occur 

 proving the contrary*. The lift of the foot, in good walking, should 

 be sufficient to clear all ordinary obstacles in the road, and the 

 action should be collected, within the sphere of the animal's perfect 

 control, and not sprawling ; and the foot should be flexed in the 

 air without any great deviation laterally out of the line of direction, 

 forward and backward, turning the toes either much out or much 

 in — though the latter is less objectionable than the former — being 



* One will be found mentioned in a preceding lecture. 



