horses' legs not wheelbarrow handles. 135 



state of nature they use one as readily as the other) : 

 this is merely done for the accommodation of the 

 rider. Holding, as we do, our reins in the left hand, 

 most persons, hunting and racing men particularly, 

 get an almost imperceptible twist with the body : 

 this makes the horse, when leading with the ofF-leg, 

 go in the same direction with the body of the rider. 

 Now a man left-handed would feel his horse go 

 pleasanter if he led with the near-leg. To a soldier, 

 who sits upright, straight on his horse, and down on 

 his saddle, it is a matter of indifference which leg his 

 horse leads with : in fact, his horse must be equally 

 handy with both. We frequently find race-horses 

 while running change their leg. This with a sound 

 horse shows that the bearing leg has become fatigued : 

 if with an unsound one, that he is putting the infirm 

 limb where it can be used with the least distress from 

 bearing the smallest portion of the weight. When 

 that weight comes to be 16st. or 17st., and one con- 

 tinued pace is persevered in for a length of time, how 

 wearied must that limb and those parts of the frame 

 become that take more than their proportion of such 

 weight ! If horses put forward their two fore-legs 

 like the handles of a wheelbarrow, and went quite 

 straight in the canter, the weight would fall equally 

 perhaps on both legs ; but as they do not go quite in 

 that fashion, this is not the case, and I presume 

 Nature knows what she is about, and orders things 

 for the best. 



Now in a trot, each leg takes its own share of 

 weieht and work, and relieves each other in much 

 quicker succession than in a canter. It is for this 

 reason that many horses will go safe enough in a very 

 fast pace that would often come down in a slow one : 



K 4 



