36 Scats and Saddles. 



reason than because he could be easily brought to stand 

 still during the operation ; and the clearness of the lines 

 of thiC original everywhere except about the head, which 

 he probably tossed once or twice, shows that he did so, 

 which was rendered possible, under the burden he had 

 to bear and the mode in which it was placed on his 

 back, only by this very position of his hind legs ; he 

 could 71 at st3.n(\ straight under it, and the less so because 

 his hind quarters are weaker in proportion than the 

 forehand. The position of the head and neck has much 

 to do with it, but this we shall have to consider far- 

 ther on. 



The cases in which a horse, when standing still and 

 weighted chiejly on his forehand, assumes with his fore 

 legs the positions indicated in fig. i by 3^ x^ or x^ x\ 

 occur so frequently that it is quite superfluous to devote 

 a figure to their illustration. Put a man on a horse 

 without a saddle, and with nothing but a halter on the 

 animal's head, and he will inevitably slip forward till 

 his seat comes in contact with the withers. Let him 

 then stand still, and the horse, especially if a young or 

 untrained one, will most probably shove forward his 

 hind or fore legs in one of those two ways. 



There remains a third case for consideration — namely, 

 where the horse, being weighted back to the line G H, 

 Plate I., brings his hind legs under him up to the line 

 I K, hut with the hocks bent. This is the position into 

 which manege horses have to be brought for certain 

 definite purposes, the general object being to enable 

 them to make short turns on the hind quarters or croup, 

 the forehand turning round this latter; whereas, with 

 a horse weighted on the centre line E F, Plate I., the 

 hind and fore quarters both turn equally round a com- 

 mon point, and with one weighted principally on the 

 forehand, the hind quarters wMll turn round the former. 



Now, in order to avoid drawing false conclusions 



