Scats. 93 



said, to demonstrate over again how conducive to handi- 

 ness, perfect mastery over the horse, independence of 

 the rein, and therefore good bitting, a central position of 

 the saddle, stirrups and seat must be ; and these are, w^e 

 take it, the conditions under which road-riding may 

 be done safely and agreeably. High speed not being 

 the object, nothing can be gained by throwing the rider's 

 weight forward ; on the contrary, it has this further posi- 

 tive disadvantage in addition to those already pointed 

 out. Corns with our horses are as equally prevalent as 

 broken knees, and the latter are very frequently a con- 

 sequence of the former. Now we have shown (see fig. 

 2, C) that the consequence of throwing the weight for- 

 ward is to make the horse overstep with its hind foot 

 the track of the corresponding fore foot ; and this being 

 very much our habit, our horses do very frequently 

 overstep, and by so doing the risk is run of tearing off 

 the fore shoes. We have got into the habit of using 

 very short shoes, the web of which does not overlap 

 sufficient, at the heel the angle formed by tlie frog with 

 the wall of the hoof, but falling short, throws the wliole 

 pressure inside this angle. This is what produces 

 corns. For racing, certainly, and perhaps for hunting, 

 the short shoe may be inevitable, but there is no reason 

 whatever why the roadster should be shod in this fash- 

 ion, nor even a cavalry horse, except that people will 

 persist in either sitting directly on the horse's withers, 

 or, when they sit on the loins, transferring their weight 

 to the shoulder, through the medium of stirrups hung 

 far forward, every time they rise in the saddle when 

 trotting. Corns and broken knees are totally unknown 

 in the Austrian cavalry, where the shoe is given a solid 

 bearing on the angle of the ivall of the hoof at the heel. 



