4 TIPS AND T<JE-WEIGHTS. 



the gallop can be closely imitated by resting the thumb on a table 

 and striking rapidly first with the little finger, second, with the one 

 next to it, then the middle and fore-finger; the interval, before the little 

 finger can be brouglit down again, corresponding to the bound or leap. 

 Only one foot touches the ground at a time, when, of course, the 

 whole weight must rest upon that foot, although it is quickly relieved 

 by the other. As at least two strides are made in a second, and as the 

 longer time is occupied by the bound, the contact of the foot with 

 the ground being a small fraction of the time, the duration lasting 

 while the body is carried far enough forward to cause it to be taken 

 up. One of the fore feet supports the whole of the weight of horse 

 and rider, while the body is moved over it, until it has to leave the 

 ground; then the bound follows, and the hind foot stx-ikes eighty -six 

 inches beyond the imprint of the front foot. 



In trotting, the feet are moved diagonally, and so nearly at the 

 same instant that the ear also fails to^ separate the footfalls, and the 

 sound of the feet of a square trotter, at a twenty gait, has a regular 

 cadence like the ticking of a pendulum. The foot-prints of a race- 

 j horse show plainly the flight of the body through the air, and can be 

 pictured thus : 



4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 



We will suppose the figure 1 to be the right fore foot, 2 the left 

 fore foot, 3 the right hind foot, and 4 the other hind foot. The 

 length of the stride is manifestly from where the foot left the ground 

 until it struck it again. In race-horses this will vary from 18 to 25 

 feet. The impress which the trotter leaves is more nearly equi- 

 distant, thus : 



4 3 2 14 3 2 1 



and from 17 to 22 feet is the length of the strides of the fast trot- 

 ters. Adopting the same simile, from 1 to 1 is the space measured 

 by each stride, and it is just as evident that to enable the animal to 

 strike the ground twenty feet in advance of the position the same 

 foot occupied, the body must be thrown through the air when all the 

 feet are off the ground. It is also necessary that when the foot 

 strikes it must be thrust forward as far as it can be aiid sustain 



