ON DRAUGHT. S2 7 



inconsistent with the necessary balancing of the body, and was, therefore, more 

 probably an error of the artist. 



It perhaps may have been found difficult or troublesome to watch the move- 

 ment of a horse's legs ; but a very little practice will enable anybody to verify 

 what we are about to state : by keeping near the side of a horse that is walking, 

 it will be easily seen that, immediately after the raising of either of the hind- 

 legs from the ground, the fore-leg of the corresponding side is also raised, so 

 that the latter leaves the ground just before the former touches it. If the fore- 

 legs be then watched, it will be seen that, immediately after the movement of 

 cither of these, the hind-leg upon the opposite side is put in action, so that the 

 order of succession appears to be in walking, as numbered in fig. 3. 



If the horse be now examined from a short distance, it will be seen that 

 when he is walking freely, the successive movements of the legs are at equal 

 intervals of time, and that the muscular force of one limb only is brought into 

 action at the same moment. But if a horse which is dragging a load with some 

 considerable exertion be watched, it will be'seen that he then acts longer upon 

 his legs, and allows a less interval of time for raising and advancing them ; and 

 at the same time, the regularity of the movement is generally destroyed ; the 

 limbs on the same side generally being moved more simultaneously, or at nearer 

 intervals of time, than those at the opposite corners : thus, the muscular forces 

 of two limbs are always acting together ; the movement of the whole body is 

 less continued and uniform than in the former case, but each impulse is more 

 powerful, and a resistance, which would be too great for the muscles of one 

 leg, is overcome by the united exertion of two. We shall point out, hereafter, 

 the necessity of attending to this in the application of this power to draught. 



In trotting, the action is of course quicker, and a less resistance will, as might 

 be expected, cause the horse- to move his legs at two intervals instead of at four 

 equal intervals of time : indeed, a horse accustomed to go in harness generally 

 acquires the habit of that action. There is this striking difference between 

 trotting and walking : in walking, we have seen that the interval between the 

 movement of the legs on the same side was less than the other interval of time: 

 in trotting, on the contrary, the legs situated diagonally, or at opposite corners, 

 move almost simultaneously. Owing to the velocity and the momentum which 

 the body acquires in consequence of that velocity, in trotting fast, the successive 

 impulses are less distinctly perceptible, and the movement more continued and 

 uniform than in a slow trot, or in walking. 



In galloping, the movement is totally different : the fore-legs are thrown 

 forward nearly simultaneously, and the hind-legs brought up quickly, and nearly 

 together; it is, in fact, a succession of leaps, by far the greatest interval of time 

 elapsing while the legs are extended after the leap is taken : this is the position, 

 therefore, which catches the eye, and which must be represented in a drawing 

 to produce the effect of a horse in a gallop, although it is the moment when the 

 animal is making no exertion. 



The canter is to the gallop very much what the walk is to the trot, though 

 probably a more artificial pace. The exertion is much less, the spring less dis- 

 tant, and the feet come to the ground in more regular succession : it is a pace of 

 ease, quite inconsistent with any exertion of draught. 



The consequence of these peculiar movements in the limbs of the animal is, 

 that a succession of impulses is conveyed to the body ; and when the movement 

 is slow, and the body of the horse does not acquire any considerable impetus or 

 momentum, the resistance should be such as to receive each of these impulses, 

 and leave the horse unrestrained in the intervals. 



It must, therefore, be a rigid resistance, void of elasticity. 



It must not, however, be a constant, unremitted resistance. 



