CAEE AND MANAGEMENT OF ANIMALS 785 



having failed to enable the horse to recover, he goes down 

 on both, and so complete is the collapse that he fre- 

 quently cuts the inside of his upper lip with the incisor 

 teeth, through his mouth coming in contact with the 

 ground. 



The slower the pace the better chance the animal has of 

 saving himself. The slope of the ground has also a great 

 deal to say to it, a horse may recover himself going up a 

 rise that would certainly fall if descending a hill. More 

 broken knees occur going downhill than happen on a 

 level, and I think more occur during the dry than in the 

 wet months. 



It is the small and irregular obstructions on the ground 

 which are the most likely to cause stumbling. A horse 

 approaching a small saucer-shaped rut (Eig. 197) is more 

 likely to blunder in crossing it than a wider and shallower 

 one (Fig. 198). A horse that is careful will instinctively 



198. 



shorten his stride at the trot to cross Fig. 198, but takes 

 little notice of Fig. 197. A very small depression in an 

 otherwise fairly regular ground may cause a horse to 

 stumble, especially if there is a sharp rise (Fig. 199) at the 

 opposite side. 



Fig. 199. Fig. 200. 



A stone fixed in the ground (Fig. 200, a) is less likely to 

 throw a horse down if trod on, than one loose on the 

 surface (Fig. 200, h). But if the toe strikes against the 

 fixed stone, the horse may certainly fail, though if it 

 strikes the loose one it will have no effect. 



Horses are more liable to blunder over small obstructions 

 than large ones; this may be due to vision or to indifference. 



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