HORSE LEAPING. 



317 



set Up as an axiom, that many artists represent, in their 

 works, horses in attitudes which they have never assumed, 

 and which they could not assume/' 



A common form of conventional leap appears to have 

 been taken from Aiken's drawing (Fig. 408). It is neither 

 correct, nor does it give — at least, to a horseman — the idea 

 of what is intended to be represented. A horse in the act 

 of landing is often represented with its fore feet so far to 

 the front that, when they will come to the ground, it could 

 not possibly raise its fore hand, and a fall would be the 

 inevitable result. Fig. 409 gives a correct rendering of the 

 action at this moment ; the idea of movement being greatly 

 heightened by the happy position of the horses, which follow 

 one after the other. A method of recent date is to give the 

 animal, just before landing, the appearance of being afraid to 

 face his bit. Consequently, although the position may be 

 true, it will look constrained and awkward to the eye of a 

 cross-country expert, which is a role that such artists are 

 evidently unqualified to assume. I need hardly say that 

 the more an artist knows, the^ better will he paint. 



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Fig. 409.— -The Water Jump at Sandown Park. 



