358 
Breeding of Hunters and Roadsters. 
brought into use in the hunter and hack, as they are also con- 
stantly exercised in turn bv the animal when free. Of the two 
subordinate and more artificial paces, the amble is seldom seen 
in England, nor does the English horse take to it easily ; but the 
canter is a common requisite, and is a distinct movement, though 
it has been regarded as a slow gallop, to which, however, it has 
no real resemblance : the so-called canter in the trainer's lan- 
guage, is a gallop, and no canter at all. 
Passing over the important paces of walking and trotting, I 
have a few words to sav on the faster, the gallop. 
Under the conviction that those who have attempted to describe 
the gallop in the horse proceeded by chance, with insufficient 
knowledge of the laws of progression, I have devoted much time 
to experimenting on different animals. 
The accompanying diagram, taken from my unpublished col- 
lection, shows two representations of the gallop. Figure 1 repre- 
sents the impressions left by the feet of a five-year-old well-bred 
Irish mare, which measures 15 hands 2 inches high, and is in 
other respects of good form and action. The mare was galloped 
over the fresh sands on the sea-beach for the experiment on 
30th November, 1861, and this figure shows the prints on the 
sand and the relative position of the feet when in action. 
Xo. 2 shows a similar measurement, in the instance of a 
two-year-old racing-colt in training; it was taken, on the 13th 
January, 1862, on Richmond Moor, when the colt was going at 
a good gallop. 
Before I make remarks on the gallop I must say a few words 
on the descriptions hitherto published. 
By all the writers with whom I am acquainted the gallop is 
described as consisting of a succession of leaps ; the horse's feet 
and limbs are placed in all sorts of positions but the right ; whilst 
the great artists who have understood the subject best, from some 
motive or other, have generally represented the horse whilst 
standing still. The subject of proportion and prop-ession has 
been looked on as settled by Vial de St. Bell, in his Essay on the 
Proportions of Eclipse, published 1795, who exhibited a diagram 
which is as erroneous as the text which gives the measurements. 
Passing over other teachers and writers, we come to the late Mr. 
Perceval,* who gives the views which up to the time he wrote 
had been published by others. He says (page 150), Mr. Blaine 
observes, that "as the two fore feet at once beat the ground 
together, and then the two hinder, so it is evident that the gallop 
of speed is nothing more than a rejtetition of leaps" 
* 'Twelve Lectnres on the Form and Action of the Horse,' by William Per- 
ceval. M.R.C.S., Veterinary Surgeon to the 1st Life Guards. Longman and Co., 
London, 1850. 
