128 
LECTURES ON HORSES. 
by the hind one of the opposite side being in the air as well, while 
the hind of the same side is grounded in advance, by the lever of 
the latter a propulsion is given to the body which throws the fore 
foot in air to a point farther forward than of itself it could have 
attained. 
Restricting our observation to a single limb, three motions are 
evident in progression : by the first motion the limb is flexed, and 
the foot lifted off the ground ; by the second, a sort of sweep or 
segment of a circle is described by the foot in the air ; by the 
third, the foot is replaced upon the ground. The French, who 
have paid more attention to this subject than ourselves, have — 
after the “ inventor” of them, Solleysell — designated these three 
motions by the apposite terms, le lever, le soutien, et Vappui, 
which we may render in English by, the lift, the stay , and the 
rest. The slower the pace the more distinctly these motions are 
seen : in no pace are they better demonstrable than in what is 
called “a good walk the animal then, with a flexion of the leg, 
sharply catches his foot off the ground, subsequently making a 
sweep with it upward and forward, and lastly plants it firmly 
and flatly upon the ground. Insufficient lifting gives no room for 
the sweep, and insufficient sweep occasions the toe to strike against 
the ground before the foot has revolved into a position proper to 
be placed down; and the consequence is, from the weight alighting 
upon the toe instead of upon the foot flatly planted, that knuckling 
over, and stumbling, and now and then falling, is the result. 
The quicker the pace, of course, the quicker these motions are 
performed. In the walk they are distinguishable enough, each 
limb taking its regular turn in them. In the trot this is likewise 
the case, until the speed comes to be augmented to that degree 
that three and even four feet are off the ground at once, and then, 
though the motions still have to be performed by each limb in sue- 
cession, subject to interruption from incidental circumstances, they 
are apt at times to be irregular. 
The lift, or raising of the foot from the ground into the air, 
may be faulty from naturally defective action ; from a habit of 
careless going ; from lameness ; and from any one of these causes 
a horse may stumble, and prove unsafe to ride. Without, as 
many writers on this subject have done, endeavouring to shew in 
what manner or by what rule a horse, in a walk or a trot, should 
take up his foot, and put it down again, or what particular sort of 
action his walk or trot should consist of, I shall deem it sufficient 
for all practical purposes that he is in action safe upon his feet in 
his paces, and manifests sufficient speed in them to escape the 
denunciation of being “ slow.” A horse may lift up and set down 
his feet with mathematical precision and admirable beauty, as, in 
