THE LEAP. 
No inflexible rule can be laid down as to the details of 
a leap by any animal. The gathering together of the 
feet, the spring, the clearance of the obstacle, and the 
descent are contingent upon such a variety of circum¬ 
stances that no law can be formulated of universal 
application. Investigation has proved that the same 
horse, with the same rider, jumping the same hurdle, 
under the same apparent conditions, will in two suc¬ 
cessive jumps present an entirely different series of 
phases. Take, for example, series 64. The last pro¬ 
jecting force is shown in phase 7 to have been made 
by • ; but, contrary to the usual practice, the first 
contact in the descent is made on the lateral fore, which 
is also the last anterior to leave the ground in the pre¬ 
paration for the rise. 
This peculiarity is repeated in series 65, the last and 
first contacts being with the same laterals. In series 66 
the final spring is made from O, and the first contact 
with ▲ ; in series 67 the last contact is with #, and in 
the descent A is the first to touch the ground. In these 
two latter seriates we find the general practice of horses 
in leaping. The first contact with the ground usually 
takes place on the foot diagonal to that which effected 
the final projecting force. 
Had these four leaps been made by an untrained 
animal it might be supposed the irregularities proceeded 
from a lack of experience; but Pandora was a mare of 
national reputation, and had frequently, with a hundred- 
and-eighty-pound man on her back, cleared, without 
touching, a stone fence five feet high. 
The particular hind-foot with which an animal, when 
clearing an obstacle, will give its ultimate propulsion is 
a matter of convenience, depending entirely upon the 
relative positions of the feet when the gathering for 
the leap, at the calculated distance, is decided on. 
Seriates 68 and 69 illustrate parts of two jumps by 
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