Poor critters, they have to be on their taps most all the time.1 The
Arab and the Canadian have the best horses, not only because they have
the best breed, but because one has no stalls, and t'other has no
stable treatment.
1 On their feet.
"Now in judging of a horse's action, I compare him not with other
horses, but with animals of a different species. Did you ever know a
fox stumble, or a cat make a false step? I guess not; but haven't you
seen a bear when chased and tired go head over heels? A dog in a
general way is a sure-footed critter, but he trips now and then, and
if he was as big as a horse, would throw his rider sometimes. Now then
I look to these animals, and I find there are two actions to be
combined, the knee and the foot action. The fox and the cat bend the
knee easy and supply, but don't arch 'em, and though they go near the
ground, they don't trip. I take that then as a sort of standard. I
like my beast, especially if he is for the saddle, to be said to trot
like a fox. Now, if he lifts too high, you see, he describes half a
circle, and don't go ahead as he ought, and then he pounds his frog
into a sort of mortar at every step, for the horny shell of a foot is
just like one. Well then, if he sends his fore leg away out in front,
and his hind leg away out behind like a hen scratchin' gravel, he
moves more like an ox than anything else, and hainte sufficient power
to fetch them home quick enough for fast movement.
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