backward cannot be other than very limited. Very few esquires have ever obtained the movement. I know of only Baucher and Fillis, and even they with only two or three horses each. Moreover, it is absurd for any one to think that any horse can do the backward gallop really well for more than a few strides, because of the great energy demanded.
I give (Figures 42, 43) as illustrations of the movement, Fillis mounted upon "Germinal," and myself upon "Why-Not," in order that the reader may compare the leg action of the two horses at the same gait. "Germinal" is fifteen hands, three inches high: "Why-Not" is sixteen hands, three inches. Although the backward gallop is the last refinement of equilibrium possible to the horse, it is in itself pleasant neither for the horse nor for the spectator. "Why-Not" is the fourth animal from which I have obtained it, not for my own satisfaction, but for the sake of making a picture for this book, in which I set forth nothing that I have not myself done.
And now, finally, at the end of this last chapter on horse gymnastics, I beg the reader to review the illustrations, and to compare the several pictures of "Why-Not" before his training and at the various stages of his development during the course and at the end. These photographs prove amply the muscular improvement accomplished during the horse's education.
