At an ordinary trot, a horse should be let as free as possible. We should keep him well in hand, with his head and neck high, so that he may be light by being well-balanced.

In the fast trot, the head and neck should be nearly horizontal, so as to allow the animal to reach forward as far as possible. The horse ought to go freely up to the bridle, and the rider ought to keep only a light feeling on the snaffle.

There are three kinds of canter,^[1] namely, the well-collected canter, the hand gallop, and the full-speed gallop.

In the well-collected canter (strong action of the legs and slight action of the hands : taking and giving), while gaining but little ground, he should carry his head and neck high.

The hand gallop is a shortened gallop, which should be well-collected, if the rider is worthy of that name ; but in it the horse is almost always behind his bit and extended. If we go to the Bois any morning, we shall see many of these unfortunate thorough-breds, which are worthy of a better fate, fully extended, with their hind legs dragging behind, head and neck low, and going stiffly in a mechanical style of gallop. Such horses caricature the movements of a gallop, while having a man on their back ; but this inelegant combination has nothing to do with equitation. In the hand gallop we should give some liberty to the horse, and as we press him up to the hand, we should proportionately support him. Although the collection is not full, our legs should bring his hocks well under the body.

In the full-speed or race-course gallop, the horse should lean well on the hands, and should stretch out his head and neck. Although he is not collected, the hocks are not less energetically brought under his body ; for speed could not be obtained without their action.