The front legs do not merely lift. To a greater or lesser extent they push off the ground. Think of a race horse gallop or a passage. All of that air time is not produced solely by the lifting actions of the hind legs.
Edited to add: Reading other comments, perhaps I am interpreting “push” differently. The front legs push off the ground creating lift in that quarter, and lateral movement in that quarter. Agreed front legs do not provide significant propulsion in dressage.
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The front legs PULL. The lift most definitely comes from the hind legs. Yes, look at racehorses. They are completely on the forehand when they run.
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Sorry, it all comes from behind. The hind legs push the front end, which fold (we hope), to clear the fence.
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HP = both legs (depending on the phase of the gait)
Canter = the abdomen and back create lift allowing the rear legs to reach under and push.
It’s all sort of a chicken and egg thing 
I agree.
I was at a clinic last weekend and someone there had a horse that twisted out in his right hind. When she cantered him around and around on a 20m circle to the left i cringed at first circle and had to get up and walk away as she continued round and around and around ‘until he got it right’.
A limb without a flexed joint to provide spring can’t provide lift, it can’t push. Humans cannot jump with a straight knee, any vertical movement would come from pushing off the toes, which is a different mechanics than a horse’s hoof and pastern/fetlock movement. In the horse, that fetlock/pastern is a rebounding spring-loaded joint that gives propulsion.
Yes, the thoracic sling is critical. But all that slight front end upward movement is really facilitated by the horse lifting his head and neck. There is no real pushing up from the front end, the mechanics of the front end aren’t there.
Look at a horse who’s standing, and suddenly spooks and spins - it’s all in the elevation of the head and neck, and then the hind end engages to provide more elevation if needed. His front legs did not push him off the ground.
Edited for typos
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Actually, they aren’t. It looks like it but that is an illusion. It is an ELONGATION of gait more than a drop on the forehand. When you truly gallop you feel the horse lift in the core while the entire body drops due to the extended time of all feet off the ground. The power is still totally from the hind and if things are correct, there is still very little feel in the bit, even less so than what one feels for connection in dressage.
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I think it’s important to distinguish between the pushing leg and the carrying leg, I also think it’s important to understand that the carrying leg must be able to catch and then carry the weight transferred by the pushing leg. The pushing leg benefits from the momentum going into the push, but the carrying leg has to effectively to take the full weight without the benefit of momentum.
In HP the outside hind is the pushing leg, the inside hind the carrying leg. The forelegs don’t push, the inside fore swings out then carries to allow the outside fore to swing over. The outside fore then carries to allow the inside fore to swing out.
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My understanding is the the front legs act like a pole vaulter’s pole. The pole doesn’t “push”, but it certainly allows the pole jumper to jump higher, by converting forward motion into upward motion.
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the fact that a BOucher does NOT create poll pressure IS physics.
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best explanation I have read. thank you.
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the pole bends, storing energy, then pushes against the ground which doesnt give so the athlete is propelled upwards.
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Yes, that’s the energy return of the pretty fully flexed fetlock at that last moment of being weighted before the hind legs come up to push off. Add to that the lifting of the head and neck, and you do have some upward lift in front. It’s just not an actual push, as much as it is that “rebound” effect
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But the pole vaulter relies on muscles in their arms for the extra spring to carry them over.
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