No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 611 



ful a horse is, other things considered, the higher he is going to 

 sell. There must be no ringbone, no sidebone, or other unsoundness 

 of the feet, and in the hind legs no curb, no spavin, no thoroughjjin 

 or bog spavin; of course, he must not be a roarer or wind-broken. 

 Now, most of these things are unsoundnesses that can be readily 

 detected by anyone who is at all competent in judging horses. 



The next point is conformation. The conformation of the profit- 

 able horse is one that must be learned with a great deal of study. 

 The head should be well shaped, neat, clear-cut and straight, with 

 breadth between the eyes, a large, open nostril, fine-cut muzzle, 

 and clean, firm lips, a full, bright eye, a neat, well-set ear of medium 

 size, a clean-cut, open jaw, with a wide angle between the jaws, that 

 is, the jaws should set out rather than in the jaws should not extend 

 so far back that when a curb-bit is put on the horse the jaw itself 

 will press against the wind-pipe and interfere with his breathing. 

 We must have a clean-cut throttle, a neck of good length, clean-cut 

 and well-muscled, a clean-cut wind-pipe, high withers and a sloping 

 shoulder without any tendency to neatness. The arm should be 

 thrown v.ell back, the forearm long, well-muscled and flat; knees 

 good-sized, cannon clean cut and strong, with tendon well defined; 

 straight fetlocks, sloping pasterns, feet of fair size, with dense horn, 

 with high and wide heels. Now, that short back is a something that 

 will fool a beginner in a good many instances, because if the horse 

 has a straight shoulder his back is going to look longer. The back 

 must be short, strong and straight, with the ribs deep and well- 

 rounded, the chest deep and the loins broad and strong. In the hind 

 quarters there . must be good breadth of croup, which should be 

 straight rather than strong; the quarters should be well-rounded, 

 smooth, well-muscled and muscular; the thighs long, with open 

 angles, the lower thighs should be long and well-muscled. The 

 hock — the most important joint in the body — should be wide, deep 

 and clean-cut in front; at the back the hock should come up to a 

 rather fine edge. The cannon should be clean-cut, cordy, the ten- 

 dons standing out distinctly, and the bone should be clean. The 

 fetlocks should be wide and deep, pasterns sloping — not so much 

 slope is necessary in the hind pasterns as in the front ones. To 

 ascertain the straightness of the legs, stand immediately in front 

 of the animal and drop an imaginary plumb line from the point of 

 the shoulder; it should divide the leg from the knee down. At the 

 side a line from the center of the arm should fall on the center 

 of the foot. A line dropped from behind the point of the buttock 

 should bisect leg from this point down; from the side this line shouM 

 touch the back and coincide with the cannon throughout its length. 



The point of quality is extremely important and hard to describe 

 because it is a very tangible thing. The horse should have a clean- 

 cut appearance throughout; there should be a cleanness of bone, 

 no mcatiness below the knee and hock or around the shoulder. The 

 head should be clean-cut, and he should have a general well-bred 

 appearance. His skin should be moderately fine and the hair soft. 



The point of action is the next in importance. Action is extremely 

 important in light horses. It should be straight and true. At the 

 trot it should be what is known as the straight line trot, no wabbling 

 from one side to the other, or swinging the feet. The action from 



