CHEST AND RIBS. 



235 



that are attached to these bones. Hence the longer the 

 ribs, the stronger will the muscles of the back and loins 

 generally be. Some persons think that it is an advantage 

 for a horse, as regards speed, to be a bit " slack in the 

 loins ; " because (so they say) such a shape allows the 

 animal more freedom in bringing his hind legs forward, 

 than if he were well ribbed up. It is evident that the 

 form of a horse's back ribs cannot in any way affect 



Photo by} [^^- ^- ^• 



Fig. 322.— Mr. W. H. Walker's Heavy-weight Hunter, Touclistone. 



the action of his hind legs. This absurd reason was, no 

 doubt, invented by some person who supposed that the 

 hip joints were at the points of the hips ! Although a 

 '* herring-gutted " conformation mihtates greatly against 

 endurance and weight-carrying capacity, it is favourable 

 to speed (as in the greyhound), because the comparative 

 lightness of the body behind the shoulders increases the 

 instability of the equihbrium (p. 69) at fast paces. Owing 

 to sexual causes, mares, as a rule, are not so well ribbed 



