248 THE TRUNK. 



that his fore legs are properly shaped and properly '' put 

 on/' and that the action in front is consequently " true." 

 Undue narrowness of the chest may arise from the elbow 

 being turned in and the toes turned out, as in Fig. 57, 

 which represents a defective conformation of the part. 

 The increase of width between the fore legs in proportion 

 to weight-carrying power, is but slight in the well-shaped 

 hunter, as we may see in Fig. 328, which is the front view 

 of a particularly strong and active iifteen-stone hunter 

 (Fig. 322). Fig. 329 is the front view of another powerful 

 fifteen-stone hunter that could gallop, jump and stay with 

 the best. We see in Fig. 330 the same view of a thorough- 

 bred (Fig. 305) that was particularly thick, for a clean-bred 

 horse, in the shoulders, and far too wide in front for gallop- 

 ing. The muscles of the fore-arm in this figure contrasts, 

 as regards development, unfavourably with those of Fig. 

 328. Those of my readers who have followed me up to 

 the present point, will of course understand that in the 

 saddle-horse, the proportionate development of the muscles 

 which give width between the fore legs (those of the 

 shoulders), should never exceed that of the muscles of 

 the fore legs. Fig. 331 gives a front view of a carriage 

 horse which was too broad between the fore legs for 

 saddle work. Fig. 332 is a front view of a well-shaped 

 race-horse which is of ordinary width between the fore 

 legs. Sections of the chests of the horses shown in Figs. 

 329 and 331 are given in Fig. 349. 



Back and Loins. — The upper line of these parts 

 should, for beauty, run in a straight line, or with the 

 slightest possible rise, to the croup (Figs. 16, 338, 416,433 

 and 486). When the animal has a " roach-back " (Fig. 

 333) — that is to say, when this line is decidedly convex — the 

 muscle which runs along the top of the back, and which 

 has a powerful action on all the paces of the horse, wall be 

 wanting in development, and the chest will, as a rule, be 

 flat-sided. This condition of back, from the fact of its 



