268 THE FORE LIMB. 



ing (p. 66). Consequently, obliquity of shoulder is a 

 desirable point in every kind of horse, except in match 

 trotters (p. 585) and heavy draught animals which work 

 on smooth roads, and are not required to go out of a 

 walk. If they have at times to exceed this pace, on 

 hard ground, as dray horses have to do in London, they 

 should undoubtedly have sloping shoulders, so that 

 their legs may be preserved as much as possible from 

 the injurious effects of concussion. The advantage of 

 sloping shoulders in cart-horses which have to labour 

 on soft ground, like that of ordinary farms, has been 

 discussed on page 78. 



In the series of levers formed by the bones of the 

 fore leg, we find that in diminishing concussion and in 

 raising the forehand, the shoulder joint and the joints 

 below the knee act to a great extent in harmony. Hence, 

 for perfect collaboration, sloping shoulders require the 

 presence of sloping pasterns (p. 292) ; and vice versa. 

 We often find on riding a hunter which has shoulders 

 apparently too upright for his work, that he is '^ light in 

 front ' ' and is capable of moving his fore limbs freely ; 

 the redeeming point in almost all these cases being good 

 oblique pasterns. The advisabihty of not judging the 

 shoulders of a riding horse solely by their appearance, is 

 so well understood by experienced horsemen, that if an 

 intending buyer finds fault with the shoulders of a hunter 

 which he sees in a dealer's yard, the seller will almost 

 always ask him to get on the animal and try him before 

 condemning his shoulders. Also, some horses which have 

 admirable shoulders move more or less stiffly in front, 

 because their fetlock and pastern joints are wanting in 

 pliability. In many Arabs, the defect of upright shoulders 

 is mitigated to a large extent by long and sloping pas- 

 terns. Excess of weight in the muscles of the shoulders 

 naturally detracts from any advantage obtained by the 

 shoulders being oblique. 



The thickness of the muscles about the shoulders should 



