38 TILE HORSE. 
about twenty-five degrees, that is to say, with a considerable fall. 
With this formation there may be the same length for the attachment of 
muscles and the same leverage in their action on the thigh, for the situa- 
tion of the hip joint (or round bone) is not altered in relation to them, 
though it is lower and more forward in reference to the spine. Hence 
the muscles which draw the thigh forward have more power, and also act 
much more quickly, giving that rapid thrust of the hind legs forward 
which is essential to good and strong action. With the perfectly 
horizontal croup you may have a long sweeping stroke which tells over 
such a course as Newmarket, but you very rarely meet with a quick 
coupling and uncoupling, unless the pelvis is set on to the sacrum or con- 
tinuation of the spine, at a considerable angle, so as to give the quarters 
more or less droop. Most of our best horses have exhibited this forma- 
tion, while a great number of very handsome, but utterly useless brutes, 
might be enumerated which possess the high croup of the Arab in an 
exaggerated condition, of which Mr. Gratwick’s Ethiopean is a good 
example. If the portraits of the Godolphin Barb are at all to be 
‘depended on, we are indebted to him for the introduction of this useful, 
though not particularly elegant shape, and I believe that it is in this 
‘direction, and in point of size, that he has been so useful in the stud. 
The eye is captivated by the animal, which, as the dealers say, “has both 
ends up ;” and experience teaches every horseman, who will profit by it, 
that both the stargazer and the high-crouped horse are to be avoided. In 
selecting the thoroughbred horse, then, choose such as have a deep and 
wide back and loin, avoiding either the ‘roach back,” which causes that 
part to be inflexible, and the hollow one, which tends to give way too 
much under weight, but regarding as most desirable such a width of ribs 
and hips, and depth of spinous processes as shall give sufficient lodgment 
for muscles, and looking also for a proper length of spine, not too short 
for stride, nor too long for strength. Lastly, let the pelvis be attached 
at such an angle as to give a slight droop to the quarters, whether the tail 
be set on in correspondence with :t or not, for the dock does not always 
come out of the pelvis in the same position viewed in relation to that 
part alone. Some of the above opinions are in opposition to those of 
Mr. Percivall, who objects to a great width of hip in the race-horse, and 
also asserts that he cannot be too lengthy and straight in his quarters. 
He says, “although the race-horse may prove disadvantageously broad 
across his hips, I believe he will never be found either too lengthy or too 
straight in his quarters ; by which I mean the length and elevation of an 
imaginary line carried from either hip to the point of his quarter, or of 
another carried from the summit of his rump to the root of his hock. 
Such straight formation of quarter implies small degree of inclination in 
the position of the pelvis, the effect of which is extension of the angles 
between the pelvis and the femoral bones, and corresponding increase of 
the distances between the pelvis and the stifles in front, and between the 
pelvis and hocks behind; thereby augmenting the dimensions of the 
muscles running between these salient points, and at the same time 
furnishing them with, under the circumstances, the greatest advantages in 
their action. Length and straightness in the quarters must therefore be 
regarded as characteristic attributes of the race-horse.” Of the probability 
of meeting with too great a width of hip in the race-horse I am extremely 
doubtful, and until I see it I shall continue sceptical. The Melbournes, 
which have this part wider than in any other strain, are certainly not to 
be despised, and, in spite of Mr. Percivall, I must, on the contrary, con- 
