EXTERNAL FORMATION. 89 
tinue to admire them, whenever they are to be found; my chief regret is 
that wide hips are so scarce among the descendents of that horse. 
THE SECOND DIVISION OF THE BODY, OR THE CHEST, in the thoroughbred 
horse, must afford sufficient room for the heart and lungs, but it must not 
be too wide, or it will interfere with the free play of the shoulder blade 
as it glides on the side. An open bosom is regarded asa sure sign of want 
of pace by every racing man of experience, and I know of no single 
exception. One of the finest two-year-olds I ever saw in every other 
respect was Lord Standbroke’s Rose de Florence ; but I could have laid 
any reasonable odds that she would be deficient in pace, because she was 
made as wide as a cart-horse between the forelegs, and so she proved to 
be on trial. A horse of fifteen hands three, or sixteen hands when in 
stud condition should measure at least seventy-four inches, and should 
be wide through the part where the rider’s knees come on the saddle ; but 
below this the ribs should rapidly shelve inwards, and in this way allow 
the shoulder points to come closer together, and the elbows to act without 
being “tied.” The anatomy of this part is treated of elsewhere, and I 
am now regarding it simply in its proportion to the rest of the body. 
Anatomically, and considered per se, a round or barrel-like chest is the 
best, because it admits of more free expansion and contraction, but when 
either high speed or smooth action is required, this formation is objection- 
able for the reasons I have given above, and in ail cases it is to be avoided 
in the thoroughbred horse, while in some other breeds it must be looked 
for with great anxiety. It has been proved that good wind may be 
obtained from a chest possessing great depth without much width, and 
in some cases with a very narrow bosom, as in the celebrated Crucifix 
(dam of Priam); and as the opposite proportions are incompatible with 
speed, they must on that account be altogether rejected. THE WITHERS 
are generally thin, and sometimes raised quite into a razor-like form, 
which, however, is a defect, as it is attended with no advantage to 
counterbalance the difficulty which it presents in the way of the saddler, 
who is constantly being called on to prevent his tree hurting the horse’s 
back. A moderate development of the spinous processes is required to 
give attachment to the muscles which support the neck and move the 
shoulder, but the excessive height which we sometimes see is not of the 
slightest avail for this purpose. 
THE NEXT AND LAST COMPONENT PARTS of the body are THE BACK-RIBS, 
FLANK AND BELLY. Here we have chiefly to consider the proper lodgment 
of the organs of nutrition ; but there is also the junction of the fore and 
lind quarters to come under review. For both these purposes the back-ribs 
should be long, or, as such a formation is generally called, “deep,” so as 
not only to give protection to the contents of the belly, but to afford a 
strong attachment to the muscles which connect the chest to the hips. 
The space, also, between the latter and the last rib should not be large, 
or there will be an element of weakness ; but if too limited, the action in 
the gallop will be confined, and the hind legs will not be brought suf- 
ficiently forward. About the breadth of the hand is the proper allowance 
to make for this space in a horse of average size and make, and either 
mor? or less than this may be considered a defect. To obtain this forma- 
tion, the ribs themselves must be set wide apart, and not huddled up 
together, as you sometimes see, leaving a great space between the last and 
the hip. When the back-ribs are long, the lower outline of the belly 
swells considerably below the level of the girth-place, and a very elegant 
shape is developed, as well as one generally united with a hardy consti- 
