JUDGING. 169 



forehead to nostril should be slightly concave (the 

 opposite of a Roman nose), and the jowl should be 

 clean cut out underneath. A thick jowl and a 

 Roman nose spoil a horse's head at once. The tail 

 should be well set on ; in this regard no breed can 

 approach the Arabian. When the tail is low, the 

 horse is goose-rumped, as Fisherman, and a large 

 proportion of Irish horses, who are supposed to j ump 

 better in consequence. But, as I have said before, 

 I can only attempt to fix a few stepping-stones — 

 a few pin-heads — to guide the eye. You must go to 

 the illustrated pages of Youatt, Laurence, Stone- 

 henge, &c, to fill up the measure of your knowledge, 

 having as a commentary in your hand that most 

 interesting and sportsman-like ^description of the 

 horses of India, recently published by Captain 

 Shakspear in his volume on the Wild Sports of 

 India; wherein he enlarges fully upon all fitting 

 equine points and properties. A good rule for 

 judging what a young or lean animal will be in good 

 full-grown condition, is to stand behind him, a yard 

 or so to one side. The three-parts view you so 

 obtain will give you an excellent idea of what the 

 made-up animal will look like. Seeing him thus 

 foreshortened, you can form a fair notion of what he 

 will be when he has thickened. 



But there is, beyond and above this, what you 

 must see in life to comprehend — fine action ; that 

 elastic and yet firm tread, that supple cleverness of 

 movement, which, depending upon the play of a 

 properly sloped shoulder, the forward flinging out of 



