SELECTION OF A DRIVING HORSE. 575 



more upright the shoulder, the greater weight the horse is able 

 to throw into the collar by the power of the hind quarters, but it 

 should be remembered that the too upright shoulders are fit for 

 nothing but draft purposes and must work at a slow pace. The 

 shoulders somewhat oblique materially quicken the pace of the horse 

 and add improvement to nis appearance. 



SELECTION OF A DRIVING HORSE. 



Points of a Coach Horse The coach horse, strictly so 

 called, is an animal not in ordinary requirement in this country, 

 except in large cities, where carriage horses are sometimes desired 

 more for show than speed. The coach horse should be tall, deep- 

 chested, rising well in the withers, with sloping shoulders ; legs flat, 

 the bones below the knee strong and good, and the feet sound, open 

 and tough ; the body should be well proportioned, its substance deep, 

 compact and well placed ; he should possess reasonable speed, and a 

 high knee action adds to the beauty of his paces. 



Characteristics of the Roadster or Driving Horse 

 The driving horse, or roadster, is in this country the animal most in 

 use and demand, and in no other country in the world is he found 

 in greater perfection than in America. The trotting horse, now 

 universally bred up to a high standard, can be bought anywhere in 

 this country with a speed of 2:30 to three minutes, and indeed an 

 animal which does not speed at the trotting pace something approach- 

 ing to the latter rate is not regarded as entitled to much consider- 

 ation. The roadster should be of good bulk, but not large enough 

 to be unwieldy, as he is required for hard work as well as for speed. 

 The shoulders should be strong; he should be short in the back, 

 round in the barrel, long in the reach ; should stand straight upon 

 the limbs, flat as to the shanks; the hoofs shapely, neither too flat 

 nor too hollow ; his ribs should be deep, rump square, tail firm ; the 

 chest should be broad, withers high. It is of particular importance 

 that the bones beneath the knee should be flat and the tendon not 

 " tied in." The pastern should be short, and though somewhat ob- 

 lique, much less so than in the horse required for purely racing pur- 

 poses. The shoulders, forelegs and feet are the principal points to 

 be looked to. The forelegs should be straight, flat and as large 

 under the knee as they are just above the fetlock. The pastern 

 should be joined to the fetlock, so that the feet neither turn out nor 

 in. To ascertain the proper position of the shoulders, observe him 

 in the stable in a natural position before he has been disturbed. 

 His forelegs should then be in a perpendicular line to the ground. 

 Another test is to watch the horse as he walks past you. If the 

 shoulders are good, the foot will be placed a little forward of a line 

 with the shoulder point; one whose shoulders are too upright cannot 



