10 PURCHASING FROM THE STABLES. 



— the end of the loins — to the setting on of the 

 tail, so much better is the quarter ; for the most 

 scientific writers tell us, that the straightness 

 of the spine here, causing a slanting direction 

 in the haunch and thigh-bones, enables the 

 muscles to act to the greatest advantage, and 

 that it is in the advantageous direction quite 

 as much as the bulk of the muscle that the 

 propelling power lies. Let that, therefore, be 

 a slne-qiia-non^ that from the end of the loins 

 to the setting on of the tail the spine must be 

 straight, or nearly so, and it cannot be too long. 

 A broad quarter may carry weight, but it must 

 be long also to gallop, and the tail should be 

 carried out straight, and carried well (it does 

 not require always to be carried high to be 

 carried well, but it requires to be well set on, 

 that is, set on high up). The tail of a blood 

 Arab is likewise generally thin, of small cir- 

 cumference, tapering to a very small point, and 

 the hair on it not too bushy. " Full mane, if 

 you like, but thin tail." Carrying it on one 



formation merely gives the power to perfonn extraordinary 

 exertions ; the will to exert that power depends on something 

 else, which appears as necessary for great feats as the con- 

 formation. This energy, or disposition to work, may be too 

 great for many purposes. The racer, indeed, can never have 

 more than enough : it is a combination of energy with good 

 conformation that commands emhience on the turf" 



