4 HOESE-KEEPING FOR AMATEUES. 



ribbed up. Especially in the horse for saddle work should 

 the oblique pastern be sought. If this joint is upright or 

 stilted, discomfort will be experienced by the rider, and the 

 horse himself will always be more or less liable to diseases of 

 the feet and legs ; the jar of the hard road is much more 

 felt by the upright or short joint than by one that slopes 

 naturally. 



The shoulder should slant more with the hack or hunter 

 than the harness horse ; the latter, having to oppose his 

 weight to that of the vehicle he draws, is rather better for a 

 shoulder which, although it should be by no means upright, 

 is yet considerably straighter than that of the animal destined 

 for saddle work. 



Few men selling hunters will consent to giving you a trial 

 with hounds, and so the next best thing to do is to see them 

 over fences, and, if possible, to lide them over yourself. 

 Plenty of good, free jumpers are so rough that they would 

 I'olt nine men in ten out of the saddle. Even supposing you 

 have done this, it is not certain that you have secured a 

 pleasant mount, as many that will jump temperately and 

 safely in cold blood, go almost wild with excitement when 

 they see hounds, and rush at their fences in a most un- 

 business-like way. Should you, by chance, happen on such 

 a one, be not dismayed ; nearly every case is curable with a 

 little patience and courage, and most horses will come quiet 

 after awhile. 



A horse for harness purposes should, to my mind, undergo 

 a severer trial, of his docility in especial, than any other. 

 A horse has far more power over you, when drawing you 

 behind him, than when you are perched comfortably upon his 

 back. In the latter case, you have got him, whilst in the 

 former he has got 2/ou ! If he has the least suspicion of 

 jibbing, backing, &c., decline him inslaiiter ; it is so simple 

 to say — in print — what to do with one of these brutes, but 

 wait, oh my reader ! for that awful moment when, having 

 deliberately chosen the sharpest part of a stiff hill, your horse 

 begins an Irish progression in the direction of a plate-glass 

 shop front! Shying is also a nasty fault in a harness horse, 

 and kicking worse ; the former vice, however, " comes lighter " 

 in a two-wheeler than in a four, as there is no under carriage 

 to get locked, and thus bring about disaster. Another im- 

 portant point to look to is the mouth. Although equally 



