CHOICE OF A HORSE. 15 



desert. The drop of the hind leg may be straightish, and 

 a somewhat long cannon bone with a shorter radius will 

 qualify his daisy-cutting proclivities. He should be long in 

 proportion to his height, that length made out by the distance 

 of the elbow to the stifle, from the back of the wither to 

 the point of the shoulder, from the hipbone to the extremity 

 of the haunch. These salient points give strength, propell- 

 ing power, and freedom of action. In his walk he must 

 step gaily and lightly, placing his hind foot well in front of 

 the imprint of the fore ; so free his action that the slightest 

 indication of the " aids " shall set him instantly into an eight 

 to twelve miles an hour out-and-on trot, or into an easy 

 collected placid canter. To top up all, he must carry his 

 handsome blood head in its proper place, and have so sensi- 

 tive and obedient a mouth that he answers to the slightest 

 touch of the helm and can go handsomely in a packthread. 

 Such a delightful hack costs money; but to those who 

 know where to go for animals of this class in the rough, and 

 possess the requisite skill to teach them manners and to 

 put the polish on, there is no necessity for great outlay. 

 There are numbers of young thoroughbreds troubled with 

 that incurable disease, " the slows," to be picked up by 

 people on the spot. Owners do not care to keep them, and 

 trainers, wanting their stalls and boxes for horses endowed 

 with racing speed, insist on getting rid of them. Many of 

 these would, if put aside for a year or two, in able hands, 

 come up to the fancy picture I have drawn. Their main 

 fault is a too great breadth of chest, which militates against 

 speed, but this conformation, desirable in the hack, is 

 generally accompanied by a churn-shaped barrel, a certain 

 indication of a good feeder and of a good wear-and-tear 

 constitution. A blood horse is always up to a stone or two 

 more weight than his build indicates, 



