228 THE HORSE OF AMERICA. 



and from the elbow to the knee, no writer that we can now recall 

 has given us any description of either length or strength. We 

 may, therefore, take it for granted that these points had no un- 

 usual development of muscle, but were in harmony with the 

 general contour and make-up of a great strong horse. His hocks 

 and knees were unusually large and bony, with all the members 

 strong and clearly defined. The cannon bones were short and 

 flat and the ligaments back of them were very large and braced a 

 good way off, so that the leg was broad and flat. Mr. Jones says 

 this part of the limb was of medium size, but other writers all 

 agree that he had an unusual amount of bone at this point. 

 Considering the whole style and character of the horse, and 

 especially the character of his ancestors in the male line, and of 

 Turf, the [reputed] sire of his dam, all of whom were distin- 

 guished for their quantity of bone, we are disposed to think Mr. 

 Jones' memory has not served him with entire accuracy in this 

 particular. The conviction is reasonable and grows out of evi- 

 dence that comes from every quarter, and we have no disposition 

 to surrender it, that the bones of Messenger's limbs were un- 

 usually large and strong for those of a thoroughbred. His 

 pasterns and feet were all that could be desired, and as an evi- 

 dence of the excellence and health of his underpinning several 

 writers have put it on record that whether in the stable or on 

 the show ground he never was known to mopingly rest one leg 

 by standing on the other three, but was always prompt and 

 upright. This is our conception of the form and appearance of 

 the horse as we have reached it after a diligent and careful study of 

 all that has been said by those who saw him while he lived. 

 From this description it is a very easy matter to pick out the 

 features which gave him his coarse and badly bred appearance. 

 His big head, long ears, short neck, low withers, upright shoul- 

 ders, large bones and, possibly, coarse hair, complete the catalogue. 

 From these features the purity of his blood has been doubted 

 and denounced, just as that of his sire, his grandsire and his 

 great-grandsire had been denounced. The coarseness, the cart- 

 horse appearance was in the family, but it did not seem to pre- 

 vent some of them from beating some of the best that England pro- 

 duced in successive generations. There are many traditions that 

 have been handed down to us concerning his temper, some of 

 which, no doubt, have accumulated and gathered strength and 

 ferocity in the years through which they have rolled. There 



