442 OTTAPTER CO. 



counter-curve. Hollow-backed horses arc generally pleasant to ride, hut 

 this formation diminishes the capacity of the thorax and abdomen; and 

 this deficiency militates against endurance and 'power of staying. All 

 backs, we may mention, though originally straight, become more or less 

 hollow with age. This effect is due partly to the ordinary mechanical 

 effect of weight on a given line, and partly to wasting away of the muscles 

 with age. In young horses the muscles along the line of the back should 

 stand as high as or higher than the spinous processes of the vertebrae of 

 the back bone. 



A horse with a roach back is generally rough and uneasy in his paces 

 and apt to over-reach, and the saddle may slip forward. But the forma- 

 tion is favorable to strength, and if his shoulders and quarters arc good 

 and he is well-bred, the animal will generally be found to be valuable as 

 regards power and endurance. 



A good back is shown in fig. 11, a hollow back in fig. Ha, and a roach 

 back in fig. 116, Plate 36. 



912. The Ribs. 



The Ribs should be deep and oval throughout, and especially behind 

 the saddle (Plate 36, fig. 12). This formation is essential in order to 

 give due capacity to the cavity of the chest and that of the stomach. 

 Flat-sided horses are very objectionable. 



The ribs should be continued well back towards the pelvis. If there 

 is an undue interval, that is, an interval exceeding a hand's breadth 

 between the last rib and the point of the hips (a to b, Fig. 12), the horse 

 will be certain to run up light, if subjected to work. A similar incapacity 

 to stand hard work will be found in horses whose posterior ribs are 

 wanting in due length and in sufficient arch (c to d, Fig. 126). In the 

 former case the animal is said to be slack, and in the latter case light in 

 the ribs. 



A slight deficiency in the ribs may not be very objectionable in horses 

 intended for light work ; but for all horses required for hard usage and 

 certainly for troop horses, which on service are often subject to short 

 rations, this formation is very detrimental. Horses which are light in 

 the loins and also narrow in the chest are predisposed to scour, and are 

 often in addition delicate feeders. 



Condition, though it does not really affect the structural formation, has 

 a good deal to do with the appearance of the posterior ribs and the 

 " coupling up." Many an animal, when poor, appears to an inexperienced 

 person to be slack or light in the ribs, which will look well enough, when 

 " furnished." On the other hand, many a horse is turned out of a 

 dealer's stables so fat and well covered, that the purchaser does not find 

 out the real defect until he has had the animal in work for some weeks. 



If a horse, when out of condition, appears somewhat light or loose in 

 the ribs, the intending purchaser should look well to his width across the 

 loins. If he has width there, any slight defect in the ribs will not be of 

 much consequence ; but if he is narrow across the loins, and especially if 



