OF FARRIERY. 



477 



is reversed, i. e., below instead of above, and 

 the crest, or what ought to be the crest, near 

 the withers, is hollow and sunken, the Horse 

 is said to have an ewe neck, one of the great- 

 est natural deformities common to these parts. 

 Under these circumstances it is usual for a 

 dealer to say that " the neck is put on the 

 wrong side upwards ;" but in reality, it ap- 

 pears to arise from the junction of it with the 

 chest being too low down. 



Of all the points of a Horse, the shoulder, 

 for a hackney, or a hunter, is of the utmost 

 consequence ; without a good shoulder, no 

 Horse can ride well ; he may be a good har- 

 ness-horse, or he may race well, but it is 

 physically impossible for hira to carry his rider 

 with ease and pleasure on the road. How 

 are we to know what constitutes a good 

 shoulder from a bad one? It will then be 

 necessary to say something on the internal 

 mechanism of the part. The scapidte, or 

 shoulder-blades, are attached to the ribs by 

 many powerful muscles, which move them, 

 during the action of the animal, round their 

 own axes ; or, at least, in a very similar way ; 

 and though they can only revolve through the 

 small seo^ment of a circle, that segrment is 

 greater in proportion as they are more ob- 

 liquely placed against the sides of the chest ; 

 hence it will be seen, that what is called an 

 oblique shoulder, is most advantageous for 

 motion. It is said, the best shouldered Horses 

 have generally tliin withers ; but this is not 

 indispensably necessary to the formation of a 

 good shoulder, and we believe there are some 

 judges of a contrary opinion. If, in viewing 

 the fore parts of a Horse, we find he rises 

 upon the withers, and that no traces of his 

 blade-bone can be seen under the skin, but all 

 appear-s smooth and level, we ma.v conclude 



that the shoulder is oblique ; though a more 

 direct proof is furnished us by carrying the 

 eye from the summit of the withers to the 

 extremity of the point of the shoulder. If it 

 be upright, or nearly so, unless it be in a 

 thorough-bred Horse, such a Horse is only fit 

 for the collar. That Horses have been fast 

 runners on the turf with bad shoulders, is no 

 proof that they would not have galloped better 

 with good ones ; and we must recollect, that 

 in a racer, the hind-quartei's are considered 

 of primary importance ; but^] the road, we 

 know that bad-shouldered Horses are never 

 pleasant nor safe hackneys ; they step short, 

 are puddling walkers, roll about in the trot, 

 and are exceedingly liable to come down. 



The fore-legs should descend in a straight 

 line from the bottom of the shoulder, ^. e. in a 

 lateral view ; but when seen in front, it ought 

 to incline gently inwards. If the elbow pro- 

 jects directly backwards, and the toe points 

 with precision forwards, we may rest satisfied 

 that the Horse is not twisted in his fore-legs. 

 Turning the toe in or out in standing, is apt to 

 be accompanied with distortion, or deformity 

 of the limb ; this circumstance, therefore, is 

 seldom seen without materially lessening the 

 value of a Horse. Of the two faults, turning 

 them out is the greater ; for the pointing in- 

 wards is seldom carried to extreme. A good 

 arm is broad and thick ; long, when com- 

 pared to the leg, and marked exteriorly by 

 muscular prominences ; the elbow cannot pro- 

 ject too far back, and the plumper the muscle 

 is immediately above it, the greater may we 

 conclude to be the animal's powers. 



The knees ought to be large, broad in 

 front, and distinctly marked with several bony 

 knobs; lateral thickness is also of much im- 

 portance. When the radius (the bone of the 

 6 B 



