37 



CHAP. XIII. 



ON THE FOREHAND. 



SPEAKING of a horse generally, v/e di- 

 vide him into fore and hind quarters. The 

 fore quarters are called the forehand, and may 

 be said to comprehend one half of the horse 

 from the coupling of the back to the tips of 

 the ears, and the muzzle. A horse is said to 

 be regularly and properly formed when his 

 forehand is, in the language of jockeys, well 

 up, namely, when he stands somewhat higher 

 at the shoulders and the withers than at the 

 croupe j and v/hen his head is erect, his neck 

 regularly curved and lofty, and the whole of 

 the forehand upright and shev/y. So much 

 depends on the forehand, that all good judges 

 of horses make this the first object of consider- 

 ation, beginning with the countenance, and 



I 



