148 FORM OF CHEST 



degree as possible, considerable capacity in a quiescent state, and 

 the power of increasing that capacity when the animal requires 

 it. There must be the broad chest for the production of muscles 

 and sinews, and the deep chest, to give the capacity or power 

 of furnishing arterial blood equal to the most rapid exhaustion 

 of vitality. 



This form of the chest is consistent A^dth lightness, or at least 

 with all the lightness that can be rationally required. The 

 broad-chested horse, or he that, with moderate depth at the 

 girth, swells and barrels out immediately behind the elbow, may 

 have as light a forehead and as elevated a wither as the horse 

 with the narrowest chest ; but the animal with the barrel ap- 

 proaching too near to rotundity is invariably heavy about the 

 shoulders and low in the withers. It is to the mixture of the 

 Arabian blood that we principally owe this peculiar and advan- 

 tageous formation of the chest of the horse. The Arab is light ; 

 some would say too much so before : but immediately behind the 

 arms the barrel almost invariably swells out, and leaves plenty 

 of room, and where it is most wanted for the play of the lungs, and 

 at the same time where the weight does not press so exclusively 

 on the fore-legs, and expose the feet to concussion and injury. 



Many horses with narrow chests, and a great deal of daylight 

 under them, have plenty of spirit and willingness for work. 

 They show themselves well off, and exhibit the address and 

 gratify the vanity of their riders on the parade or in the park, 

 but they have not the appetite nor the endurance that will carry 

 them through three successive days' hard work. 



Five out of six of the animals that perish from inflamed lungs, 

 are narrow-chested. There are many other important points, 

 but that which is most of all connected with the general health 

 of the animal, and with combined fleetness or bottom, is a deep, 

 and broad, and swelling chest, with sufficient lengthening of the 

 sternum, or breast-bone, beneath.* 



* Note hy Mr. Spooner. — In speedy animals the chest is, no doubt, more 

 capacious than in slower ones, and a greater quantity of atmospheric air is 

 inspired, so as to afford a full supply for the purpose of respiration. This 

 large capacity is gained, however, not by the greater rotundity of the chest, 

 but by its increased depth and length, more particularly the former. It is 

 very evident that a circular chest must present a very unfavorable surface 

 for the attachment of the shoulder blade, and, indeed, must induce a rolhng 

 action which is inimical to speed ; thus we find that animals wnth very cir- 

 cular chests, and with their fore-legs, in consequence, wide apart, are by no 

 means speedy, but have a great predisposition to the accumulation of fat. 

 In such animals a considerable quantity of fat is generally found round the 

 heart and in otlier parts of the chest, so that, in point of fact, animals with 

 circular chests have smaller lungs than those with deep and flat ribs. It ifi 

 extremely desirable for a cart-horse to have a circular chest, as this de 



