THE SELECTION OF A HORSE 7 



The bones running from the point of the hip to 

 the point of the buttock, and from there to the nick 

 in the stifle, should be long and be placed so as to form 

 a good open angle, say, 70 to 90 degrees, divided into 

 25 OT 30 degrees between the upper bone and a hori- 

 zontal line drawn through the joint and 45 to 60 degrees 

 below that line. Fast gallopers have always a long 

 ischium — ^the part of the pelvis which projects to the 

 point of the buttock, causing that point to project 

 well beyond the root of the tail. Good jumpers will 

 generally be found to be wide from the stifle to the 

 backline of the thigh and long in the thigh bone. 

 Horses with a horizontal croup, say, one at an angle of 

 20 degrees, are as a rule bad weight carriers and poor 

 jumpers. A horse with exceptionally good shoulders 

 and a level back, however, usually has a croup of this 

 formation, as if the shoulder is, say, at an angle of 

 45 degrees, the angle formed by the croup must be 

 correspondingly small to prevent the croup being 

 higher than the withers. This perhaps is why one 

 seldom finds a good hunter with a shoulder at a smaller 

 angle than 55 degrees, which enables the croup to form 

 an angle of 30 degrees. 



The stifle should be low, well developed, be free of 

 the sides when the horse is moving, and it should be 

 lifted vigorously. 



The hocks viewed from behind should have broad 

 clean caps ; viewed from the side they should be well 

 let down, and the inner line, if continued, should strike 

 about the centre of the back of the fetlock joint — if it 

 comes out much above, the horse will generaUy be 

 found to be " tied in " below the hock, and conse- 

 quently weak. Horses with overstraight hocks are, 

 as a rule, pullers, although they are generaUy fast 



