ELEMENTS OF HIPPOLOGY. 101 



A saddle-horse should have a flat back, moderately high 

 withers, not too thick, and a sloping shoulder. Figure 65 shows 

 an excellent back. The shoulder is especially good. A long, 

 sloping shoulder, reaching out well in front of the rider, gives 

 him a feeling of security that he cannot have if the shoulder 

 ends near his own knee. 



The muscles that pull the shoulder-blade forward are at- 

 tached to the poll and upper four neck vertebra?; the ones that 

 draw it back are attached to the dorsal and lumbar vertebrae 

 and the first eight ribs. This explains why a horse that is down 

 can be kept down by raising his head and bending it back to- 

 wards his shoulder. The neck muscles that move the shoulder- 

 blade forward — and hence the whole leg — are incapable of acting. 

 If a horse cannot move his foreleg forward when he is down, to 

 get a bearing, he cannot rise. 



High withers, extending well back, are generally associated 

 with long necks, long and sloping shoulder-blades, and powerful 

 back muscles. Low withers are generally found on animals 

 with short necks and straight shoulder-blades. The withers 

 should not be too fleshy and thick. 



The two horses shown in Figures 69 and 70 have each very 

 prominent withers. The one in Figure 69 has very thin withers, 

 and his back slopes too much from the croup. The result is that 

 the saddle could not be kept from chafing the top of his withers, 

 which were always sore after a ride. He was, in consequence, 

 not for duty most of the time, and had to be sold as unfit for 

 saddle purposes. 



While he was a coarse, ill-looking animal, still he was very 

 strong, active, and comfortable to ride, and, aside from his sore 

 withers, perfectly sound when sold. But for that defect he 

 would have given many years of useful service.. 



The horse shown in Figure 70 is a useful specimen of what is 

 termed the general-purpose horse; he is equally good to ride or 

 to drive. He has a strong strain of the American saddle-horse 



