CHAPTER rV. 

 OUTWARD APPEARAITCE OP THE HORSE AS INDICATING VALUE. 



X. ACTION THE FIRST REQUISITE OF A GOOD HORSE. II. FAST WALKING HORSES. 



HI. HORSES FOR DIFFERENT KINDS OF WORK. IV. THE HEAD ILLUSTRA- 

 TED OUTWARDLY. V. THE BODY AND LIMBS. VI. BAD FOREQUARTERS. 



VII. THE BODY AS SEEN FROM THE FRONT. VIII. WHAT A CRITICAL HORSE- 

 MAN SAID. IX. FRONT VIEW, SHOWING BAD FOREQUARTERS. X. THE HIN- 

 DER PARTS ILLUSTRATED. XI. THE PROPELLING POWER. XII. WHAT THE 



ANCIENTS KNEW OF HORSES. XIII. WHAT ONE NEED NOT EXPECT. 



I. Action the First Requisite of a Good Horse. 



A horse, like every other farm animal, is to be bought with a view to 

 the use for which he is intended. The buyer must therefore know what 

 he wants the animal for ; if for slow draft a very different frame will be 

 required from that needed when fast work is to be done ; and yet the 

 general symmetry of the animal must be looked to in every case. Fur- 

 ther on the various breeds will be illustrated. The present chapter will 

 deal simply with the outward conformations, showing good and bad 

 forms, just as the preceding chapters have illustrated the bony structure 

 and the muscular development Action is of course the first requisite 

 whatever use the horse is intec ued for, and fast walking is the ground- 

 work upon which to build all other action. We give on the next page an 

 illustration of a horse, as seen in a fast^valking gait. 



Action in General. — Good action can never be gotten out of a lazy, 

 lubberly horse. The animal must have spirit and ambition, whatever the 

 breed. Action is of only two forms: smooth, safe, low action, and 

 high, showy, or parade action. The latter is never admissible, except 

 when the horse is intended only for show and parade, or for a certain 

 class of carriage horses, or for slow driving or riding in parks or other 

 places of public resort. It is unsafe, unless the animal be intelligent and 

 naturally sure-footed ; for a high stepping dolt is generally bad-tempered, 

 and as unsafe as he is ungainly. When slow-and-safe and fast-and-safc 

 action are combined in the same animal, he is invaluable and should not be 

 lightly parted with. 



Good action is attained when all the limbs are moved evenly and in 

 accord one with the other, the hind limbs being kept well under the 

 animal, ready for any emergency. The action should be square in walk- 

 ing or trotting and without paddling -with the fore legs, or straddling 

 behind. It is true that paddlers are staunch and sure footed, and horses 

 that straddle behind are sometimes fast, but thio is in spite of such 

 action, and not on account of it. They are never admissible, either in fine 



harness or under the saddle. 



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