OUTWARD APPEARANCE OF THE HORSE. 109 



hock, should be large and plainly visible. The hocks should be large, 

 strong, firm, well knit, smooth and free from blemish. The fetlocks 

 should also be large but round and firm, and the hoofs strong. If the 

 horse is flat-footed he is weak hoofed, and this defect should never go 

 with ahorse of strong bone and muscle. 



If, in moving forward, the animal lift the feet squarely, and carry them 

 straight forward, without turning or straddling, and if they are set down 

 as squarely and promptly as they were picked up ; if the conformation is 

 as illustrated in the several good figures, it is a horse to buy, if you want to 

 pay for a good one, or to keep, if you already possess him. If it be a 

 mare do not fear to breed her to the best sires in the land. She will not 

 disappoint you in her colts, if the sire be as perfect. 



As the converse of this we refer the reader to the figures on page 

 108, showing the gradations, from inferior to bad. The study of these 

 figures should enable one to avoid cow-hocked, pigeon-toed, bow-legged, 

 straddling, or splay-footed brutes. 



XII. What the Ancients Knew of Horses. 



That the ancients were critical judges of horses, there is no doubt; 

 and that their standard was not far below that of to-day, the following 

 extract from a translation from Xenophon, who wrote more than two 

 thousand years ago, will show. It is also interesting by reason of the 

 accurate advice it gives for judging a horse. The perfect horse of this 

 ancient Greek writer was not a thoroughbred, as we understand the term, 

 but he was a good, strong, well-muscled, enduring horse, and one of fair 

 size. Here is what Xenophon says ; 



<' We will write how one may be the least deceived in the purchase of 

 horses. It is evident, then, that of the unbroken colt one must judge 

 by the construction, since, if he have never been backed he Tsall afford 

 no very clear evidences of his spirit. Of his body, then, we say it is 

 necessary first to examine the feet, for, as in a house, it matters not how 

 fine may be the superstructure, if there be not suflicient foundations, so 

 in a war horse there is no utility, no, not if he have all other points per- 

 fect but be badly footed. But in examining the feet, it is befitting first 

 ^o look to the horny portion of the hoofs, for those horses which have 

 the horn thick are far superior in their feet to those which have it thin. 

 Nor will it be well if one fail next to observe wlVether the hoofs be up- 

 right, both before and behind, or low and flat to the ground ; for high 

 noofs keep the frog at a distance from the earth, while the flat tread with 

 equal pressure on the soft and hard parts of the foot, as is the case with 

 bandy-legged men. And Simon justly observes that well-footed horses 

 can be known by their tramp, for the hollow hoof nngs like a cymbal 



