110 CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK AND COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



when it strikes the solid earth. But having begun from below, let us 

 ascend to the other parts of the body. It is needful, then, that the parts 

 above tlie hoofs and below the fetlocks (pasterns) be not too erect, like 

 those of the goat; for legs of this kind, being stiff and inflexible, are 

 apt to jar the rider, and are more liable to inflammation. The bones 

 must not, however, be too low and springy, for in that case the fetlocks 

 are liable to be abraded and wounded if the horse be galloped over clods 

 or stones. The bones of the shank (cannon bones) should be thick, for 

 these are the columns which support the body ; but they should not 

 have the veins and flesh thick likewise. For if they have, when the 

 horse shall be galloped over difficult ground they will necessarily be 

 filled vnih blood, and will become varicose, so that the shanks will be 

 thickened, and the skin be distended and relaxed from the bone ; and, 

 when this is the case, it often follows that the back sinew gives way and 

 renders the horse lame. But if the horse, when in action, bends his 

 knees flexibly at a walk, you may judge that he will have his legs flexible 

 when in full career ; for all horses as they increase in years increase in 

 the flexibility of the knee. And flexible goers are esteemed highly, and 

 with justice, for such horses are much less liable to blunder or stumble 

 than those which have rigid, unbending joints. But if the arms, below 

 the shoulder-blades, be thick and muscular they appear stronger and 

 handsomer, as is the case also with a man. The breast also should be 

 broad, as well for beauty as strength, and because it causes a handsomer 

 action of the fore legs, which do not then interfere, but are carried well 

 apart. 



" Again, the neck ought not to be set on like that of a boar, horizon- 

 tally from the chest; but, Yi^e that of a game cock, should be upright 

 toward the chest and slack toward the flexure ; and the head being long 

 should have a small and narrow jaw-bone, so that the neck shall be in 

 front of the rider, and that the eye shall look down at what is before the 

 feet. A horse thus made will be the least likely to run violently away, 

 even if he be very high-s[)irited, for horses do not attempt to run away 

 by bringing in, but by throwing out their heads and necks. It is also 

 very necessary to observe whether the mouth be fine and hard on both 

 sides, or on one or the other. For horses which have not both jaws 

 equally sensitive are likely to be too hard-mouthed on one side or the 

 other. And it is better that a horse should have prominent than hollow 

 eyes, for such an one will see to a greater distance. And widely opened 

 nostrils are far better for respiration than narrow, and they give the 

 horse a fiercer aspect ; for when one stallion is enraged against another, 

 01 if he become angry while being ridden, he expands his nostrils to 

 their full width. And the loftier the crest, and the smaller the ears, the 



