ON HORSEMANSHIP. 221 



flat, and this both behind and before. The hoofs that 

 are high have the yro^, or rather the fole, at a diftance 

 from the ground ; whereas an horfe whofe hoofs are low 

 moves equally on the ftrongeft and tendered part of his 

 foot, like a bandy, or bow-legged man. 



Simon is right in affirming, that a good foot may be 

 known by the found * — The hollow hoof rattles againft 

 the ground like a drum. 



Having begun from below, let us proceed regu- 

 larly to the higher parts of the body. 



The bones of the Pajiem muft neither be too ftraight, 

 like thofe of a goat, for fuch a iliffnefs in the joint 

 would be uneafy to the rider, and the legs are more 

 fubjeft to inflammation ; nor, on the contrary, fhould 

 they be too much bent and low, left the fetlock fhould 

 be galled, and lofe its hair, when the horfe is ufed in 

 clayey or ftoney ground. 



* Monfieur Bourgelat, in his preface to the fecond volume of Les 

 Ekmens Hippiatriques, reprehends this remark as trifling and falfe -, and 

 if our author is to be underftood literally, and the words feem to per- 

 mit no other conftrudlion, the criticifm is certainly jufl. — It may be 

 but candid, nevertheleis, to think that Xenophon could mean to fay 

 no more than that the feet, if well formed, and in good condition, could 

 bear to be ftruck againft the ground fo forcibly as to make it ring and 

 found ; and that this noife was a proof of their foundnefs, otherwife the 

 horfe could not bear the fhock, fo as to make his Beats firm and 

 diftind. 



^adrupedante putrem foniiu qualit ungula campum. 



Virg. 



Let 



