10 HOESES AND KIDING. 



the construction of his shape will always remain 

 to a great extent the same. 



Thus, take the case of a lean horse with a concave 

 neck (what is commonly called a ewe neck). Many 

 people might think that when the horse got fat his 

 neck would be the right shape ; whereas you can 

 no more fatten a ewe-necked horse into a horse with 

 a good neck than you could by feeding convert a 

 person with a turn-up nose into one with a hooked 

 nose. 



The chief thing that a side-view of a horse is 

 adapted to show is the proportion between his height 

 and length, the shape of his neck and head, and the 

 size of the horse's barrel, which is commonly divided 

 into his girth — that is, where the saddle-girths come — 

 and his back ribs, or the part immediately under the 

 back of the saddle. It is also the place from which 

 to judge of the horse's hocks, to see if he has got 

 curbs, and if his fore legs are straight or crooked ; 

 but of that I shall treat in a future chapter devoted 

 to unsoundnesses. 



As regards the shape of a horse's body or barrel, 

 a good depth in the girth is a good thing ; but if a 

 horse is wide in his chest he is generally not so deep 

 in his girth as he would be if he were narrower ; and 

 a wide-chested horse is stronger than a narrow one, 

 although he may not look so deep in the girth. It 

 is very desirable that a horse's back ribs should be 

 large ; that is, that his body should look as big near 



