SHAPE. 21 



hind legs, place the two front pillars (that is, the 

 fore legs) two or three inches nearer the hind legs; 

 that is, two or three inches from the front end 

 (drawing B). It will be seen at once that the effect 

 of this will be that much more weight w^ill be su2> 

 23orted bj the two front pillars, and so much the less 

 by the hind pillars. In order, therefore, to adapt the 

 four pillars to this arrangement, the two front pillars 

 will have to be made proportionately stronger, and 

 the two hind pillars lighter. 



Now, the worse a horse's shoulder is the more 

 under its body will be the fore legs, and the stronger 

 they will have to be formed to carry their share of 

 that body. 



It will often happen that there wiU be two horses 

 apparently about the same size and weight, and 

 people will say of one, ' It has got beautiful shoulders 

 and action, but it is rather too small below the knee; ' 

 and they will say of the other, ' Its shoulders might 

 certainly be a little better, but what a lot of bone it 

 has below the knee ! ' Now, anyone who bought the 

 straight-shouldered horse under the impression that 

 he would carry a certain w^eight, say fourteen stone, 

 better than the light-boned horse, would, in my 

 opinion, be making a great mistake. It is true that 

 the bigger fore legs can support the greater weight, 

 but they already have to do that before anyone gets 

 on them, and it does not follow that they can bear 

 an additional weight better than the smaller and 



