EYESORES AND DEFECTS 7 



Experts call a horse with a straight-dropped hind-leg and 

 houghs little bent " cock-legged " [murgh-pd).^ 



A horse with triangular quarters is called " wedge-like " {tabar- 

 gun).^ No dealer would buy one, for it will never put on flesh. 



A. horse that is "knock-kneed^ behind " is called kulach ("cow- 

 houghed^^). Fat or lean, such a horse will travel well. It will 

 suit a soldier but never a dealer. 



A very hollow-backed horse will not carry weight. The 

 Mnghals call it "saddle-backed" (zhi-pusht) and regard it as a 

 curiosity. The Hindus, however, like it and call it kachchhd* 



A horse with its belly touching its back will never bring credit 

 to its master ; for whether small or big it can nowise be fattened. 

 Such an animal is called " gazelle-bellied " {ahu-shikam = herring- 

 gutted) ; it will be a poor-feeder. 



A horse with flat, spreading, and brittle feet is called " pancake- 

 hoofed ^' {chapdtz-sum) . It will knock up if ridden over stones or 

 on hot sand. 



A horse with bent hoofs, whether bent much or little, will 

 certainly trip badly ; such a horse is called " ass-footed " [khar- 

 suma) .^ 



A horse that goes wide behind is called by the dealers Jcushdda- 

 raw. Indians think this a defect, but not so the Mughals. 



1 Apparently sickle-houghed or cat-hammed horses were formerly 

 admired : perhaps old-fashioned swordsmen found them quicker at 

 " jumping off." Murgh-pu. is now sometimes, but incorrectly, applied to 

 a horse with straight pasterns. 



~ Tabar is a battle-axe, triangular in plan as well as in section. In 

 a tabar-gun horse the quarters viewed from behind are triangular and 

 probably narrow to a point behind ; the horse is usually goose-rumped 

 as well. 



^ The author uses the term pd,on Ted ghutnd for hough (for hunch, H.). 

 A knock-kneed man is also called kulach or kulanj. In the Zinaf** 

 'l-Khayl the word is written kuchal, perhaps a copyist's error. " Houghs 

 in, elbows out," is a cant phrase in the Arab stables. 



■* Also kachchhl, supposed to have originally been a breed from the 

 province of Cutch (Kachh). The more effeminate Hindus would 

 naturally prefer a saddle-backed horse. 



^ According to the Zlnaf^ 'l-Khayl, this means that the hoof is 

 hollow and the sole rugged. One would expect the term to mean 

 "with contracted heels." 



