THE HORSE. 



deep, and the windpipe/?/?/ and prominent be- 

 low it, we m;»y regard it as a sign of !:;ood 

 wind. When llie, arrli of it is reversed, i.e. 

 below InHtead of above, and iho orcnt, or what 

 ought to be the crest, near the withers, is hol- 

 low and sunken, the horse is said to liave an 

 circ-nccic, one of the greatest natural deformities 

 common to these parts. Under tliese eircum- 

 ttanccs it is usual for a dealer to eay that the 

 neck is put on the wrong side upward; but, in 

 reality, it appears to arise from the junetion of 

 it with the eliest being too low down. 



Of all the points of a hor.se. the shoulder, for 

 a hackney, or a hunl(;r, is of the utmost conse- 

 <jtience : without a f;ood shoulder, no horse can 

 fide incll ; he may be a good ltnr>iex.>i home, or 

 he may race well ; but it is pliysically impo.ssi- 

 ble for him to carry his rider with ease and 

 pleasure on the road. Tlie.se are no speculalive 

 ojiinions, but faoLs, grounded On the experience 

 of all men who knoir a horse vIlcii they ace one, 

 and the result of our own everj'day obscrva- 

 lions — so much does the action of the fore ex- 

 tremities dejiend on the structure of this part. 

 And now, what is it that constitutes a '^ood 

 shoulder, and how are we to know a i^ood from 

 a bad one ? In order to render our an.swers to 

 these (jucstions intelligible, it will be necessary 

 lor us to deviate a little, and say something on 

 the internal raeclianisni of the part. The 

 Krapiilir, or shoulder blades, are attached to the 

 ribs by many powerful musele.s, which move 

 ttunn, during the action of the animal, round 

 their own axis, or, at least, in a very similar 

 way ; and though they can only revolve through 

 the small segment of a circle, that segment is 

 greater in proportion as they are more obliquely 

 placed against the sides of the chest ; hence it 

 will be seen, that what is called an obli(iue 

 shoulder is most advantageous for motion. — 

 Again, the l/cst shouldered hor-scs have, gen- 

 erally, THi.v withers; but this is not indispensa- 

 bly necessary to the formation of a good shoul- 

 der, for we know some, and irood jiidi(e:f, who 

 are of a contrary opinion. Wa mu.st confess, 

 however, for our own part, that we preferyj«e 

 withers. The Ihirkncxs of the withers will de- 

 pend on the conformation of the chest and the 

 obliquity of the acapulor, and not so much as 

 (iome persons, high in veterinary reiiute, have 

 supposed, on the length of the dors<d spines.* 

 Now, if, in viewing the; fore j)arts of a horse, we 

 find he rises upon the; withers, (and we must 

 take care that this be not an illusion, produced 

 by placing his fore legs upon rising ground,) and 



■* Bones of the withers. It is confrnded, on anoth- 

 er side, that the sittuition of the scapulcf! has nothing 

 to do with the thir.kue.'<s of iho shoulder, hut that it is 

 wholly owing to the Itnglh of the npinoii.f prortssrs 

 Iff the dorsal vertebra-. To cslahlish this opinion 

 must be proved two data, viz : Ut, that these spines 

 ai-e short, or comparatively so. in all Ihick-shotddtred 

 Aorscs, isnd Ion;; in thin-slwit/dcred ones; and, 2(lly, 

 thai the converse of this never liappens. To vne 

 icho has dissected sko'ilJcrs, these are certainly home- 

 thrusts ; such, at It-as', as we could not paiTV ; though 

 we know ih:U the diuiensions of these hones may 

 and do, like those of mo.st others, vary in ditferent 

 horses. But they also vary in their dei^rees of in- 

 clination ; and may nut this circumstance alone, in 

 some measure, atfect ihe construction of it ( .\t all 

 events, we know these facts, dray or cart horses have 

 tiide cliests and thick shoiddcrs ; others with wide 

 dusts have thick skoiildtr.-^, but with narrow chests 

 tliin, unless the scaputi£ be vpright. Now, if ihey 

 who differ with us, mean to assert that all this arises 

 soUly from the lenyth of the dorsal spines, wo can 

 Only say, credat jiuiwus appella. 



that no tracea of his bladebone can be seen un- 

 der the skin, but all appears smooth and level, 

 we may conclude that tlu; shoulder is obiirpie; 

 though a more direct [H'oof is funii.shed us by 

 carrying the eye from the summit of the with- 

 ers to the extremity of tiie point of (kc shoul- 

 ders. If it is upright, or nearly so, unless it be 

 in a thorough-breil horse, (such a shoidder is 

 oidy /// for Ihe collar,) we shall perceive an ir- 

 regularity under the skin, just below the with- 

 er.s, by passing our hand over the part, and find, 

 on grasping the part, that it is thick and clumsy, 

 because we are actually at the time grasping 

 llie blade-hone as well as leilherhotte ; though 

 (as before observed) these may be thick from 

 the eon.struelion of the chest. 



A lean shoulder is one having (hin withers, 

 covered wilhjine and L^eniiine mi/scle ; a load- 

 ed, or overloaded shouMer, one witii thick with- 

 er.s, clothed with coarse and flabby muscles; 

 ami the thickness of the wither, as was said be- 

 fore, dei)end3 on the obliquity of the shoulder- 

 blades, and the proximity of their superior bor- 

 ders to the dorsal spines. That horses have 

 been fast runners on the turf with //c//i .shoul- 

 ders, is no proof that they would not have gal- 

 loped better and ijuicker with i^ood ones ; and 

 we must recollect that in a racer the /( ind quar- 

 ters are of primary importance, the fore quar- 

 ters only of .secondary consideration ; but, on 

 the road, we know that bad-shonldcrcd horses 

 are never pleasant nor safe hackneys; tlicy 

 step short, are puddling iralkers, roll about in 

 their trot, and are exceedingly likely to go to 

 prayers. 



Tlie fore-leg should descend in a .straight line 

 from the bottom of their shoulder, i.e. in a lat- 

 eral view ; but when seen in front, it ought to 

 incline gently inward. If the elbow projects 

 directly backward, and the toe points with pre- 

 cision forward, we may rest satisfied that the 

 horse is not tieisted in his fore le^ss. Turiiin" 

 the toe in or out in standing is apt to be accom 

 panied with distortion, or deformity of the limb 

 This circumstance, therefore, is "seldom seen 

 without materially lessening the value of an 

 animal. Of the two faults, turning them out ia 

 the greater, for the pointing invard is seldom 

 carried to the extreme. A good arm is broad 

 and thick, long, when compared to the leg, and 

 marked exteriorly by muscular prominences. 

 The elbow cannot /)/-o;cf< too far back, and the 

 plumper the muscle is immediately above it, 

 the greater we may conclude to be the animal's 

 powers. 



The knees ought to be large, broad in front, 

 and distinctly marked with several bony knobs ; 

 lateral thickness is, also, of much importance. 

 When the radius, (the bone of the arm,^ in- 

 .stcad of descending in a straight line, is direct- 

 ed backward, so that the knee appears to re- 

 cede from it, the hor.se is said to be calf-kneed, 

 a term that well conveys the idea wo have of 

 this formation : it is always objectionable for the 

 saddle, but not for the collar. The leg should 

 fall in exactly jierpendicular from tiie carcass, 

 and be short when compared with the arm, the 

 converse of this being indicative of weakness ; 

 and of sufficient breadth to enable a purchaser, 

 even at a distance, to distinguish the tendons 

 and bone, with jierfect clearness, in their rela- 

 tive situations; for, if he cannot do thi.s, there rs 

 reason for suspecting that he is gummy, the ef- 

 fect of hard work or premature u.se, and never 

 a natural defect. Should the legs be round 

 and straight bekjw, they arc called s/?7/^, and 



