FOXES FOXHOUNDS & FOX-HUNTING 



natural or backward direction. Spring is 

 essential to withstand jar and concussion, and so to 

 gain it the hound knuckles over at the knee, in a 

 quite abnormal manner. Again, why need a 

 hound carry such heavy bone ? Bone means 

 weight, and consequent leg weariness, and cannot 

 add to the ease wherewith a hound should 

 travel. In no other breed of dog, as far as we 

 are aware, is spring obtained except through 

 fairly long, sloping pasterns, and in a backward 

 direction. Pointers and setters both do their 

 work at speed, yet they are possessed of sloping 

 pasterns and hare feet. The fundamental 

 principles of anatomy that nature has seen fit 

 to apply to animals of the canine breed are best 

 fitted to aid the breed in the work it has to do. 

 It seems therefore that those Masters who approve 

 of the abnormal in hounds of standard breed are 

 attempting to read Nature a lesson as regards legs 

 and feet, and people who attempt that sort of 

 thing generally come a cropper in the long run. 

 Animals of the feline race, such as the domestic 

 cat, cheetah, lion, and tiger, have round feet with 

 deep, thick pads. None of these animals obtain 

 their prey by chasing it long distances, as do the 

 wild dogs, and wolves ; instead they secure it by 

 stealth, or by a short, quick rush, not long sus- 

 tained. Why then aim at such a type of foot 

 for the hound, whose business is to run far and 

 fast over every variety of country ? In the 

 case of the horse which has to cross the same 

 country as the hound, the various breeds have 

 been improved to meet their different uses, but in 

 no single instance has the foot or pastern been 

 shortened, straightened, or contracted. Any 

 horseman knows that a long, sloping pastern 

 prolongs a hunter's life of usefulness, because it 



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