THE FOXHOUND'S FEET 



toes. It is over development with a vengeance, yet 

 fashion decrees that such a type is "it," and the 

 prevaiHng fashion rules the market. If it were 

 not fashionable, but instead entirely work- 

 manlike, how is it that horses which are used 

 to ride to hounds still retain the long pasterns 

 which experts agree add so much to the animal's 

 ease of motion and staying power ? A hunter, 

 with short, upright pasterns, which obtained 

 spring by knuckling forward at the knee, could not 

 cross two fields in safety, and would be laughed at 

 if put up for sale. He would be like the cow- 

 puncher's pony, whose owner said it possessed 

 four gaits, and when asked what they were, 

 replied, " Walk, stumble, fall down, and get 

 up!" 



As a hound's life of usefulness depends upon the 

 correct anatomical conformation of his limbs, 

 it may be of interest to discuss the matter here. 

 In the case of the hound of standard type, we find 

 him the possessor of heavy bone, carried right 

 down to his toes. Now bone is practically solid 

 material, and the more of it a hound has, the 

 greater weight will he have to carry. Weight 

 means leg weariness, particularly in deep, soft 

 going, and up and down steep declivities; there- 

 fore the less bone a hound has, in reason, the 

 hardier will he be, and the more likely to get to 

 the end of a long gruelling run in rough country. 

 As Lord Macclesfield said, he " had not noticed 

 thin legs to break easier than thick ones," which 

 is perfectly true, so why overburden a hound with 

 bone simply because fashion ordains that it is the 

 right thing to do ? A heavy boned hound is 

 analogous to an old -fashioned wooden bicycle as 

 compared with an up-to-date machine. In the 

 former there is considerable weight, while jar and 



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