THE SELECTION OF A HORSE 



forward, so that a plumb-line dropped from the 

 point of the shoulder touches the toe. 



A fair indication as to the good placing of 

 the shoulder is the position of the groove under- 

 neath the horse into which the girth fits ; this 

 should be well back from the elbow, say, 

 9 inches ; if it is near the elbow, the shoulder 

 is almost certain to be straight, since as a 

 general rule a horizontal arm, and consequently 

 an elbow too near the girth groove, accom- 

 panies a straight shoulder. It must be remem- 

 bered that the shoulder blade is quite distinct 

 from the withers, and it does not follow because 

 the withers are high and run well into the 

 back that the shoulder is a good one, and 

 a nice sloping, well-developed, light shoulder 

 often accompanies a low wither. Each point 

 must be examined separately, but a line drawn 

 from the highest point of the withers to the 

 point of the shoulder generally gives the slope 

 of the shoulder, and a vertical line dropped 

 from the highest point of the withers should 

 pass behind the elbow, when the horse is 

 standing naturally. As before said, it is impor- 

 tant that the arm from the shoulder point to 

 the elbow should not be very oblique ; horses 

 with high knee action, that do not get over 

 the ground, will generally be found to have 



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