4 SELECTING. 



withered horse is by no means the best for that purpose. 

 Let the shoulder-blades be well slanted as the horse 

 stands, their points light in front towards the chest. 

 Nor should there be too wide a front ; for such width, 

 though well enough for draught, is not necessary in a 

 riding-horse, provided the chest and girth be deep. 



Asa matter of course the animal should be otherwise 

 well formed, with rather long pasterns (before but not 

 behind), — the length of which increases the elasticity of 

 his movement on hard roads. His action should be in- 

 dependent and high, bending the knees. If he cannot 

 walk well — in fact, with action so light that, as the 

 dealers say, "he'd hardly break an egg if he trod on 

 it " — raising his legs briskly off the ground, when 

 simply led by the halter (giving him his head) — in 

 other words, if he walks "close to the ground" — he 

 should be at once rejected. 



With regard to the other paces, different riders have 

 different fancies : the trot and walk I consider to be 

 the only important paces for a gentleman's ordinary 

 riding-horse. It is very material, in selecting a riding- 

 horse, to observe how he holds his head in his various 

 paces ; and to judge of this the intending purchaser 

 should remark closely how he works on the bit when 

 ridden by the rough-rider, and he should also pay par- 

 ticular attention to this point when he is himself on his 

 back, before selection is made.* 



* The extremes of various bad positions of the head when the bit 

 is put in operation are — the throwing up the nose horizontal with 

 the forehead, a trick denominated " stargazing," at which ewe- 

 necked horses are very ready, and getting the bit up to the angles 

 of the jaws. Such a horse can easily run away, and cannot be 

 commanded without a martingal. Another bad point is when the 

 animal leans his jaw firmly against the bit, and, placing his head 



