Manual of Equitation and Horse Training 46 



horse possesses the elements thereof, a wide angle between 

 the humerus and scapulum and power in the hind quarters. 



If the length and slant of the shoulder blade joined to 

 good direction of the withers aid the balance by well dis- 

 tributing the weight of the rider, it is the length and ver- 

 ticality of the humerus more than the direction of the 

 shoulder which gives freedom of gaits and leads to agility 

 in placing the forefeet. (See fig. 2, p. 47.) 



The power of the hind quarters, the seat of the propell- 

 ing or retrograde forces, renders the horse master of his 

 mass, and consequently of one part of his balance; it gives 

 him free use of his hocks so that he can engage or extend 

 them, hold back, or stretch out according to circumstances; 

 in a word, he is made master of his direction and speed. 







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i.»i\uA-c X 



Finally, if his confidence in his long sloping shoulders 

 permits him to land lightly and without apparent efforts 

 after the obstacle, it is the extension of the hind quarters 

 which gives him power to clear it. The ilium, then, for 

 the saddle horse must be wide (distance between points of 

 hips). The outside angle (at the point of the hip) well de- 

 fined; the inside angle high and above the lumbar verte- 

 brae; that is the loin of the Irish horses; that is what, in the 

 ignorance of its causes, is commonly called *'the bump of 

 jumping." (See fig. 3, p. 48.) 



Conformation.— Add to these requirements a neck, less 

 distinguished by its actual length than by the way the cer- 

 vical vertebrae are attached to the processes of well sloping 

 withers, and one has the outline of the horse in his useful 

 qualities, the conformation to be sought. 



