t6 



ROACH BACK, AND HOLLOW BACK. 



ders and Norman breeds have all this tendency; and they are invariably of a 

 sluggish nature, wlien the belly, also, hanijs low. 



The major part of our horses of this built have their sides falling in, more 

 or less, towards the hind quarter, some few of them to such a degree that the 

 flank appears as it it were fastened to the loins. These are remarkably poor 

 feeders, have a good deal of short-lived vigour, without the gift of keeping it 

 up at any kind of thing. Nutritious food, but less in quantity, does for horses 

 which arc out in the first-mentioned point all that can be done, and that is 

 very little : those of the second species of bad form can not bear long journeys, 

 nor long privation, or they contract flatulencies and spasmodic cholic. 



Another s|)ecies of dis[)roportionate length, as compared to height, consists 

 hi what is called " high mounted," the limbs having then much more length 

 than the body; a defect that is rendered still more apparent when (as gene- 

 rally happens) the horse is also roach-backed, like the first sketch of back 



Fig. 7. 



bone in figure 7; and it is still more striking when a little man is mounted 

 anon it with a saddle that is ever sliding forward upon the withers. Such a 

 form alwavs denotes weakness of limb, and want of freedom in the fore-hand ; 

 nor can a horse of this built take a long step, or trot well, or thrive in the field, 

 by reason of the difficulty he has in reaching the grass, which induces him to 

 bend one knee forward, whilst the other leg is drawn back under him. A 

 ludicrous story is even told among horse-dealers of a horse so formed having 

 starved itself in the fields, while the food lay within an inch of its nose; and 

 though such stories are no argument, they, nevertheless, convey the general 

 feehng of the narrators, which is seldom completely wrong. 



13. But a horse may be sh( rt in the carcase, which is not exactly "higli- 

 mounted,'* in my view of the term; since much will depend upon the shape 

 (or herd) of his back-hone, tj bring him under the one or the other descrip- 

 tion. We h; ve seen what sort of character a roach back bestows on a horse. 

 the direct co itrary form, or hollow hack -bone, [see the lowermost sketch in 

 the last cut (cjj is no better, though budt upon long limbs, horses with this 

 shaped b<ick being in all cases weak in the loins; and, therefore, are they more 

 liable to contract "inllamination of the kidneys, and^to resist the cure longer 

 than those of any other shaped back whatever. Yet are they prefeirnd by 



