A CASE IN POINT. 13 



force, and the tale is told. The brute will become 

 more infirm every day ; though his owner may and 

 often does wonder at such an untoward result.' He 

 finally breaks down after having been first favourite 

 for at least half-a-dozen good stakes, and never even 

 having won a bad one, — and the next you see of the 

 brute is perchance at a country market town, and ask, 

 though not for information, but for the sake of some- 

 thing to say, ' how he broke down ? ' and you are 

 immediately told with admirable candour, ( Struck 'is 

 leg h 'exercising one mornin' ; ' and, pointing at the 

 manifest decrepitude, ( that lost he the Derby, that did ! ' 

 With such men argument is fruitless. Accuracy of 

 formation is nothing to them : indeed I fancy that 

 they harbour a sort of jealousy towards good formation 

 and manners in the animal horse, being blessed with so 

 little of either themselves ! 



Having said thus much on the formation of the fore 

 leg, I will only add in conclusion, that a calf-kneed 

 horse, or as the dealers have it c back at the knees,' 

 must be avoided most carefully for racing purposes, 

 however well-proportioned the leg may otherwise be, 

 since the strain on the tendons must be too severe to 

 be long endured without serious consequences. On 

 the other hand a horse rather s over at the knees,' if 

 naturally so (and by natural — I mean natural con- 

 traction of the tendons, and not contraction consequent 

 on inflammation), will be able to undergo a more severe 

 tension, and therefore it is that such formed legs in- 

 variably wear the longest. 



