THE AMERICAN BLOOD-HORSE. 61" 



behind well developed ; legs flat, and showing a suspensory liga* 

 ment large and free ; pasterns long enough, w^ithout being 

 weak ; and the feet sound, and neither too large nor too small, 

 and unattended with any degree of contraction, which is the 

 bane of the thorough-bred horse. 



The hind-quarter is the chief agent in propulsion, and is 

 therefore of the utmost consequence in attaining a high speed. 

 It is often asserted that the oblique shoulder is the grand 

 requisite in this object, and that it is the part upon which speed 

 mainly depends, and in which it may be said to reside. This is, 

 to some extent, true, because there can be no doubt that with a 

 loaded shoulder high speed is impracticable ; for, however 

 powerfully the body may be propelled, yet when the fore-quar- 

 ter touches the ground it does not bound off again as smartly 

 as it ought to do, and the pace is consequently slow. The 

 elastic shoulder, on the contrary, receives the resistance of the 

 earth, but reacts upon it, and loses very little of the power 

 given, by the strike of the hind-quarter, which, nevertheless, 

 must be strong and quick, or else there is nothing for the 

 shoulder to receive and transmit. For the full action of the 

 hind-quarters, two things are necessary, viz : first, length and 

 volume of muscle ; and, secondly, length of leverage, upon 

 which that muscle may act. Hence, all the bones comprising 

 the hind-quarter should be long, but the comparative length 

 must vary a good deal, in order that the parts upon which the 

 muscles lie may be long, rather than those connected with the 

 tendons, which are mere ropes, and have no propelling power 

 residing in them, but only transmit that which they derive from 

 the muscles themselves. Thus, the hips should be long and 

 wide, and the two upper divisions of the limb — viz.j the stifle and 



