62 THE AMERICAN BLOOD-HORSE. 



lower thigh— should be long, strong, and fully developed. By 

 this formation, the stifle-joint is brought well forward, and there 

 is a considerable angle between these two divisions. The hock 

 should be long and strong, free from gum or spavin, and the 

 point long, and so set on as to be free from weakness at the 

 situation of curb. In examining the hind-quarter, to judge of 

 its aniscular development, the horse should not be looked at 

 sideways, but his tail should be raised, and it should be ascer- 

 tained that the muscles of the two limbs meet together below 

 the anus, which should in fact be well supported by them, and 

 not left loose, and, as it were, in a deep and flaccid hollow. 

 The outline of the outer part of the thigh should be full, and in 

 ordinary horses the muscles should swell out beyond the level 

 of the point of the hip. This fullness, however, is not often 

 seen to such an extent in the thorough-bred horse, until he has 

 arrived at mature age, and is taken out of training. The 

 bones below the hock should be flat and free from adhesions : 

 the ligaments and tendons fully developed, and standing out 

 free from the bones ; and the joints well formed and wide, yet 

 without any diseased enlargement ; the pasterns should be mo- 

 derately long, and oblique ; the bones of good size ; and, lastly, 

 the feet should correspond to those already alluded to in the 

 anterior extremity. 



These points, taken as a whole, should be in proportion to 

 one another — that is to say, the formation of the horse should 

 be "true." He should not have long, well-developed hind- 

 quarters, with an upright, weak, or confined fore-quarter. Nor 

 will the reverse of this answer the purpose ; for, however well- 

 formed the shoulder may be, the horse will not go well unless he 

 has a similar formation in the propeller. It is of great impor- 



