HUNTERS 



short, and a short pastern renders a horse un- 

 comfortable to ride, increases concussion, and 

 acts prejudicially upon other parts of the limb. 

 Most horsemen will be in unison with the author's 

 thoughts upon this matter. On the other hand, 

 if the pasterns are too oblique, they are gene- 

 rally too long, and deficient in bone. Admit- 

 ting that they give a hunter a very elastic step, 

 their over obliquity renders the leverage on 

 the tendons too great, predisposing to premature 

 "breakdown." What a hunter requires is, a pastern 

 of medium length, broad in front, and deep from 

 back to front, with articular areas of correspond- 

 ing magnitude. Although the long pastern is a 

 short bone, it is one upon which a tremendous 

 amount of concussive force is thrown, as is proved 

 by that not uncommon accident, *' split pastern," 

 the fragmentary breakage of which, under the 

 simplest of circumstances, is of a most revela- 

 tionary kind. One can easily conceive that a 

 hunter wanting in bone and substance in any 

 portion of its limbs, must necessarily be seriously 

 handicapped, as the work that it has to perform 

 entails violent muscular contraction, concussion, 

 and the execution of most energetic movement* 



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