182 A HUNTING CATECHISM 



was deprived of the top joint of his rod. The 

 recognised length of the hair of the tail for 

 hunters, before this present fashion of docking 

 set in a few years ago, was to reach to the 

 bottom of the thighs, when hanging naturally 

 down. It is then sufficiently short, when raised 

 in the walk, to be out of the reach of the mud, 

 while the graceful swing of the tail, as it keeps 

 time to the stride of a well-bred horse, gives a 

 charming air of swagger to the animal, and is 

 very taking. All this is lost by docking the 

 horse so short that only a stump is left. 



Q. What is to be noted in the quarters ? 



A. They should be very muscular and long, 

 for on the length of a muscle depends its 

 retractile power. Standing behind the horse the 

 thighs should be seen to meet, for a narrow split- 

 up horse can never do a long, hard day's work. 

 Especially, too, should the triceps muscle show 

 great development and roundness, the muscle 

 that, looking from behind at the outline of the 

 quarter in the direction of the stifle, gives the 

 roundness to that part. The thigh should run 

 into the second thigh, and the latter continue 

 to the hock, something in the shape of a V ; 

 that is, the change from one to the other should 

 be so gradual, it is difficult to tell by the eye 

 where one ends and the other begins. In many 

 horses, on the contrary, the thigh ends abruptly, 

 and the second thigh is the same width all the 

 way to the hock. This is due to the extra 

 development, or the reverse, of two important 

 little muscles at the bottom of the thigh, which 

 unite, and pass as one tendon to the point of the 

 hock. This answers to the " tendon Achilles " in 



