HOW TO KNOW HEM. - 53 



head, — that is all. They add nothing, or next to noth- 

 ing, to the motive-power. They must be sound, and 

 well sustained with muscles, or they cannot uphold the 

 superincumbent weight, or move themselves with the 

 needed quickness. But with this their function ends. 

 They appropriate their own power. They are, as it 

 were, altogether selfish. Not so with the hind-legs. 

 They are the great motors of the body. They push 

 the entire frame through the s,iv. They set the heavy 

 wagon behind in motion. Watch a horse as he is about 

 to start a load. How does he do it? Where is the 

 power to j^usJi located ? Evidently in his hind quarters 

 and legs. The most casual glance, as the horse lowers 

 himself to his work, will reveal this fact. Watch a 

 horse in the exercise-field; observe him as he rears 

 for the leap, and see him as he goes into the air. 

 How did he leave the ground ? What launched him up 

 along that splendid leap ? There can be but one an- 

 swer : The hind-legs do it all. Hence the need of power 

 at this point. There cannot be too much ; for the effort 

 that he is called upon to make at times is prodigious. 

 It is well authenticated that the celebrated horse 

 Yainhope made a leap thirty-four feet in length. The 

 English hunters will clear a strong, six-barred gate with 

 a hundred and ninety pounds in the saddle. Such feats 

 cannot be done unless the bone structure and muscular 

 development of the hind-quarters are simply perfect. 

 Let us, therefore, examine this supremely important sec- 

 tion of the horse's body, in order to ascertain what must 



