64 THE PERFECT HORSE. 



result. I have seen horses so badly constructed in this 

 respect, that, in looking at them from a side-view, 

 the front of the shank-bone immediately below the 

 hock-joint looked as if it had been shaved away. I 

 need not say that this is a fearful defect ; for the bone 

 at this point, in order to receive and carry the joint 

 properly, should be wide and thick. A broad, firm 

 basis for what is above to rest upon is one of the best 

 possible assurances that the owner can have that his 

 liorse will never be spavined. In further description of 

 the shank-bone, I would remark that it should be short, 

 stout, and flat : a long, round formation is as bad a one 

 as perverted nature can form. " Wide as a slab " Avas 

 the description which an old stage-driver in Vermont 

 once gave me of his ideal shank-bone ; and a very good 

 description it was too. In a well-formed leg the back 

 sinews should be brought well out from the bone, and 

 feel to the finger like finely-twisted cords. See to it 

 that they are free from all irregularities of surfixce, such 

 as puffs, notches, and globules of fatty substance. Let 

 them, rather, be smooth and hard as scraped bone. Ob- 

 serve, also, that the lower end of the shank-bone, as well 

 as the upper, should be of sufficient size to make a 

 strong and solid connection with the pastern, which 

 should be longer, stronger, and more oblique, than the 

 pastern of the fore-leg. In short, see to it, that, from 

 the line of the rump to the ground-surface of the hind- 

 foot, bone and muscle alike look as if they were of 

 such size and strength, and so admirably adjusted in 



