GOOD POINTS.] 



THE HOESE, AND 



[OOOD POIIS-TS. 



is of more consequence than the chest ; bat like 

 that of many other parts, no particular construc- 

 tion of it is, for all sorts of animals, the best. 

 The chest of the cart-horse should be circular, 

 broad in the bosom, and large in the girth ; 

 that of the thorough-bred, more circumscribed, 

 but not flat-sided, very deep, and also exten- 

 sive in the girth ; so that the two difier more 

 in width than in depth. A full and prominent 

 breast is a fine point; and the ribs should 

 stand out with sufficient curve to afford space 

 enough within. For this reason some prefer 

 a shoulder of middling thickness, if it is an 

 obhque one; because, besides the one men- 

 tioned, it has another advantage — of enabling 

 the rider to feel that he has something sub- 

 stantial under him. A narrow-carcased horse 

 is always exceptionable, for he is commonly 

 an indifferent feeder. If we expect dura- 

 bility in a horse, the barrel should be round, 

 and capacious enough to give room for the 

 heart and lungs to play. This organisa- 

 tion is essential to those animals from which 

 hard work is daily expected. The opposites of 

 this form are generally of weak constitution, 

 although they may give sufficient satisfaction 

 to those riders who merely use them for summer 

 recreation. They are generally what is termed 

 loasJi.y, parting with their food too quickly, and 

 perfectly incompetent to perform any great 

 labour, or endure continued hard work, 



The back should be perfectly straight, as 

 one that is hollow indicates want of strength, 

 although such a form is often extremely plea- 

 sant to the rider. A roach back, the reverse 

 of a hollow back, is by no means handsome, 

 but it is stronger. One objection to it, how- 

 ever, is, that it is apt to chafe from the saddle. 

 The loins are a point which merit the most 

 particular attention. A hollow back and a 

 narrow loin are generally indicative of natural 

 weakness ; but the latter is far more exception- 

 able than the former. A horse so formed can 

 seldom carry much weight, is easily knocked 

 up, and often proves a bad feeder. His con- 

 stant hoUowness in the flank, and his lank ap- 

 pearance altogether, after a day's hunting, 

 amply demonstrate his utter incapability of 

 sustaining the great exertion necessary to the 

 satisfactory performance of his situation. 



The manner in which the tail is set on must 

 not be overlooked. A horse that carries two 

 168 



good ends — of which the head forms one, and 

 the tail the other — always looks grand and 

 showy. Above all others of his species, the 

 charger should possess these points in perfec- 

 tion, to coincide with the grandeur of his car- 

 riage in the ostentatious parade of a field-dav. 

 In most horses this posterior appendage should 

 form, when elevated, a straight line, or nearly 

 so, with the back. A gentle declivity of the 

 croup, however, from the summit of the rump, 

 denotes the blood-like quarter, and adds much 

 grace to this part in the thorougli-bred animal. 

 Should this line, however, decline very much, 

 the quarters lose much of their beauty as well 

 as their natural power. Nothing is so ugly, in 

 a full-quartered horse, as to see the tail set on 

 low down, and, as it were, springing abruptly 

 from the rump. The dealers fig all horses in- 

 discriminately ; but this is certainly injudicious, 

 for it subjects those which naturally carry good 

 tails, to the same suspicion as it does those which 

 may be really figged to answer the purposes of 

 the dealer. Eiery and spirited hackneys sel- 

 dom require nicking ; and hackneys are often 

 called cock-tails, in contradistinction to those 

 that are thorough-bred, which never carry any 

 but a drooping tail. A cocked-tail is incom- 

 patible with a blood-quarter ; hence blood- 

 horses should never be figged or nicked. 



The quarters may be full, small, or fine and 

 blood-like. Eull quarters are such as are pos- 

 sessed by cart-horses, large machiners, and 

 hackneys able to carry weight. These animals 

 are wide in the hips, though these are but in- 

 distinctly marked, in consequence of being 

 enveloped by large, coarse, and flabby muscles. 

 People are too apt to regard wide iiips as an 

 objectionable point, from their giving to the 

 horse the appearance which is called ragged, and 

 which is produced by a bad loin, and lank, flat, 

 and weak quarters. Were these parts well 

 formed, the hips might be pronounced of the 

 best description. The small quarter is one 

 that is often seen in a horse of this form ; and 

 though its general contour may be regular and 

 uniform, it is altogether disproportionately 

 small when compared with the carcass. If it 

 grows narrow towards the hinder part, the 

 animal is said to be goose-rumped. 



Of all other structures, the blood-like quar- 

 ter is the best adapted for speed. In the 

 blood-horse the tail is set on high up, and the 



