110 LESSONS IN HORSE JUDGING. 



greatest bulk. A combination of speed and power, 

 as exhibited in our type the hunter, has its highest 

 expression in horses about fifteen and a half hands 

 high ; half a hand more or less being unessential. 



THE SKIN AND ITS APPENDAGES. 



The skin of the thoroughbred is extremel}^ thin 

 and delicate, and allows the veins to be seen 

 through it, and is covered with fine hair. That 

 of the draught horse is thick. That of the 

 hunter, or power and speed representative, is a 

 mean between the two extremes, and shows as 

 clearly as most things whether the horse in question 

 inclines to being w^ell bred and thin skinned or 

 the reverse. 



Much mane and tail is a sign of low breeding. 

 A slight silky mane, with or without a little wave in 

 the hair, is a desirable thing. The same may be 

 said of the tail. 



AGE. 



Horses, as a rule, are considered at their best at 

 from five to ten years of age. Much depends on the 

 age at which they are put to work. The author 

 has in his mind's eye a case in which a gentleman 

 used to break his horses at four, but did not begin 

 to use them until eight. These horses, to the 

 author's own knowdedge, were at their prime from 

 eight to twenty years of age. 



