BREAKING, GENTLING, AND TRAINING. 521 



The Dutch horse, originally from Pennsylvania, is the one 

 most used in this country for the constant wear and tear of 

 heavy wagoning, and similar labors, and for these purposes 

 possesses a peculiar adaptedness. 



In the draught horse it is desirable that there be a much 

 less slanting direction of the shoulder — that is, of the scapula 

 (see 13, in cut on page 24) — than in the horse designed for 

 rapid motion, in order that there may be more weight thrown 

 into the collar, and that the burden of the draught may be 

 more equally distributed along the whole length of the 

 shoulder. Such a conformation, however, always indicates 

 the capabilities of a slow, steady plodder merely. In regard 

 to this particular, the artist who executed the full-page illus- 

 tration opposite could hardly have had a fair specimen of 

 the class for a model. An oblique shoulder is ah essential 

 prerequisite to speed, and especially to a maintenance of it. 

 The engraving on page 519 shows the relative situations of 

 the bones of the tore and hind extremities, and will doubt- 

 less assist our readers to understand the subject more clearly. 



ROADSTERS 



Under this designation may be classed the stage and om- 

 nibus horses, those for passenger carriages, saddle horses used 

 habitually for long journeys, etc. The draught horse is by 

 no means suited for tbese purposes, being too heavy and slow, 

 and soon breaking down. The horse of small body and good 

 length, with light, active limbs, is best adapted to the road. 

 There is no better stock known for these employments than | 

 a cross with the Arabian or the Andalusian. The roadster 

 should have no surplus flesh; his mi||cles must be hard and 

 compact, his limbs well-shaped^nd trim, his joints full and 

 round, and his foot and ankle sloping backward at an angle 

 of forty-five degrees from the point of the toe. 



There are some horses with long bodies and quite short 

 legs, and these make the worst roadsters in the world. The 

 length of the body and that of the limbs should correspond. 

 Some long legs, also, are very objectionable — too small, yet 



