1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FAKJklER. 



453 



orjran ; and secondly of its continuing healthy. 

 A fall arid clear eye. with soft, gazelle-like 

 expresf^ion, is scarcely ever associated with a 

 bad temper, and will most frequently continue 

 sound, if the management of the horse to 

 which it belongs is proper in itself. The ear 

 should be of medium size, not too small, nor 

 too large, nor should it be lopped, though 

 many good lop-eared horses have been known, 

 and some very supeiior breeds, like that of 

 the ct It-brated Melbourne, are notorious for 

 this defect. 



The Neck should be of moderate length, 

 all be\ond a certain dimension being waste, 

 and even a moderate- sized head at the end of 

 an extremely long lever being too much for 

 the muscle to support. It should come out 

 full and mu>cular, with a sweep between 'he 

 wiihers and the bosom, and should gradually 

 diminish till it runs into the head, with an ele- 

 gant bend just behind the ear. A very nar- 

 row throat suddenly bent at the upper part, 

 marked as the thropple, is apt to be connected 

 with roaring, and on that account is objected 

 to by horsemen. 



Ix THE Fore- QUARTERS, there are several 

 points to be a'tentively examined, and among 

 these, the shoulder is regarded as of most con- 

 sequence, when the horse under consideration 

 is intCLded for the saddle. It is evident that, 

 unless there is length of the blade, and also of 

 the true arm, there cannot be a fill suiface 

 for the attachment and play of the muscles. 

 nor can there be the same amount of spring to 

 take oif the jar which follows each footfall. 

 The straighter the angle formed by the long 

 axis of each of these bones, the less spring 

 there will be. So, also, if the angle is not 

 sufficient, the muscles of the shuulder-blade 

 will not thrust forward the true arm, nor will 

 the latter be sufficiently clothed with mu cles 

 (without being loaded) to acton the fore-arm, 

 commonly known by the horseman as the arm 

 Hence it is found, that with an upright shoul 

 der, not only is the stride in all the paces short 

 and the action stumpy, but there is not that 

 elastic movement which enables the horse to 

 carry his body along rapily and evenly, with- 

 out rising alternately behind and before, and 

 thereby jarring himself or his rider. On the 

 other hand, the upright shoulder, loaded with 

 a thick mass of mu-cles, is useful in the cart- 

 horse, and to a certain extent also, in the car- 

 riage-horse, in both of which the pressure of 

 the collar requires a steady and comparatively 

 motionless suiface to bear it. * * * The 

 point of the shoulder should be well develop- 

 ed, but not showing any rough protuberances, 

 which are equally objectionable with a flat or 

 ill- developed point. '1 he length of the true 

 arm is mamly dependent upon that of the 

 blade ; but sometimes, when this is oblique 

 enough, the true arm is short and uprigbt, 

 and the elbow stands under, or only a little 

 behind the shoulder point. This is a very 

 faulty conformation, and is seldom attended 



with good action. The chief defect in the 

 elbow is seen when it turns inwards, and rubs 

 so closely against the ribs that the finger can 

 hardly be insinuated between them and it. 

 Here the elbow is said to be tied or confined, 

 and the horse is very apt to turn his toes out ; 

 while the opposite formation is indicated by 

 turned-in, or 'pigeon" toes, and turn-out el- 

 bows, frequently accompanying hng-standing 

 rheumati-m of the shoulders. A lung and 

 muscular fore-arm is a sure accompaniment of 

 strong and sweeping action, and shmld be 

 cart fully prized ; in other respects there is 

 little to be noted here. Next comes the knee, 

 which should be broad, and when looked at 

 from th«^ front should be much wider than the 

 limb above and below. It should taper off 

 ba kwards to a comparatively thin edge, and 

 should have a good development of the pisi- 

 form bone, which projects backwards at its 

 upper part. The leg, immediately below 

 the knee, should be as large as any ther part, 

 and not "tied in" there, which indicates a 

 weakness of this part. A bending of the knee 

 backwards is called a "calf-knee," and is not 

 objected to in cart-horses, in which it is by no 

 means uncommon ; but it is very pt to lead 

 to strains of this joint in the race horse or 

 hunter. A knee naturally bending somewhat 

 forward is much proferted by good judges, 

 though, when it is the result of over-work, it 

 is almost equally to be avoided with the calf- 

 knee. I'lat, and at the same time large, can- 

 non-bones, without gumminess, are of great 

 importance, and if attended with a full-sized 

 ^uspenso^y ligament, and with strong, clean, 

 and free back sinews, the leg is to be consid- 

 ered faultless. The fetlock-joint should be of 

 good size and clean, whilst the pasterns should 

 firm an angle with the ground, of between 

 fort} -five and sixty degrees. Lastly, the foot 

 should be well formed ; but the construction 

 of this part being hereafter more fully de- 

 scribed, 1 shall omit its consideration here. 



In the Middlepiece the withers come first 

 under notice. It is usual to desire them high 

 and thin, but they are very commonly too 

 much developed, and if the bony processes 

 stand up like the edge of a razor, without 

 muscle in them, they are to be regarded as 

 objectionable rather than otherwise. * * * 

 The volume of the chest is the measure not 

 only of the capacity of the lungs, but of that 

 of the large organs of digestion. Hence, un- 

 less there is a middlepiece of proper size, 

 the wind is seldom good, and the stamina of 

 the individual will scarcely ever be sufficient 

 to bear hard work. * * * "phe capacity 

 of the lungs is marked by the size of the chest 

 at the girth ; but the stamina will depend up- 

 on the depth of the back ribs, which should 

 be especially attended to. 



A SHORT Back, with plenty of ground cov- 

 ered nevertheless, is the desideratum of <^very 

 practical horseman. Unless the measurement 

 from the shoulder point to the back of the 



