How to Buy a Horse. 2J^3 



and pricked forward, but not large, which is 

 generally a sign of a soft-hearted horse. The 

 neck should be well curved, lightly formed rather 

 than muscular, and considerably arched beneath 

 at its union with the jaws. The shoulders should 

 be high and sloping, the withers should be of a 

 medium breadth, and not too high, as it will be 

 found that high-withered horses are generally 

 narrow in the chest, which is always a bad point, 

 in not allowing sufficient scope for the lungs to 

 play, and is never so pleasing to the eye as a 

 broad expanded front. Still some horses have 

 proved both hardy and good in point of action 

 with narrow chests, but these have had depth to 

 compensate for the want of breadth. However, 

 there is a medium in the chest of a horse ; great 

 width is generally accompanied with want of 

 action, and such horses are better used for cart 

 or farm purposes. The back should be short and 

 somewhat arched across the loins, the chest deep 

 and the ribs expanding, especially between the 

 last rib and the hip, so as not to admit of a 

 hollow between them. This is called well ribbed 

 up ; a loose-ribbed horse is always unpleasant to 

 the eye if it is not a physical defect ; no feeding 

 will fill up a horse in that quarter, nor can a 

 horse be pleasing to the eye that has not good 

 hind -quarters. 



They should be round and full of muscles, the 

 hips well developed ; a low rump is a charac- 

 teristic of an Irish horse, and is termed amongst 

 dealers a "goose-rump"; many blood horses 

 have this formation. Avoid the purchase of one 



