POINTS. 381 



The want of alacrity in avoiding clanger is justly esteemed a great 

 defect; but what right had man to complain of his dumb companion's 

 tardiness, when, to gratify a caprice or to conform with the fashion, he 

 deprived his servant of the agent by which all sudden motions were 

 regulated ? Happily, however, the barbarous custom which once pre- 

 vailed is now generally discarded; although docking is even at the 

 present moment occasionally practiced, under a notion of improving de- 

 ficient quarters, while thinning the tail and mane are commonly adopted 



Nevertheless, the reader of any experience can hardly have failed to 

 remark that, since the practice of mutilation has become less general, 

 those fearful horse accidents which during the old coaching days were of 

 almost hourly occurrence, have not so frequently shocked the sensibilities 

 of society. 



Such a circumstance cannot be accounted for by the smaller number 

 of animals at present retained for private use. It is well ascertained 

 that railways, which it was originally supposed would prove detrimental 

 to the breed of horses, have had a decidedly opposite tendency, the ani- 

 mals being about twice as numerous as they were during any previous 

 period. Thus, with more universal distribution, greater security has 

 been attained; and we perceive, in general operation, only the one cause 

 to which present security can be assigned. Masters are not much more 

 prudent now than they were formerly ; while fast coaches were not the 

 sole causes of the catastrophes of our fathers' days; neither did such 

 vehicles start at every hour nor travel upon every road. 



The turning or guiding power having been pointed out, the attention 

 must next be directed to the region where all strength centers, and from 

 which all ability for motion proceeds. 



THE BACK OP THE HORSE, AS SEEN FROM ABOVE. 



When the reader has been riding in any vehicle and looking down 

 upon the spine of the horse, he can hardly have failed to remark that the 

 widest portion of the body was the prominence of the hip-bones. The 

 posterior parts, or those behind the projections, are not continuous of 

 size; but they nevertheless are far more bulky and altogether more 

 fleshy than any of the forward surfaces of the body. Flesh is only 

 another term for muscle; consequently where flesh is most conspicuous, 

 strength most resides. The muscles of the hind limbs spring from a 



