CHOOSING A POLO PONY. 93 



5. Not too heavy a body for his legs. 



6. The best of fore legs, with plenty of bone in 

 proportion to the size of the body. The shorter the 

 cannon bone is, the better. The fore legs should be 

 straight from elbow to fetlock (that is to say, the pony 

 should be neither " over" nor " back " at the knees) ; 

 the back tendons should be as nearly as possible 

 parallel to the cannon bone ; and the suspensory 

 ligament should stand out in a sharply-defined manner 

 between the cannon bone and back tendons. With 

 these conditions, the thicker the cannon bone, sus- 

 pensory ligament and back tendons are, the stronger 

 will be the leg and the better able will it be to stand 

 work. Any increased thickness due to injury will be 

 accompanied in the case of the suspensory ligament, 

 by the filling up, to a greater or less extent, of the 

 spaces between it and the cannon bone and back 

 tendons ; and in the case of the back tendons, by a 

 more or less puffy condition of the part. The broader 

 the fetlock is, compared to the width of the leg just 

 below the knee, the less able will the animal be to 

 stand fast work. We may see the correctness of this 

 remark, if we compare the shape of the fore leg of a 

 thorough-bred with that of a cart horse. 



7. Strong, w^ell-sloped pasterns, not too short. The 

 shorter and more upright the pasterns are, the worse 

 will the pony stand work on hard ground. 



8. The hoofs should be strong, the soles concave, 

 and the frogs well developed. 



9. Plenty of quality, combined with substance. 



10. A good kind eye. A pony with a wild staring 

 eye seldom makes a good polo pony. 



[The weight borne by the fore legs as compared to 



