26 STRUCTURES OF THE BODY. 



light of bone, we may, as a rule, conclude that there 

 is not much muscle in the load of meat which he 

 carries. Among sound, good horses, " Mr. Morton's " 

 Dalmeny was one of the lightest below the knee I 

 have ever seen ; but no exception could have been taken 

 to him on that account, for his legs had no superfluous 

 weight to carry, and his muscles were of the long, 

 slender type, which is generally characteristic of the 

 possession of speed. The bones and muscles of the limbs 

 are not always in keeping with those of the body ; for 

 we daily see instances of animals that are too heavily 

 " topped " for their legs. 



Men of experience know that a horse should have 

 plenty of " bone " in order to be able to carry weight with 

 ease to himself for long distances and at comparatively 

 fast paces — as, for example, when hunting. If we take 

 two horses that can perform about equally well in a long 

 run with a similar welter weight up, one having the 

 " pull " in speed, the other in bone and muscle, we shall 

 usually find that the latter will not feel the effects of the 

 work so much as the former. This fact can be explained 

 by the reasonable supposition that the weight-bearing 

 muscles of the lighter-built horse, not being so strong 

 as those of the " heavier " animal, will naturally become 

 more fatigued. The objection sometimes advanced 

 against thorough-breds for hunting, that they cannot 

 " come out again " as quickly as half-bred animals, is 

 valid, especially when the former are lighter built than 

 the latter. Also, blood horses, as a rule, are bred for 

 speed and not for endurance (pp. 426 to 434). 



Large muscles, as we have seen, require large 

 bones. It is also evident that bones which are 

 exposed to the effects of concussion, should be dense 

 and strong. Consequently, we may conclude that 

 the lighter an animal's body is, in comparison to the 

 strength of its component parts and the amount of 

 its muscular force, the greater will be its powers of 



