8o ATTITUDES OF THE HORSE. 



front legs will be vertical, as in Fig. 53. I have never 

 seen a horse adopt this attitude (Fr. le placer). Fig. 54 is 

 the nearest approach to it in a well-bred horse that 

 I have been able to get in a photograph, of which this 

 illustration is an exact copy. 



Many persons maintain that a well-shaped horse, no 

 matter what his class may be, will, when he stands, 

 have his hind legs " well under him," as in Fig. 50 ; 

 such a position being regarded by them as a point of 

 conformation, and not as an attitude. We can see the 

 fallacy of this idea if we compare Fig. 50 with Fig. 51, 

 both of which photographs were taken within five 

 minutes of each other. In the former, Bendigo's* hind 

 legs are well under him, but in the latter they are a 

 little behind him. In judging the way a horse stands, 

 we should consider the position of the fore legs, as well as 

 that of the hind ones. Thus, in Fig. 50, the fore legs 

 "stand over"; and in Fig. 51, they are more or less 

 vertical, owing to the fact that the hind feet are farther 

 away from the fore ones than in the former case. Also, 

 the position of the head and neck should be taken into 

 account ; for the higher they are raised, the greater 

 tendency will the horse have to bring his hind legs under 

 him, so as to support the increased weight thrown on 

 them. The zebra appears to have a larger proportion of 

 weight "behind," than any other member of the horse 

 family, and consequently his hind legs are very well under 

 him (pp. 310 and 311). The thorough-bred, on the 

 contrary, has a relatively small proportion of weight 

 behind (p. 53), and for that reason we cannot expect him 

 to stand with his hind legs so well under him, as a 

 cart-horse would do. 



* Bendigo (by Ben Battle — Hasty Girl) was one of the best race-horses of the last 

 century. As a 3 year-old, he won the Cambridgeshire (^1,672), carrying 6 st. 10 lb. ; as a 

 5 year-old, the Lincolnshire Handicap (£i,-jn), 8 st. 5 lb., and the Hardwicke Stakes 

 (^^2,727), 9 St. 12 lb. ; as a 6 year-old, the Eclipse Stakes (;^io,ooo), 9 st. 7 lb. ; and as 

 a 7 year-old, the Jubilee Stakes (.^2,850), 9 st. 7 lb., and the Champion Stakes (^^'1,131), 

 9 St. 



