172 COMPARATIVE SHAPE OF HORSES. 



of his fetlock. In a high-class Leicestershire hunter (Fig. 

 275), it will come down to the middle of the pastern ; 

 in the heavy-weight hunter, to the coronet ; in the 

 Artillery " wheeler " or light cart-horse, to the ground ; 

 and in a Cheadle Jumbo, it will be four inches more in 

 length. Hence we may conclude that the term, " short 

 on the leg," is one to denote the possession of strength, 

 rather than of speed. The reckless manner in which it 

 is used with respect to race-horses is as incorrect as it 

 is ridiculous. With age, good feeding and want of 

 exercise, a horse usually lengthens, deepens, and thickens 

 somewhat as regards his height. Mr. W. F. Shaw, 

 F.R.C.V.S., who has charge of the horses belonging 

 to the London Street Tramways Company, tells me 

 that he has frequently observed that comparatively 

 light, well-bred horses, when put to tramway work 

 at about live years of age, thicken and get coarse after a 

 few months, to a far greater extent than if they had been 

 used at fast paces. We all know that labour between the 

 rails is slow ; and the feeding (eighteen pounds of corn and 

 twelve pounds of hay) is ample for these not very large 

 animals. We may accept the fact that both muscles 

 and bones more or less accommodate themselves in time 

 to the nature of the work to which they are put ; the 

 difference being one of thickness, and not of length. I 

 have often noticed among thorough-breds that, to a cer- 

 tain extent, they became coarse and lost their appear- 

 ance of blood if kept under rough conditions and used 

 for ordinary hack work. 



St. Gatien (p. 25), the celebrated son of The Rover 

 and St. Editha, was a very deep-chested horse, as his 

 depth from his withers to his brisket (just behind the 

 elbow) was an inch more than from his brisket to the 

 bottom of his fetlock. He was thus an inch deeper 

 than Ormonde, who was one and three-quarter inches 

 deeper than St. Simon. St. Gatien was particularly dis- 

 tinguished by his ability to stay a distance. 



