CONFORMATION COMPARED. 185 



front cannon-bone, than any other family. Hence, they reach their 

 feet further-out with a given elevation of the knee, and consequently 

 with less apparent bending of the joint than some of their cousins in the 

 Hambletonian blood, who, from the very shortness of their forearms, are 

 compelled to lift their knees very high to get their forefeet forward, 

 and out of the way of the hind ones. These fellows make great 

 show of trotting; that is, they show superior knee-action, according- 

 to this gentleman's way of putting it; but while they are lifting their 

 knees so high, the Volunteers are showing their heels in the fast 

 increasing distance. The one lift their knees very high; the other 

 trot very fast — that is exactly the difference. Hambletonian, in hia 

 forearm, is 20^ inches, and 11^ in his front cannon-bone, while Volun- 

 teer is 21 inches in forearm, and 11^ in his cannon-bone, and Wildfire,, 

 a large son of Volunteer, is 21 and 11; Huntress, 20 and lOf ; Sister,. 

 19f and 10^; Annie G, 20 and 10|^; and a large mare by Volunteer, 

 dam by Everett, 2d dam by Harry Clay, is 21 and 11. I examined 

 carefulh', at different places, above twenty of the produce of Volun- 

 teer, and found that they uniformly showed a short cannon-bone and 

 a long forearm. Hence, when they trot, they go with a low, easy and 

 far-reaching gait, not appearing to go fast — but the record and appear- 

 ances do not agree. A trotting horse may not differ from another one- 

 half of an inch in his height or the length of his forelegs, but if he 

 differs from the other one-half of an inch in the relative length of his 

 cannon-bone and his forearm, it will make a very perceptible difference 

 in the trotting gait of the two animals. 



From the centre of the hip to the point of the hock. Volunteer is- 

 40 inches; from the point of stifle to the point of hock — length of 

 thigh — he is 24, and from point of hock to the centre of ankle joint 

 he is 17 inches. He is also 25 inches across the loin from hip to hip, one 

 inch larger than Hambletonian in his width across the loin or through 

 the hips, but not so large according to the side view, or measurement 

 of the hindquarters. His family run in the same proportion with great 

 uniformity, the large ones a little longer and the smaller a little- 

 shorter in each part, but with very uniform proj^ortion, more so than 

 the sons and daughters of Hambletonian, so far as they have come 

 under my observation in like numbers. They run 39^ — 23^ behind, 

 20 and lOf in front, for length of limb, and 24 inches across loin from 

 hip to hip. The only two material variations from this scale were the 

 stallion Wildfire, whose dam was by Morse Morgan, son of Morse 

 Horse, sire of Norman, and the cross was apparent in the length of 



