A DUROC-MESSENGEE. 213 



stands uprightly and squarely on his legs. His liind leg is a little 

 straighter, but other\vise not unlike that of Hambletonian, and the 

 thigh is noticeably long, and very powerful; quarters very heavy, and 

 the great muscle coming down within twelve inches of the hock. 

 His outer muscle on the second thigh or gaskin is noticeably large 

 and prominent; but the great excellence of his conformation of the 

 hindquarters lies in the distribution of the muscular combination from 

 the hips and croup all the way down the quarters and thighs, and that 

 absence of massing of muscle above the second thigh, at the expense 

 of other portions of his rear frame work. His rump runs out even 

 and full, an,d his whirlbone is located high — which holds the seat of 

 power for trotting purposes in even and thorough distribution through- 

 out. His gait and manner of going is controlled in great part by this 

 more elevated placing of his muscular combination, holding the pro- 

 pelling centers at a range nearer to the hip and whirlbone, and, by 

 reason of his great expanse of flank room, completely controlling his 

 way of going, and giving him a gait entirely different from what his 

 long thigh and strong Duroc outline would otherwise have fastened 

 upon him. And right here is the point of study in his composition 

 which is the fullest of instruction, and worthy of our closest consider- 

 ation. 



His dam was by Mambrino Chief, whose dam may be set down as a 

 granddaughter of Duroc. His third dam was by Duroc Messenger, a 

 grandson of Duroc. This gives this horse two crosses of Duroc 

 blood, which is visible in only one particular in his entire composition. 

 He has a thigh 24^ inches in length, but has scarcely a trace of the 

 Duroc element in his s-ait. Instead of swinsrino- his hocks wide out, 

 and trotting Avith a sprawling, wide, open gait, as it is called, he trots 

 as close and true as Ladj^ Thorn with her 23-inch thigh. His length 

 from hip to hock, for so large a horse, is not great — 39-i- inches — 

 but he lifts his feet up squarely, and sj)reads out his stifle, and sets 

 each foot forward as truly in line as any son of Hambletonian in the 

 land. This is entirely owing to the muscular conformation of his 

 quarters, and their great proportions, and particularly the great leno-th 

 of the lines H and G, which shows his comparative size and room from 

 stifle to hip, and from stifle to the outer muscular covering of the 

 wliirlbone. His measurement in the triangle of the hindquarter is as 

 follows: H 19, F 21, G 30, which, it will be observed, is precisely the 

 same as Hambletonian's. His flank room is amjale, and his muscle so 

 works as to throw his stifle out wide, and yet his hocks are not 



