282 Alexander's abdallaii and descendants. 



them was, that they pointed or dug too much with their forefeet. It 

 is true that, like the Volunteers, they trot best with a light weight; 

 but, as I showed in the case of that family, this clamor about not 

 bending the knees is false in theory and needless in practice. Both 

 famihes bend their knees enouorh to a:et to the end of the race in fast 

 time. But the difference in the matter of elevation of the forefeet, 

 between Thorndale and the Almonts, is very perceptible; while 

 Almont might, without detriment, raise them a little more, Thorndale 

 shows his well up and out in front in vigorous style. In the neck 

 Almont appears slightly heavier than the Hambletonian model — his 

 shoulder is heavy and very powerful, and extends well forward; his 

 middle-piece is excellent, and, with his back and loin short and pow- 

 erful, gives him the appearance of great compactness and power; but, 

 like all of the best Hambletonians, the excellence of the animal 

 appears to the greatest advantage in the hindquarter. In the trian- 

 gular lines H, F, G, he is respectively 17, 20, and 27; and is, from hip 

 to hip over the loin, 26 inches — the same as Thorndale. His quarters 

 are exceedingly muscular, and he carries it both on the outside and 

 on the inside — and in this connection there is a family peculiarity 

 pertaining to the Hambletonians worthy of notice. Many of our 

 powerful trotters, especially those earning from Messenger, Hamble- 

 tonian or Mambrino Chief blood, on Diomed or Archy crosses, show 

 a great and very powerful muscular development of the outer quarters, 

 and low down on the thio-h or oraskin. Manv of them widen out at a 

 range with the stifle; but the Hambletonian family are marked from 

 all others in the excessive development of the inside of the quarters 

 and the back part of the great muscle of the quarters — I describe 

 Hambletonian in that part as " simply immense." 



The Abdallah family were not deficient on the inside of the quarter, 

 while they were so flat and straight on the outside as to be always called 

 '* cat-hammed." Messenger Duroc has much of this appearance, but 

 ^hows his true Hambletonian massivcness on the inner side of the 

 quarter. When we come to study closely the muscular organization 

 of the horse, and the office performed by each muscle, v^^e shall find 

 that this vast accumulation — penetrated by an innumerable system of 

 ligaments, all centering in the great back sinew that extends to the 

 hock and the main tandons that lift and propel the hind leg — is by no 

 means superfluous. Its importance is suggested by the speed and 

 extraordinary power of the family which possesses the coTiformation 

 in such high degroee. Whether this peculiarity comes from the Bell- 



