64 The Book of the Horse. 



Some of the best horses have had lopped ears coming down over their eyes hke a rabbit. Horses 

 with lopped ears are generally good-tempered. If when cantering a horse pricks his ears 

 alternately, first one then the other, it is the sign of good temper, and such are generally long 

 runners. The nostrils should be full and moving ; the neck should be of a reasonable length, but 

 muscular, without being coarse. A short neck generally accompanies round, heavy shoulders; 

 shortness in other respects is the worst fault of a race-horse. 



"But length does not mean a long back. We must judge of length by the ground an animal 

 covers underneath. * 



"The body, or nn'ddle piece, of a true-made, weight-carrying race-horse, when in condition, 

 should present depth of girth, a good back, muscular arched loins, but should not be coupled 

 up too closely towards the hip. The longest runners and best weight-carriers, and most 

 speedy, present the appearance of being light in the back ribs. The great point of all 

 lies in the hind-quarters having good length from the hip to hock* with good hocks and thighs ; 

 the shoulders, which should be well placed back, together with good length from hip to 

 end of haunch-bone, supplying length where it is most needed. A slight drooping towards the 

 tail is preferable to too level an appearance. Animals with a drooping shape are generally 

 better turned under their haunches, and possess more propelling power. The arms should be 

 muscular and reasonably long ; from knee to fetlock shortish, clean, with good bone — not round 

 or gummy ; the fetlock-joints should not be upright, as they frequently are. Arched knees, 

 provided the horse has done no work, are preferable to 'calve-knees,' which have the contrary 

 appearance. 



"Where race-horses are very close, and well-ribbed up, that is to say, where there is but a 

 small space between the back-rib and hip, the latter being somewhat deep and round, there is 

 freedom of action, propelling power, and fine stride. The height should be from 15 hands 2 inches 

 to 16 hands. 



" When the chest is broad, and the animal stands wide on the ground, you may pass him as 

 ' no race-horse. 'f A speedy and stout runner will be deep, yet narrow, between the fore-arms or 

 the chest. Fisherman walked wide on the ground, but was narrow above. Some flat-ribbed 

 animals, with an extraordinary appearance of weakness behind the saddle, stay well, and they 

 have extraordinary propelling powers. 



"I have seen few pony-headed horses of the first class. Teddington was the prettiest-headed 

 horse I ever saw for a good one."* 



Mr. Digby Collins, who is an authority as a breeder, as a horseman, and steeplechase-rider, 

 treats the subject of the form of the race-horse more elaborately and scientifically. As to size, 

 after naming the little and tall race-horses that have won the great races, he concludes as 

 follows : " Whatever the weight may be, there must be length and size somewhere, and the 

 more size and length there are on short legs the better. I decidedly object to the small 



• Much importance, says an anonymous writer, is assigned to great length lietween tiie liips and liocl<-;. This form, carried 

 to the extent it is amongst our race-horses, is wholly fallacious, and the pure result of long-continued selection for speed, as 

 exhibited in the greyhound; it was formerly much less developed, and if we may judge of the older racehorses by their portraits, 

 was unknown to them. — On the Deterioration of the English Horse. By a Cavalry Officer. 1854. 



+ Sir Charles Bunbury was discussing with Lovell Edgeworth, the father of Miss Edgeworth, after dinner at Newmarket, the 

 reading of a passage in Cicero, when Sir Anthony Harbuttle, a north-country squire of the Scjuire \\'estem type, waking from a 

 doze, caught the name of a horse in training, and roared aut, "Cicero; what about Cicero? He's narrow behind, and broad 

 before, and not worth my hat full of crab-apples." 



X The Turf. By K. H. Copperthwaite. 



