230 The Book of the Horse. 



at the withers ; on the contrary, they can scarcely be too thick at five years old, provided 

 they are not thick at the lower ends, while inclining their tops well back, leaving as great a 

 space as possible between the end of the mane and the pommel of the saddle. 



" There is a certain cross bone which connects the lower end of the shoulder-blades with 

 the animal's fore-legs, which, when it is too long, throws the fore-legs back, and makes the 

 horse stand over." 



To get good fore-leg action is a great point — it secures safety to the rider — but to make 

 a complete hack, the hind-leg action must also be good. The hock joints must when moving, 

 whether slowly or fast, be bent well, and bring the hind-legs well forward, and under him ; 

 indeed, it cannot be too far as long as he does not strike the fore-legs. Racing trotters carry 

 their hind-feet far before and outside the fore-legs. It is this power and regularity of hind- 

 leg action that makes a horse easy in his slow paces. A horse with good shoulder action 

 before, propelled by far-reaching hind-legs, whether walking, or trotting, or galloping, seems 

 to be, as dealers say, " always riding up hill." 



The chest of a speedy galloper should be protuberant and deep, but not broad ; the ribs 

 before the girths long, and behind the girths short. When the ribs are short before the 

 girth, it is impossible to keep a saddle in the proper place without a crupper, though cruppers 

 have been discarded for many years by the owners of hacks, hunters, and riding-horses of 

 every kind ; but at the time when George III. began his reign, as Squire Warburton sings — 



" Each horse wore a crupper, each man a pig-tail." 



The horse just described is the sort of animal required for country use, which may for 

 business or pleasure be ridden twenty, forty, or even si.Kty miles, with comfort to the rider 

 and without distress to the animal. The same sort makes an excellent railway station trapper, 

 or one of a wagonette pair, without losing his saddle qualities. He has not the brilliant qualities 

 of the park hack, but he is essentially useful. 



THE COVERT HACK. 



The covert hack is the nearest representative of the roadster hack of our grandfathers, 

 and in his best form is a pony hunter. But the improvement of roads, the consequent facilities 

 for using wheels, and the extension of railroads, have had the effect of greatly reducing the 

 number of a class of animal that up to 1836 formed an indispensable part of every hunting- 

 stud with any pretensions to completeness. Even in the pasture counties, where everything 

 that is most expensive in the way of sporting appliances is the most esteemed, you do not 

 see one-tenth of the number of genuine cinert hacks come rattling up to covert-side from all 

 points of the compass just as hounds are moving away, that you did when William IV. was 

 king, when those model hunting squires Sir Charles Knightley and Sir Tatton Sykes were 

 still first flight men in Yorkshire and Northamptonshire. Deduct those who come in one 

 of the many varieties of dog-cart, mail-phaeton, and park wagonette, four-in-hand drag, and pair- 

 horse brougham (these last are generally the middle-aged, and not least sensible), those who make 

 the hunter do hack's work at all meets within from five to ten miles, or make one hunter a 

 hack for the day and ride another when the serious work begins, not counting the sporting 

 medicos and curates, the combined vet and dealer, and the many of the class who use a 

 nondescript general utility animal, or those who, in quite another direction, make their London 

 luxury, (he fine park-hack, do covert-hack duty in the country (I have seen the late Mr. 



