SELECTIJ^G THE HORSE. 



15 



more than the usual load. The driver yelled at the mare as she was 

 gomg up hill, and she immediately balked. The loud angry tone 

 had brought out a latent disposition to balk which she had acquired 

 from overloading and unkind treatment in her fillyhood. So she 

 was voted a failure and returned to the dealer. 



The neck should be reasonably long and arched, rather light 

 where it joins the head. A bull-necked horse is clumsy and hard- 

 bitted, and a ewe -necked one is weak and a star-gazer. The chest 

 should be deep and round, with ribs well sprung, giving plenty of 

 room for the heart and other viscera ; the shoulder high in the 



Fig. 13.— STRADDLED. Fig. 18. — " SHEEP-KNEED." Fig. 14. — WEAK PASTEKN. 



withers and sloping ; the upper arm powerful and muscular ; the 

 shank short, lean, not beefy, with round sinews and flat bone ; the 

 pasterns not too long, but oblique ; the hoofs round, free from 

 grooves running up and down. The back should be short between 

 the withers and the croup ; the loins broad and muscular ; the 

 quarters powerful and solid ; the hocks large, bony, and well set 

 down ; the shanks strong, flat and clean. 



Mrs. M. L. Knowles of Michigan, who owns and personafly con- 

 ducts a successful stock farm, briefly describes a good horse as follows: 

 "Shakspeare describes a horse as 'Round-hoofed, short-jointed, fet- 

 locks shag and long.' Never mind the long fetlocks, good breeding 

 is indicated by short ones ; but be sure it has sound hoofs of fair 



