CHAPTER II 

 CONFORMATION AND ACTION 



"A head like a snake, and a skin like a mouse, 

 An eye like a woman, bright, gentle and brown, 

 With loins and a back that would carry a house, 

 And quarters to lift him smack over a town." 



— Whtte Melville. 



There are, as we have already said, a few fortunate 

 people who possess an almost intuitive eye in judging 

 a horse, but the vast majority of men, and, even more, 

 women, never attempt to acquire any technical knowl- 

 edge about a horse, and learn what little they do know 

 only through bitter experiences and disappointments. 

 To become a good judge of conformation requires 

 careful study, and it goes without saying that whether 

 we rely on the judgment of others in buying our horses, 

 or whether we make our own purchases, the more we 

 learn about the proper conformation, gaits, etc., of a 

 horse the better fitted we are eventually to become 

 finished horsemen or horsewomen. 



There are certain primary observations which should 

 always be kept in mind when judging. In choosing a 

 horse we should endeavor to pick one in whom there 

 is no one very weak point, or no one part of his anatomy 

 that is disproportionately powerful to the rest. A 

 chain is only as strong as its weakest link. As it is 

 well-nigh impossible to find absolute perfection of 

 shape in any horse, special attention should be paid 

 to those points of conformation which are essential 

 for the class of work required, and to the minor fail- 

 ings we may close an eye. The most we can seek is 



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