10 • HACKS AND HUNTERS 



an animal "with many good, few indifferent, and no 

 bad points." It may happen, for example, that minor 

 deficiencies are, to a certain degree, rendered less ob- 

 jectionable by some counterbalancing good point in 

 the horse's anatomy. It may even be that one fault 

 is counteracted somewhat by another fault. For ex- 

 ample, a horse who is somewhat light in bone below 

 the knee would be less likely to fail at that point were 

 he also a bit light of frame. Neither of these are ad- 

 mirable in themselves, and yet the combination would 

 be preferable to a horse who was light of bone but very 

 heavily built as to his body. 



What actually constitutes a bad point depends 

 largely on the type of work to be demanded of the 

 horse. Good points in any animal, and particularly 

 in the one we are studying, are based not merely on a 

 standard of ideal beauty, but on the principles of 

 mechanics, and certain qualifications and proper pro- 

 portions are applicable to all types of horses — from 

 the 17-hand Percheron to the Shetland pony. In- 

 asmuch, however, as there are special points essential 

 for special kinds of work, each class of horse — the racer, 

 the hunter, and the saddle horse — differ in many points 

 of conformation and gaits, and what might be admirable 

 in the one would be objectionable in the other, and 

 vice versa. This is the case even in horses as closely 

 allied in type and work as the hunter and the hack. 

 Especial emphasis will be laid on these differences 

 later, but for the present we will limit ourselves to a 

 discussion of those qualifications of conformation 

 common to both. 



A well-shaped head should be fairly small and finely 

 chiselled. The head must denote the sex of the animal; 

 the male animal, and in particular the stallion, being 



