THE RACE HORSE. 15 



To return to the fore-extremities. The shoulders 

 commence from a little below the withers ; they 

 should lie most particularly well back ; should be 

 deep, broad, and muscularly strong ; yet those 

 muscular parts should appear to the eye as being 

 moderately so, that is, not unproportionably 

 loaded : these muscles should be distinctly seen, 

 there should be no appearance of fat, or, as it is 

 technically termed, " adipose membrane." The 

 shoulders cannot well be too oblique in their de- 

 scent to the front of the chest ; here, on each side, 

 a joint is formed by the lower part of the scapula 

 or shoulder-blade being united with the upper 

 part of the humerus or arm-bone. Those joints, 

 thus formed, are usually called the points of the 

 shoulders ; which points should appear straight or 

 level. There should be no coarse, projecting, or 

 heavy appearance about the points of the shoulders 

 of such horses as are intended to race; nor indeed 

 does this often occur, unless where it happens 

 that the chest or counter of the horse is unpro- 

 portionably wide. In taking a front view of the 

 chest, it should appear moderate as to breadth; 

 and if its prominency is at all to the extreme, it 

 should be in consequence of the fullness or sub- 

 stance of those muscles covering the breast, which 



