HORSE POINTS. 455 



HORSE POINTS. 



It is action in the hor^e that sells. This is obtained when we 

 have the complemental power in the muscle, the greatest leverage 

 from the bones and quality in the tendons, health in the ligaments, 

 and truth in the disposition of the limbs. We adjudicate on the 

 horse's hind quarters as a whole. All horses with any pretensions 

 to quality or family possess length and straightness from the hip to 

 the tail. This is especially graceful and horizontal in the thorough- 

 bred. 



1. Length from hip to hock is the criterion both of speed and 

 power. All horses of value are "well let down " in their quarters, 

 affording increase of length and volume in the muscles, power and 

 speed accruing. The haunch-bone and thigh-bone — the first strong 

 and long, the second strong, of average length. This naturally 

 varies with breed, but in all classes it is most important that the 

 thigh "be well let down into the hock." Muscular development 

 here cannot be too "immense." Good gaskins afford material help 

 for getting through the dirt. 



2. At the articulation of the haunch and thigh-bone we find the 

 stifle in situ. A good one, without exception, is high up, abutting 

 the flank. This is the concentration of power in all classes ; it is a 

 certain sign that the haunch-bone is well sloped forward, and that 

 the thigh-bone is well carried back. 



3. The hock we have previously determined on, but as to the 

 fore legs I counsel young beginners to avoid weak, ill-defined 

 knees. So also have as little to do with horses whose os calcis, or 

 point of the hock, is ill defined. Remember puff and gum are 

 weakness. The os calcis contributes leverage ; it is evidence both 

 of power and speed. 



The hind cannons, or metatarsal bones, must individually be 

 straight, with just a soupgon of inclination forward. They should 

 be flat and short. Breadth under the hock here is strength, the 

 sign of quality. Feel tendons along their course, that the legs, as 

 in the fore, are clean in the tendons (broad and flat) ; the sesa- 

 moid bones, at the upper portion of the fetlock-joints, well pro- 

 nounced. 



How should I feed oats to my horses ? 



Boiled oats are best for very young or very old horses, on ac- 

 count of their immature or defective teeth ; but for mature horses 

 at hard work feed dry oats. Soft feed induces perspiration. 



