240 THE horse-keeper's guile 



In Eclipse, tlie most famous horse, as a Racer, this oi 

 any other country ever saw, and whose performances were 

 of such a pre-eminent description that neither the ancient 

 Hipprulrome, or the annals of the modern race-course can 

 furnish a parallel ; that of not only beating,. but distancing * 

 the best horses of his day, and whose exact speed was 

 never known, as no horse could be found to compete with 

 him, — we find thre^^ points, which we have dwelt upon as 

 an excellence in the race horse, developed to an extraordi- 

 nary degree. 



It was remarked as a peculiarity by those who saw him 

 run, that his hind legs were very wide, and separated in his 

 gallop ; which f )rmation was of old noticed by Xenophon, 

 as one of the indications of power in the horse. 



The principal requisites in the race horse are that he 

 possess good blood, good speed, good temper, a sound 

 constitution, and strong and fleet limbs. He should not be 

 taller than fifteen hands t high, so that he possesses length 

 with good substance. 



In the selection of the Hunter, we desire to combine 

 the qualities of speed, with as much additiohal bone and 

 muscle as will enable him to carry weight, and support it, 

 during a long course of fatigue and privation. To achieve 

 the first, we desire good blood, (which insures bottom) and 

 thai peculiar small head of the blood horse, which makes 

 him light in hand. Like the racer, he must have long mus- 

 cular quarters, be well let down in the thigh, with his 

 hocks well bent under his top to propel him in the gallop 

 But for the second we require another foim from the racei 

 an elevated and muscular forehead. 



The height of the withers is dependant upon the length 

 of the spines of the dorsal vertebrae, and their length is of 

 great importance in giving a long lever to the dorsal mus- 

 cles, which are the grand agents in elevating with rapidity 

 and power the fore limbs, in leaping, and carrying weight 

 over a heavy country. His arms must be muscular; and 

 as, in the racer, strength is sacrificed to flexibility, so, in 

 the hunter, we seek strength at the expense of flexibility 

 Therefore his .egs should be shorter, and his pasterns les3 

 long and oblique than in the race horse ; his body shortei 



*A distance is the length of two hundred and forty yards from the win- 

 ning I)OSt. 



A hand is a nneasure of four inches 



