ir-I8 THE HOKSE-KEErEn's GUIDE. 



essential to the race or draught horse : low witliers usually 

 a])poar tliick, and it is dilhcult to keep tlie saddle in its 

 proper place. Dealers, therefore usually shew a horse 

 witli his head up hill, to make him appear to stand well 

 up before. 



TiiK siiorLDF.RS should be deep, and extend obliquely 

 downward and forward, from a little below the withers to 

 the points. On the ijjood or bad construction of the shoul- 

 der, action materially depends, and good action is almost 

 equivalent to strength. 



A long and oblique shoulder is an indication of elastici- 

 ty and speed, for the freedom and rapidity of action of the 

 fore limbs depend on the relative angle of the bones in re- 

 gard to each other. The abruptness or prominence of the 

 shoulder is a consequence of the upright position of the 

 scapula ; and when the shoulders are low and upright, the 

 weight of the animal is throw n directly on his fore legs, 

 and the shock is conveyed, as it were, through a solid co- 

 lumn, to the annoyance of his rider, and the injury of his 

 legs and feet by the concussion. If the humerus is long, 

 his legs stand under him, and he has not only diflBcully in 

 putting them forward, with weight on his back, but is liable 

 to stumble ; and when he does trip, the load he carries, be- 

 ing more forward than the points of support, prevents him 

 from recovering himself. Such horses usually prove un- 

 easy goers. 



But though an upright shoulder is a sure mark of an un- 

 pleasant and unsafe saddle horse, and commonly a slow 

 one, it is far from a disadvantag^eous formation in the hea- 

 vy draught horse. Indeed, in the latter case, it is an ad- 

 vantage ; for while it permits him to throw his whole 

 weight into the collar, and affords an easy bed for that 

 part of his harness, it allows sufficient action for the work 

 he has to do; in horses for heavy draught, extensive ac- 

 tion necessarily causes the collar to sit uneasily. 



The breast, or counter, in the saddle horse, should 

 not be too wide at the points ; if too broad, the horse is 

 usually awkward in his trot ; a fault in the saddle horse, 

 ')Ut an excellence in a draught horse, whose breast cannot 

 oe too wide, or too heavy. 



Position of the fore legs, when viewed in front : thev 

 should be straight, widest apart at the breast, and graduaJ 

 ly yet blightly approaching each other, as they descend to 



