12 THE HORSE 



those which resemble thoroughbreds in their con- 

 formation, but of course the daisy-cutting form of 

 trot affected by the latter would ill become an 

 animal which is supposed to atone for its paucity of 

 inches by its action and speed. A sweet head is an 

 essential property of a pony, and so is a good eye, 

 good shoulders, and a level back. The possession 

 of a great amount of substance is not so indispensable 

 a point in a pony as in other varieties of horse, but 

 it must be remembered that what bone it does 

 possess must be correct in shape. Moreover, as 

 many specimens of the breeds alluded to above are 

 inclined to be cow-hocked, i.e. turn their hocks 

 inwards, and as this is regarded as an unsightly 

 defect, the man who may be looking over a pony 

 with a view to buying him should take notice of this 

 portion of the animal's anatomy. It often occurs too 

 that the feet of ponies, although free from disease, 

 are very small, and perhaps a little incorrect in 

 shape; attention may consequently be directed to 

 this^ in case a purchaser may not think of examining 

 the feet as closely as he might. 



Saddle Horses. 



Beyond a doubt the Thoroughbred and the 

 Hackney are the stock from which all the best saddle 

 horses in England are sprung. The former's history 

 and appearance are both so thoroughly understood 

 that they need no recapitulation here; whilst the 

 Hackney is fully dealt with in the section on *' Ride 

 and Drive Horses," and so many animals belonging to 

 this variety belong to the latter class of animal. The 

 pony and the cob are also mentioned upon another 

 page, and consequently the saddle horse par 

 excellence must be accepted as being either a clean- 

 bred Thoroughbred or Hackney or else a cross of one 

 of these varieties. There is, of course, the Arab to 



