52 THE HORSE. 



forehand may throw more weight in front, and cause the whole machine to 

 be more easily and speedily moved. A lofty forehand, however, is indis- 

 pensable in the hunter; the shoulder as extensive as in the racer ; — as 

 oblique and somewhat thicker ; the saddle will then be in its proper place, 

 and will continue so, however lonj^ may be the run. 



The barrel should be rounder to give greater room for the heart and 

 lungs to play, and send more and purer blood to the larger frame of this 

 horse ; and especially more room to play when the run may continue un- 

 checked for a time that begins to be distressing. A broad chest is an 

 excellence in the hunter. — In the violent and long-continued exertion of the 

 chase, the respiration is exceedingly quickened, and abundantly more 

 blood is hurried through the lungs in a given time than when the animal 

 is at rest. There must be sufficient room for this, or the horse will be 

 blown, and possibly destroyed. The majority of the horses that perish 

 in the field are narrow chested. 



The arm should be as muscular as that of the courser, or even more 

 so, for both strength and endurance are wanted. 



The leg should be deeper than that of the race horse (broader as you 

 stand at the side of the horse), and especially beneath the knee. In 

 proportion to the distance of the tendon from the cannon or shank-bone, 

 and more particularly just below the knee, is the mechanical advantage 

 with which it acts. A racer may be tied beneath the knee, without per- 

 fectly destroying his power^ but a hunter with this defect will rarely have 

 stoutness. 



If any objection be made to our cut of the hunter, it will be that the 

 mare was too fine below the knee. It was the only bad point in an almost 

 perfect form. She was the property of T. Millington, Esq., to whose 

 kindness we are indebted for permission to copy her portrait. She would 

 go over anything, and was never tired. 



The leg should be shorter. Higher action is required than in the racer, 

 that the legs may be clearly and safely lifted over many an obstacle, and, 

 particularly, that they may be well doubled up in the leap. 



The pastern should be shorter, and less slanting, yet retaining consider- 

 able obliquity. The long pastern is useful, by the yielding resistance 

 which its elasticity affords, to break the concussion with which the race- 

 horse from his immense stride and speed must come on the ground : and 

 the oblique direction of the different bones beautifully contributes to effect 

 the same purpose. With this elasticity, however, a considerable degree 

 of weakness is necessarily connected, and the race-horse occasionally breaks 

 down in the middle of his course. The hunter, from his different action, 

 takes not this length of stride, and therefore wants not all this elastic me- 

 chani sm ; he more needs strength to support his own heavier carcase, and 

 the greater weight of his rider, and to undergo the fatigue of a long day. 

 Some obliquity, however, he requires, otherwise the concussion even of 

 his shorter gallop, and more particularly of his frequently tremendous 

 leaps, would inevitably lame him. 



The foot of the hunter is a most material point. It is of consequence in 

 the racer, yet it is a notorious fact, that many of our best thorough-bred 

 liorses have had very indifferent feet. The narrow contracted foot is the 

 curse of much of the racing blood. The work of the racer, however, is all 

 performed on the turf, and his bad feet may scarcely incommode him ; 

 but the foot of the hunter is battered over many a flinty road and stony 

 field, and if not particularly good, will soon be disabled and ruined. 



The position of the feet requires some attention in the hunter. They 



