4O LIGHT HORSES : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



The stifles and ocks, and of course the pasterns to a 

 smaller extent, are the joints which regulate the back action 

 of a horse, the hocks bearing by far the most important 

 share of the movement when the animal is on the trot. 

 Naturally the stifles must be moderately bent, else no pace 

 will be secured, but the chief merit in a Hackney's hind 

 action is the style in which he moves his hocks. When these 

 are first well bent, and then brought nicely under his body, a 

 great amount of extra ground will be covered, and if so be 

 that his quarters are free from all superfluous lumber, and his 

 gaskins powerful, his propelling power will then be tremen- 

 dous. No horse, Hackney or otherwise, can ever get over the 

 ground at a reasonable pace if he leaves his back legs behind 

 him, added to which it deprives the action of a Hackney of 

 the regularity which is its greatest charm, if all the four 

 limbs do not move in unison. Many good Hackneys possess 

 a tendency to go very wide behind between the hocks, which 

 is unsightly, although the act is frequently accompanied by 

 undoubted speed. It has been stated that a barrow might 

 almost have been wheeled between the hocks of the Flying 

 Dutchman when he was fully extended but then it must be 

 remembered that the great horse in question was not a 

 trotter, neither does the maker of the observation appear to 

 have remarked that his action was improved in appearance 

 by the habit. The development of a propensity to go too 

 wide behind, although an eyesore, need not necessarily prove 

 that a Hackney is unsound, and moreover, it is probably in 

 many instances the result of a mistaken principle in schooling 

 a young horse, by which he is encouraged to over exert 

 himself before he is old enough to take any liberties with his 

 action. Horses that turn in their hind feet ought never to be 

 passed, whilst in cases when the latter are turned out, the 

 animal will be found to be more or less cow-hocked, which 

 likewise is a very serious fault in an animal who should stand 

 square and move truly above all things. 



The principal gait of a Hackney the trot having been 



