HORSES. 



89 



the heel, smooth and hard. The shoulders long and 

 oblique, thin and flat at the withers ; hips long and wide ; 

 croup a little sloping ; the quarters full ; wide at the 

 stifle; the muscles of the thigh plump and full well 

 down to the hock. The hock should be wide, short, free 

 from lumps, the point long. Below the hock the legs 

 should descend perpendicularly, the hocks no nearer 

 together than the fetlocks. Neck should be of moderate 

 length, tapering towards the head, slightly crowning; 

 on such shaped necks the head is almost always well 

 placed. The head should be small, lean and tapering 

 rapidly from the jowls to the muzzle ; the forehead 

 should be long and broad, muzzle thin, lips small and 

 firm, nostrils large and prominent. The eyes wide 

 apart, large and prominent, with a pleasant expression, 

 the lids well open when at rest, the contrary denotes 

 dullness. Ears small, thin, tapering and upright, set 

 well apart. The back short, broad and nearly straight, 

 body deep at the shoulder, the barrel round, back and 

 hips well joined, having no depression just forward of 

 the hips, loins wide and muscular, well ribbed up. The 

 tail should be full, heavy, and carried well up. He 

 should be between fourteen and a-half and fifteen and 

 a-half hands high, rather under than over, and weigh 

 about ten hundred and fifty pounds. Such is the 

 description, mainly from Linsley, of a horse which we 

 should expect to combine the qualities most to be desired 

 in a horse for " all work," and this is nearly the descrip- 

 tion of a good Morgan. 



Though form and characteristics are of primary 

 importance, blood should never be neglected. The 

 farther back the pedigree of both parents can be traced 



12 



