10 Horses and Horsemastership, 



divide the knee, shank, jDastern, and hoof. Viewed 

 from the side, the leg should appear vertical, and not 

 too much under the body. 



The back from the withers to the loins should be 

 straight and somewhat short ; it must not be, however, 

 too short. Tlie loins should always be wide and full of 

 muscle. The croup should be oblique rather than 

 horizontal, and the haunches should be prominent. The 

 tail should be set well up on the croup, and carried 

 jauntily. The horse should be well ribbed up, so that 

 the flanks do not appear too hollow nor the hips too 

 prominent. The hind legs are built upon the femur (or 

 upper thigh bone), the tibia (or lower thigh bone), and 

 the metatarsal (or shank bone). The hock is situated 

 between the two latter, and is composed of six small 

 bones ; but the hock joint proper is at the articulation 

 of the tibia and that bone of the hock called the astra- 

 galus. The whole should present an appearance of 

 rigiditv and strength, even of comparative massiveness. 

 Tliere should be no sign of puffiness. A plumb-line 

 from the rear point of the croup should fall either on 

 the point of the hock or slightly in rear of it, and, if 

 continued to the ground, the leg from the hock down- 

 wards should be nearlv perpendicular with it. For if 

 this be not so, the hock will be either over-straight or 

 over-bent, both of which are faulty, the former being 



