36 TIIK IIOKSK. 



the flat tread with equal pressure on the soft and hard parts of 

 the foot, as is the case witli bandy-legged men. And Simon 

 justly observes, that well-footed horses can be known by the 

 sound of their tramp, for the hollow hoof rings like a cymbal, 

 when it strikes the solid earth. But having begun from below, 

 let us ascend to the other parts of the body. It is needful, then, 

 that the parts above the hoof and below the fetlocks " — viz. the 

 pasterns — " be not too erect, like those of the goat ; for legs of 

 this kind, being stiff and inflexible, are apt to jar the rider, and 

 are more liable to inflammation. The bones must not, however, 

 be too low and springy, for in that case the fetlocks are liable 

 to be abraded and wounded, if the horse be galloped over clods 

 or stones. The bones of the shanks" — the cannon bones — 

 " should be thick, for these are the columns which support the 

 body ; but they should not have the veins and flesh thick, like- 

 wise. For, if they have, when the horse shall be gallopped in 

 difficult ground, they will necessarily be filled with blood, and 

 will become varicose, so that the shanks will be thickened, and 

 the skin be distended and relaxed from the bone ; and, when 

 this is the case, it often follows, that the back sinew gives way 

 and renders the horse lame. But if the horse, when in action, 

 bend his knees flexibly at a walk, you may judge that he will 

 have his legs flexible when in full career ; for all horses as they 

 increase in years, increase in the flexibility of the knee. And 

 flexible goers are esteemed highly, and with justice ; for such 

 horses are much less liable to blunder or to stumble than those 

 which have rigid, unbending joints. But if the arms, below the 

 shoulder blades, be thick and muscular, they appear stronger 

 and handsomer, as is the case also with a man. The breast also 

 should be broad, as well for beauty as for strength, and because 

 it causes a handsomer action of the forelegs, which do not then 

 interfere, but are carried wide apart. And again, the neck 

 ought not to be set on, like that of a boar, horizontally from the 

 chest ; but, like that of a game-cock, should be upright toward 

 the crest, and slack toward tlie flexure ; and the head being long, 

 should have a small and narrow jawbone, so that the neck shall 

 be in front of the rider, and that the eye shall look down at 

 what is before the feet. A horse thus made will be the least 

 likely to run violently away, even if he be very high-spirited, 



