90 THE HUNTING-FIELD. 



covering a great deal of ground, and standing 

 well on it : his very head looks a good horse, and 

 his great muscle must make him a strong one : 

 while his length of haunch to his hock, and fine 

 thighs, ought at least to make him a very fast one ; 

 his fore -legs are just such as every horse^s should 

 be, unless wanted for showy action; he has large 

 long arms, great bony knees, short in his cannon 

 bone, and the back sinew running straight and 

 free down the back of the leg : in short, to quote 

 a favourite phrase of Tom Smart's, ' I consider 

 him quit a nice un/ " 



" I am happy,'^ said my friend, '^ you seem so 

 pleased with Jerry; but let me ask what you 

 meant by the formation of his legs being quite 

 such as you should select unless showy action was 

 wanted ? '^ 



" I will explain this,", said I. " Of course you 

 are quite aware that showy and good action bear 

 very little affinity to each other; fine action is a 

 term often used, but I do not consider even this 

 literally designates good action : it implies a bor- 

 dering more on show than use, safety, or speed, in 

 any pace. But to return to the formation of legs : 

 those of the manege horse, charger, or harness 

 horse, should of course be good, so far as to indi- 

 cate safety, and an absence of any thing likely to 

 produce cutting or breaking down ; but you will 

 rarely find the leg formed for speed one that occa- 



