In addition, it is well understood that, whatever the 

 length of the tibia, it must be strongly muscled ; its role 

 is to stiffen the hind leg during propulsion. It acts as 

 a truss, on the one hand, for the femur, which straight- 

 ens up at its upper end, and, on the other hand, for the 

 metatarsus which straightens up at its lower end. 



Is it necessary to say, after what has been said above 

 and in the first part of this work, that the femur of the 

 stayer should be long and his tibia short? 



This conformation will give him power of propulsion, 

 or more correctly, the faculty of pushing himself along 

 with a minimum of effort. It will increase the time of 

 suspension (condition indispensable to staying power) ; 

 it will permit him more easily to pull himself out of heavy 

 ground. 



This is (we are convinced of it, and measurements on 

 this subject would be interesting) the secret of the su- 

 periority of certain horses and certain families which are 

 said to like the mud. Except individuals whose legs 

 are in such a sad condition, that galloping on hard ground 

 is painful to them, there are no horses that like the mud, 

 any more than there are swimmers who like to swim up 

 stream ; but there are animals built in such a way that 

 they can make and sustain an effort of which others are 

 incapable. 



Finally in spite of the relative shortness of his tibia, 

 the stayer is assured of the correct formation of his diag- 

 onal base by a correct arrangement of his anterior radii. 



The croup of the stayer will be long and almost hori- 

 zontal. At equal lengths the horizontal croup has mus- 

 cles longer, and consequently susceptible of more exten- 

 sive contraction ; his femur is nearer to the vertical. He 

 has, therefore, a field of oscillation less limited in each 

 direction ; it can be wider without being interfered with 

 by the abdominal region of the horse. 



49 



