It seems, then, the femur of the stayer should be in- 

 cHned about 80° from the horizontal (that is the slope 

 found in Fitz-Gladiator) ; on the other hand, the im- 

 portance of the length of this radius need not be further 

 argued; the result is that if one considers the necessity 

 of having normal plumb (the vertical dropped from the 

 point of the rump should touch the point of the hock 

 and be tangent to the flexor tendons) ; if the height of the 

 hock above the ground is also normal, the length and di- 

 rection of the tibia are fixed within narrow limits which 

 depend especially upon the length and direction of the 

 ischium. 



We have just shown the best form of croup for a dis- 

 tance horse ; what changes could we make in it without 

 thereby making it defective? After the preceding ex- 

 planation it is certain that if the direction of the hip 

 were maintained, and at the same time the femur short- 

 ened, the stayer is no longer a possibility ; if, on the con- 

 trary, the sloping of the croup left the femur its original 

 length (in this case the coxo-femoral angle must open) 

 we would, however, still have a distance horse, especially 

 if the fore hand is well modeled. That was the confor- 

 mation of two remarkable mares, Clyde and Basse- 

 Pointe, both of which won the Prix Gladiateur. 



Perfection of the hind quarter can also make up for a 

 small defect in the forward radii ; that was the case of 

 Jerry M, winner of the Liverpool Grand National and 

 of the " Grand Steeple Chase d'Auteuil," but, in our opin- 

 ion, nothing can compensate the stayer for a too short 

 femur. 



51 



