the selection of rangy animals with horizontal croups, 

 bring to the stud stallions incapable of producing horses 

 with more or less sloping croups, whose merits as weight 

 carriers must be admitted ? 



To this objection we reply positively no. If there are 

 many thoroughbred horses whose croups are more or 

 less sloping, it is none the less true that the horizontal 

 croup is the exclusive possession of the noble breeds; so, 

 in our opinion, there is no reason to fear that the thor- 

 oughbred stallion, with grand lines, used for crossing, 

 will not find among the more or less common mares 

 brought to him the necessary corrections for horizon- 

 tality in the hindquarters. 



B. Influence of Horizontality of the Croup in Jumping. 



It is generally admitted that obliquity of croup is ad- 

 vantageous for jumping. And, in fact, we find many 

 good jumpers with a very sloping croup. 



Still it would be wrong, from this special point of view, 

 to condemn the horizontal croup. 



It must not be forgotten that the jump comprises a 

 period of preparation and a period of execution. 



In the period of preparation the horse imitates the 

 motion of rearing, by making an effort with his forelegs 

 to raise the forehand and by bringing the hindquarters 

 strongly into play. 



Let us consider only the role of the hindlegs. 



It is evident that the horse with the sloping croup 

 has, from his very conformation, a minimum effort to 

 make in the period of preparation, and the advantage 

 which this disposition of the radii gives him is easily 

 understood when it is a question of the jump from a 

 standstill, from a walk or from a very slow gait. The 

 fact is that the ischio-tibial muscles have, as a result of 

 the lowering of the ischium, a particularly advantageous 

 attachment, and these are the muscles of the hind- 



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