hock, is one of the most important points in the hunter." 



The hock is at the end of the leg and not of the thigh, 

 and it is not understood how Nimrod in the same argu- 

 ment brings in the thigh and the hock without mention- 

 ing the leg which connects them. It is then necessary 

 in the above quotation to substitute " leg " for " thigh," 

 and that being done there is nothing left but to approve 

 what Nimrod says. He desired for comfortable manage- 

 ment a horse with a short thigh and with a long well- 

 sloping leg. It is not the best horse that he describes; 

 it is the most comfortable horse. Besides he says fur- 

 ther that " the hunter should have in his levers the cor- 

 rect proportions necessary for producing full liberty of 

 action, but he should not have a too long stride." 



The same confusion exists in the terms, without any 

 doubt as to the thought of the author, when he says in 

 this summing up : 



" The haunch will be very sloping and implies a cor- 

 responding slope in the bone of the thigh (correct term), 

 a conformation which is particularly characteristic 

 of the horse of good birth. . . . The thighs must 

 be well muscled and long (here he means legs), sloping 

 rather inward than outward, with clean large hocks, 

 whose points should appear to be a little behind the 

 body, which fact will bring the lower portion of his hind- 

 legs under him." 



From the practical point of view, Nimrod is perhaps 

 right, but he sacrifices to convenience of management 

 both correctness of plumb and a good part of the power 

 of the mechanism. 



That is also the opinion of Major-General Hill, quoted 

 and translated by M. OUivier. General Hill does 

 not confuse the femur and the tibia. He demands first 

 of all " a long femur, ending in a low, bony, muscular, 

 well-developed femoro-tibial joint . . . the stifle can- 

 not be too low." Further on he adds, " A straight leg 



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