1 88 The Arabian Horse, 



chest is accompanied with a heavy shoulder, and fe only 

 applicable to draught ; that it is not sufficient for a 

 horse to have a very deep chest at the girth — seen some- 

 times to an exaggerated extent or to a fault — if that 

 chest is narrow and flat. A horse of such formation 

 might have great speed, but would not be capable of 

 prolonged or continued exertion. A chest ' of moderate 

 depth at the girth ' (often looking not so deep as it really 

 is), but which * swells and barrels oat immediately behind 

 the arms^ is the one for insuring combined speed and 

 bottom. Youatt next states how such a formation has 

 been obtained, and may be obtained — namely, from the 

 Arabian horse. ' It is to the mixture of Arabian blood 

 that we principally owe this peculiar and advantageous 

 formation of the chest of the horse.' Such a chest is 

 compatible with the lightest shoulders. For the Arabian 

 has the lightest shoulders — lighter than, but not so thin 

 as is seen in any other breed or kind of horse. ' The Arab 

 is light, some would say too much so before, but im- 

 mediately behind the arms the barrel almost invariably 

 swells out, and leaves plenty of room, and ivhere it is 

 most wanted for the play of the lungs, and at the same 

 time zvhere the zveight does not press so excbisively on the 

 fore legs, and expose the legs to injury.' 



A contrary kind of chest being the type generally 

 seen in the modern thorough-bred horse, a deep but 

 narrow chest, reveals the secret of half-mile or short 

 races having become so general, and marks him as not 

 so fitting or capable of begetting weight-carrying and 

 enduring hunters and hardy, serviceable troop-horses, 



