FORM. 51 



for mares and geldings standing the severity of 

 training to a later period of life than stallions, by 

 reason of the former requiring less work, from not 

 generally carrying so much flesh as the latter. 



There is no part, excepting the head, so truly 

 characteristic of high breeding in the horse, as his 

 haunch. If a little of the elegance of the parts, 

 however, is diminished by the width of the hips, it 

 will be recompensed by increased strength in the 

 animal, as is the case with broad-shouldered men ; 

 and when accompanied with good loins, these pro- 

 tuberances of the ilium can scarcely be too wreat 

 for the purposes of power and action. We next 

 come to the thigh, the form and substance of which 

 is most material to the race-horse ; for althouofh 

 horses are said to go with their shoulders, the 

 power to give the impetus in progressive motion 

 comes from behind. With all animals endowed 

 with, and requiring extreme rapidity of, motion, 

 the thigh is furnished with extraordinary powers 

 and length ; the hare, for example, whose thighs 

 are let down to a great extent for their size, and 

 the lower part of the hinder leg placed under them, 

 as that of the racer should be, from a proper curve 

 of the hock. The speed of the ostrich arises from 

 the power of the muscles from the pelvis to the 

 foot ; and the thigh of the fighting cock is a point 

 much considered by breeders of those birds. It is 

 not necessary that a race-horse's thigh should be 

 very large, but it should exhibit well developed 

 muscle. Descending lower in the limb, we arrive 

 at the hock, a very complicated joint, but the form 



