FORM. 91 



objection remains, because he cannot, in the latter 

 case, be pulled together in his gallop, nor have his 

 stride collected to enable him to take his fences 

 properly ; and, what is not generally known, he is 

 almost certain to be a hard puller. Indeed, some 

 good judges go so far as to assert, that horses with 

 straight hinder legs, never have good mouths, and 

 there is much truth in the remark, as their form 

 will not admit of their being " pulled together,'" as 

 the horseman's term is, in their quick paces, and 

 without it no horse is safe. A long and muscular 

 thigh, then, with a clean well-placed hock, is one 

 of the most material points in a hunter, and also 

 one by which the duration of his services may very 

 nearly be measured ; as when much out of the true 

 form, either inclining inwards, like the cow, or out- 

 wards, like the bandy-legged man, disease is almost 

 certain to attack this very complicated but beauti- 

 fully contrived joint, when put to severe exertion, 

 especially in soft ground. The shank- bone of the 

 hinder-leg, below the hock, ought to be equally well 

 supported by sinews and tendons with that of the 

 fore-leg ; and the pastern of the hind-leg should re- 

 semble that of the fore-leg, moderately long, strong, 

 and oblique. 



But such is the paramount importance of the 

 liock in the hunter, that we transcribe the following 

 admirable description of one most material point 

 in it : — " The most powerful of the flexor or bend- 

 ing muscles are inserted into the point of the 

 hock, or the extremity of the os calcis ; and in 

 proportion to the projection of the hock, or, in 



