The Hunter: His Conformation 29 



when conformation counted fifty or sixty per cent. To an 

 experienced cross-country rider, however, they look sadly 

 out of form. 



"Slanting shoulders" is everywhere the cry. Every 

 author I have read, and nearly every man that rides to 

 hounds, if he hardly knows the fetlock from the forelock, 

 will tell you a horse is no good for a hunter without slant- 

 ing shoulders. So universal has this cry become that it 

 suggests the parrot. "Slanting shoulders! Look at his 

 slanting shoulders!" But when you ask a man why he is 

 so fond of slanting shoulders, the usual answer is: "Well, 

 because a hunter should have slanting shoulders ! " Occa- 

 sionally a man will venture to say a horse with slanting 

 shoulders can gallop faster. This is manifestly incorrect. 

 Some of the fastest horses that have ever turned a track 

 have had rather upright and sometimes even loaded 

 shoulders. 



There was the celebrated thoroughbred stallion Barrett, 

 by Bonnie Scotland, that held the three-quarter-mile record 

 (1.14) for years. He was sent to England by Mr. Pierre 

 Lorillard, with Iroquois, at the time that horse won the 

 Derby, being the owner's favourite for that event, but 

 scratched for uncertain starting at the post. This horse 

 Barrett had not only rather upright but decidedly loaded 

 shoulders. This, indeed, was the characteristic of many of 

 the Bonnie Scotlands, and as a family they were the most 

 celebrated record-breaking runners of their generation. 

 So much for galloping. Through the kindness of Mr- 

 Thomas Hitchcock, Jr., Barrett was sent to Genesee Val- 

 ley, and for eleven years was at the head of the Squawkie 



