12 THE MORGAN HORSE 



up'. The flanks should be deep and full. The mane should be pretty long 

 and thick, but not so long and thick as to appear heavy. The tail should be 

 full, heavy, and carried well up. He should be between fourteen and a half 

 and fifteen and a half hands high rather a little under than much above this 

 height, and should weigh about ten hundred and fifty pounds ; his hair should 

 be short, soft and glossy. 



"Such an animal, we should expect, would prove himself a fine roadster ; 

 but we might be disappointed, for though we think it cannot be successfully 

 denied that such a form as we have described would be well adapted for easy 

 motion and endurance on the road ; yet he might not after all have the re- 

 quisite courage and nervous energy ; he might take up his feet too high and 

 put them down with a sort of thrust, which requires a great and useless expen- 

 diture of muscular exertion, besides wearying the whole system by the con- 

 stant and unnecessary jar ; or he might have some other awkwardness of gait 

 that would prove a serious objection. Nor can we always judge correctly of 

 a horse's courage and spirit from the closest examination, without a trial of his 

 powers. 



****** 



" Our description, therefore, would be incomplete without describing his 

 gait and temper. In harness, when the reins are taken up and he is told to 

 go (he should not start before), he should raise his head a little above its 

 position when at rest, keep it there steadily and quietly, and move off nimbly 

 with a light, but steady and yielding pressure on the bit. His feet should be 

 raised only enough to clear the ordinary inequalities of the ground, carried 

 well forward in straight lines, swinging neither out nor in, and be set down 

 evenly, so that the entire sole comes upon the ground at the same time. If 

 the heel is set down first, it is liable to injury from the tenderness of the 

 parts ; and if the toe is set down first, the horse will almost always prove a 

 stumbler. The fore legs should bend well at the knee, instead of the legs be- 

 ing raised principally by the movement of the shoulder joint, and the leg car- 

 ried stiffly forward, causing an unsteadiness of motion and a sort of rolling 

 from side to side. The hind legs should take up light and quick, be 

 carried well forward under the body, and should have a peculiar, nervous, 

 springy 'pick-up', but without any hitching or twitching of the muscles of the 

 haunches. The step should not be long, and yet it may be too short ; obser- 

 vation can alone determine when this is right. This much is certain, that 

 when there is an apparent effort to reach the full length of step it is too long ; 

 and when there is any cutting off of the natural stride, as is the case with the 

 foundered horse, it is too short. 



" Of color we shall only say that he should have some dark color, for 

 this is so entirely a matter of taste that any remarks we might offer would, 

 after all, be little more than an assertion of our own preference, and we have 

 sometimes been inclined to adopt the creed of a thorough horseman of our 

 acquaintance, which is that 'a good horse is always of a good color'. 



" Such a horse as we have attempted to describe, we feel the greatest con- 



