QUALITY IN HORSES 3 



So that "quality" and "class" do not mean the 

 same. 



If, then, "quality" does not mean breeding or 

 conformation or symmetry or finish or "class," or 

 a combination of any or all of these, what does 

 it mean? It is an easier matter to explain what 

 constitutes "quality" than it is to give a concise 

 and at the same time comprehensive definition 

 of what it is. It may not inaptly be defined as 

 -fineness in contradistinction to coarseness, or as 

 -fineness of texture. How frequently one hears 

 a prospective purchaser say to a dealer: "He is 

 a very nice horse, but very light in bone." The 

 dealer almost invariably replies: "Yes, but his 

 bone is of good 'quality,' " and still further en- 

 deavors to make the statement more emphatic 

 by saying that the bone is so dense, so compact, 

 so ivory-like, that a cubic inch of it will weigh 

 more than a cubic inch of some other horse that 

 has indisputably more bone. It is a fact that 

 the bone of some horses is much more dense or 

 compact, and is, as the dealer expresses it, of 

 better "quality" than that of some others. 



What causes this greater density in the bones 

 of some individuals than in those of others ? We 

 have to look to the elements of which bone is 

 composed for the determining cause. The ani- 

 mal tissues are made up of fluids and solids. The 

 solids are composed of three simple elements, viz. ; 



