THE HOBSE. 21 



III. POINTS OF HORSES. 



Every one who has anything to do with the horse should 

 know something of the "points" by means of which a good 

 animal is distinguished from a bad one. It is necessary to 

 understand this, no matter for what particular service the horse 

 may be required ; and the qualities indicated by these points 

 are universal in all breeds. 



To illustrate this subject and teach the uninstructed how to 

 correctly judge the horse, we introduce the accompanying let- 

 tered outlines. 



It is evident that to be a good judge of a horse, one must 

 have in his memory a model by which to try all that may be 

 presented to his criticism and judgment. 



Fig. 5 represents such a model. It is a thorough-bred 

 horse, in which the artist has endeavored to avoid every fault. 

 Fig. 6 is designed to represent a horse in which every good 

 point is suppressed. It may not be common to see a horse 

 totally destitute of every good point ; but injudicious breeding 

 has so obliterated the good ones, that the cut fig. 6 is not a 

 caricature, though we confess that its original is little less than 

 a caricature on the true ideal of a horse. Such a head is com- 

 mon, so is such a shoulder, such a back, quarters, and legs ; 

 and if they are not very often all combined in one animal, they 

 are, unfortunately, often found distributed among the common 

 breeds in such abundance as to mar the beauty and the service 

 of three quarters of all the horses hi ordinary use. The letters 

 are alike on both figures, and will enable the reader to draw a 

 comparison between the respective points of each. We copy 

 the description of the cuts from the Farmer's Companion : 



" The most important part of all is probably the direction of 

 the shoulder, from A to B. Next to this, the length from the 

 hip to the hock, C to D. The point which next to these prob- 

 ably most contributes to speed and easy going, is the shortness 

 of the canon bone between the knee and the pastern joint, E 

 to F, a point without which no leg is good. A horse which 

 has all these three points good will necessarily and infallibly 



