100 



JUDGING FARM ANIMALS 



straight, wide, deep, clean- 

 cut, its point being promi- 

 nent, and the joint as a 

 whole well supported by a 

 wide cannon below. The 

 hock is not absolutely 

 straight, because in the leg 

 of correct form, the hock 

 faces out slightly; were this 

 not so, the leg when in mo- 

 tion would not clear the ab- 

 domen. The leg is frequent- 

 ly cow-hocked, facing widely 

 outward, with the point di- 

 rected inward, thus giving 

 an unattractive position, and 

 frequently is an evidence 

 with the draft horse of a 

 be thigh lacking in muscle. If 

 the front of the hock faces 

 inward th'e point directs out- 

 ward, giving a bow-legged, weak position, while the leg 

 in its forward movement presses the belly enough 

 to obstruct freedom of motion. Goubaux and Barriere, 

 commenting on the bow-legged hock, 24 state that it is 

 due, ordinarily, to the width of the thigh and the croup, 

 as well as to the development of the muscles, and that there 

 is nothing very unfortunate in this, especially as applied 

 to heavy draft horses and colts. As a matter of action, the 

 cow-hocked horse is the easiest mover. The hock sometimes 

 extends too much forward in its lower part, the cannon also 

 slanting more than it should in the same direction. This 

 results in a slight curve to this part, to which the name 

 "sickle hock" has been given. To note the straightness of 

 hock and trueness of movement, the judge should stand di- 

 rectly behind and have the horse led off in as direct a line 



Tig. 52. "The hock should 

 straight, Avide, deep, clean-cut, 

 point being prominent." 



its 



24 The Exterior of the Horse, 2d ed., 1904, p. 461. 



