24 JUDGING LIGHT HORSES 



33. Shoulders Long, Oblique. The conformation of the 

 shoulder is one of the parts of all light horses that requires 

 critical scanning. To give elasticity to the movement of 

 saddle horses and to permit of quick and clean action in the 

 roadster, the shoulder should be long and oblique. An 

 upright shoulder is very likely to result in short, stilted 

 action, frequently accompanied by stumbling, and it is quite 

 a fertile cause of such bone diseases as sidebones and ring- 

 bones. The high action which is desired in the coach horse 

 and the long reaching, clean action so sought after in the 

 roadster depends as much on the obliquity and freedom of 

 movement in the shoulder, as in any other feature. In 

 addition, a sloping and long shoulder strengthens the back 

 and extends the length of the under-line. The muscular 

 development of the shoulder should also be carefully noted, 

 for if there is an unusual bareness or lack of muscular cover- 

 ing it would denote the fact that sweeny has affected it. 



34. Forelegs Broad, Cordy, Straight. The appearance 

 of the fore leg from the side should show it to be flat and cordy. 

 The flatness shows the tendons to be properly attached and 

 some distance from the bone and the clean cut appearance 

 denotes the absence of any coarseness about the legs. View- 

 ing the legs from in front and using a plumb line it will be 

 found in the instance of a leg that is straight, that a perpen- 

 dicular line downward from the point of the shoulder, 

 should equally divide the knee, cannon, pastern and foot. 

 Viewing the fore leg from the side, a similar line dropped 

 from the center of the leg at a point where.it joins the body 

 should nearly divide the leg until the fetlock joint is reached 

 and from there to the ground it should fall exactly behind 

 the foot. Any variation from these two lines shows crook- 

 edness from either point of view. The leg should be long 

 from the elbow to the knee, for the reason that free and 

 clean action follows such a conformation. In these parts it 

 will be noticed that most of the muscles extending and 



