34 FORM AND ACTION 7 . 



for her qualifications and performances I need hardly refer any 

 sporting man of the present day to the Records of Racing. 



Before quitting this part of my subject, I would say a word or 

 two concerning what is well understood among horse-men by the 

 phrase " girth" of a horse, i. e. what he measures round in that 

 part of his body usually encircled by the girths. So deceptive is 

 this measure apt to be, that even the best judges are not unfre- 

 quently a good deal out in their opinion about the dimensions of 

 horses' chests : I have often myself been surprised to find one horse 

 measuring more than another whom I had regarded as a much 

 larger chested horse. It is, therefore, in all cases, where any doubt 

 arises, a good plan to refer to the rollers or girths, which afford 

 never-failing tests of the true circumferent admeasurement : we 

 may always learn from the groom that such a horse buckles up 

 two or three holes tighter in his roller than such another; or 

 that the girths which fitted the former are altogether too short or 

 too long for the present occupier of his stall. 



The Breast, as the front part of the chest is called — " the 

 bosom," as it is wrongly and absurdly named by some — is a point 

 worth our attention. It should possess breadth and fulness; the 

 breast-bone should be prominent, and the sides of it well filled in 

 with plumpness ; the action of the fore limbs, as we shall see by 

 and by, a good deal depending upon the formation and substance 

 of the breast. When the breast is wide, the fore legs will be 

 far apart, as we see instanced in the cart-horse and bull-dog ; and, 

 in consequence of the arches of the ribs being circular and project- 

 ing, the elbows are very apt to be turned outwards : a position of 

 limb — to say nothing about its seposition from its fellow — very 

 unfavourable for progression. On the other hand, when the breast 

 is narrow, the fore limbs are approximated — seem, to use a dealer's 

 expression, " as though they both issued out of one hole." This 

 conformation favours speed, but on several accounts is highly objec- 

 tionable. When the breast is narrow, the chest is so likewise ; the 

 animal is flat-sided; and his fore legs are placed so near together 

 that, in action, they are continually striking each other, occasion- 

 ing sores or bumps upon the fetlocks, speedy-cut, and other an- 

 noyances ; not to mention the weedy make and want of stamina 

 such a horse will evince. Dealers in cart-horses are very particu- 



