THE SHOULDER. 53 



In a racer — although there are race-horses enow in whom this 

 formation exists and operates in its greatest beauty and perfection — 

 the shoulder is not to be considered so much as the hind quarters 

 and loins. Daily observation shews us, that the shoulder may be 

 any thing but perfect in formation, and yet possess a good deal of 

 action — that, as I said before, we are not advanced to that knowledge 

 of shoulders which will enable us to pronounce on a horse's action 

 by bare inspection of them : we cannot positively say his action will 

 turn out very bad, or must prove very good ; we pretend to know 

 nothing for certain until the horse is put into action, and then, pos- 

 sibly, we may discover reasons why his action proves so much 

 better or so much worse than we had anticipated. Many excellent 

 racers have what we should call any thing but perfect shoulders ; 

 their good qualities are amply accounted for in their round fleshy 

 loins and lengthy muscular hind quarters : on the contrar} r , many, I 

 repeat, possess as handsome and well-formed shoulders as can be 

 desired ; and when this occurs along with the requisite strength 

 and length in the hind parts, surely it must be regarded as a great 

 advantage, providing the action be fitting and commensurate. 



But for Harness, or even for support of burthen, as I ob- 

 served in my last Lecture, the thick or heavy or loaded shoulder 

 is to be preferred to the one that is thin, or that is oblique : a horse 

 so formed is, cceteris paribus, actually stronger in his shoulders, 

 capable of carrying and drawing heavier loads ; in a word, better 

 formed for these duties. It is not compatible with animal power 

 to exert great strength in draught or carriage, and at the same 

 time step out much in action : the short step husbands the strength, 

 the long one expends it beyond the power of the animal to repeat 

 the act many times or for any continuance with the same effect. 

 It is no answer to this to say, we see horses with excellent action 

 drawing very heavy carriages and still displaying their action in 

 draught. Some horses, it is apparent enough, are in possession of 

 such strength even in action that, what would ordinarily be con- 

 sidered, a heavy load does not oppress them : still, as a general 

 rule, I have no fear in asserting, that both heavy carriage and 

 heavy draught at first cramps or limits, and ultimately tends to 

 habitually diminish action : the horse finds, with the enormous 

 weight behind or upon him, that he cannot, as he could before, 

 step out in action ; he perceives, if he does, that he soon exhausts 



