THE HOCK. 93 



a word, if there be one " point'" about horses of more importance 

 than another — one that cannot be tolerated badly formed or im- 

 perfectly developed — that point is the hock. What, then, is it 

 that constitutes " a good hock 1 " Firstly, and principally, it ought 

 to be large in proportion to other parts : a disproportionably small 

 hock can never prove equivalent in power to a large one of the 

 same quality. On a lateral view, it should appear broad; and, 

 on a view from behind, bulky and bony. And, then, the point or 

 lever should stand boldly and prominently out from behind it, to 

 a degree to give the tendinous cords affixed to it that set-off from 

 the limb which enables one to trace them through the skin per- 

 fectly distinct — isolated as it were — from the substance of the 

 thigh. " Bad hocks," such as want these " fair proportions," are 

 deficient in breadth and boldness of feature, and have, in conse- 

 quence of such deficiencies, a mean, gummy, unattractive aspect. 

 When the hock, from want of boldness and projection in its point, 

 is rounded behind, forming, in conjunction with the thigh and leg 

 in their posterior outline, a sort of semicircle, the horse is said to be 

 sickle-hocked. And when, from the breadth of the pelvis, or the in- 

 ward direction given to the tibial bones, the hocks are positioned too 

 near to each other, the hind cannons running forward and the hind 

 toes turning outward, the horse is denominated cow-hocked ; cows 

 being remarkable for such conformation. The cannon, from the 

 hock, should descend in a vertical line towards the ground ; a 

 position in which it has more extent of motion, both forward and 

 backward, and one which gives to the hock its greatest power and 

 efficiency in action. The longer the thigh and the more the hock 

 " sets out" behind from the body, the greater the sphere of the 

 action of the hind limb, though the power of the hock is weak- 

 ened by the longitude of the tendons inserted into it. That is the 

 strongest hock which, being of itself well-formed, receives the 

 muscular substance, along with the tendinous cords, into its very 

 substance, the two being knit closely and compactly together ; or, 

 to use the dealer's phrase, " the thighs being let down into the 

 hocks." A horse with straight thighs will have straight hocks ; 

 and these, though their straightness cannot be regarded, abstract- 

 edly, but in a disadvantageous light, while they are the best or 

 only kind which could have suited such a make of limb, may still 



