BOOK VI. xx\aii. i-xxix. 3 



also considered to be of no use after the tenth year, 

 because the offspring of an aged mother is slow and 

 lazy. Democritus declares that it will rest with us 

 whether a male or a female is conceived, since he 

 directs us, if we wish that a male should be be- 

 gotten, to tie up the stallion's left testicle with a 

 flaxen cord or some other material, and the right 

 testicle if we want a female offspring ; and he thinks 

 that the same method should be adopted with almost 

 all other cattle. 



XXIX. As soon as a foal is born, it is possible to The quaU- 

 judge its natural qualities immediately. If it is good- horse.^ * 

 humoured, if it is courageous, if it is not alarmed by 

 the sight or sound of something unfamiliar, if it runs 

 in front of the herd, if it surpasses its age-mates in 

 playfulness and activity on various occasions and 

 when competing in a race, if it leaps over a ditch and 

 crosses a bridge on a river without baulking — these 

 are the signs of generous mettle. 



Its physical form will consist of a small head, dark 2 

 eyes, wide-open nostrils, short, upstanding ears, a 

 neck which is soft and broad without being long, a 

 thick mane which hangs down on the right side, a 

 broad chest covered with well-proportioned muscles, 

 the shoulders big and straight, the flanks arched, the 

 back-bone double, the belly drawn in, the testicles 

 well matched and small, the loins broad and sunken, 3 

 the tail long and covered with bristling, curly hair, 

 the legs soft and tall and straight, the knee tapering 

 and small and not turned inwards, the buttocks round, 

 the haunches brawny and well-proportioned, the 

 hoofs hard, high, hollow and round with moderately 

 large crowns above them; the whole body must be 

 so formed as to be large, tall and erect, and also active 



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