18 PURCHASING FROM THE STABLES. 



the forearm from the elbow to the knee cannot be too 

 great, in order that the distance between the knee 

 and fetlock may be proportionably short : these are 

 three indispensable points, but the two first are sel- 

 dom sufficiently scrutinized. A horse with a thin 

 forearm and corresponding lanky thigh, cannot pos- 

 sibly run, nor stand work either. 



THE KNEE, AND BACK SINEWS, AND SUSPENSORY 

 LIGAMENT. THE SHANK-BONE, FETLOCKS, ETC. 



The knee must be broad and flat : the upper inner 

 part should present a striking width, or it will look 

 round, which is ugly, and does not betoken strength. 

 If there is the slightest bony excrescence in front, it 

 may interfere materially with his running, and which 

 firing and blistering will often fail to remove ; and if 

 there is any puffy swelling, it is worse than the bog- 

 spavin. The hinder bone of the knee cannot be too 

 large, so that the leg may not be tied in, that is, that 

 the back sinews may be wide away from the shank- 

 bone ; and these back sinews should feel smooth, 

 strong, and well braced, like a piece of catgut tightly 

 covered with fawnskin. The back sinews cannot al- 

 ways be told by the feel ; they must be carefully in- 

 spected at each side, for sometimes, while they feel 

 smooth, strong, and wiry, there will be an evident 

 difference in the size about the centre ; a very slight 

 bow a sure sign of having been injured. The sus- 

 pensory ligament, the centre rope, must also feel and 

 look, like the back sinews, fine and wiry. There is, 

 however, a distinction between smallness immediately 

 below the knee, and that lying in which deforms the 

 legs, and it consists in this. Some of the best Arabs, 



