PREPARING PONIES FOR MEASUREMENT 121 



lest the measuring authorities might reject the animal on 

 the score of its being too sick. The able practitioner 

 will, from previous experience, accurately determine the 

 extreme point to which he can go in playing his game 

 with the members of the measuring committee. 



As animals at sea get but little sleep, and usually have 

 to stand all the time they are on board, it is often 

 advisable, especially if they have suffered much in con- 

 dition from the passage, to bring up for measurement 

 ponies that have just been landed from a long voyage. 



Some ponies measure lower when their head is held up 

 than when the poll is kept on a level with the withers. 

 As the owner or his representative is usually allowed to 

 hold the pony's head, and he will generally be allowed to 

 use his own discretion in keeping it up or down, so long 

 as the poll is not brought below the level of the withers. 

 The measuring authorities, as a rule, will take under their 

 own direction the placing of the animal's legs. It is 

 almost needless to say that if the limbs are stretched out 

 of the perpendicular, or if the fore feet are unduly 

 separated from each other in a lateral direction, the pony 

 will measure lower than he would do were his position 

 more in accordance with the rules for measuring. 



Lowering the heels, within certain limits, will, by 

 increasing the obliquity of the pasterns, decrease the 

 height more than reducing the toes to the same extent. 

 If, however, the heels are so much pared down that the 

 animal cannot stand firmly on them, the rasping or 

 cutting will, as a rule, produce the undesirable effect of 

 making the pony add to his height by causing him to 

 bring his pasterns more upright than usual, with the 



