THE HORSE, HOW TO BUY. 177 



V. What a Horse Should Be. 



We have been very minute in stating the points of perfection in a 

 horse, and have been particular in urging that the lungs, limbs and feet 

 should be super-excellent. In addition, and as from one of the best 

 authorities, we quote from the late H. W. Herbert, upon the physical 

 structure of the horse, before illustrating physical perfection and perfect 

 conformation. Mr. Herbert says : 



*'The points of the physical structure of a horse on which the most, 

 indeed the whole of his utility depends, are his legs. Without his loco- 

 motors all the rest, however beautiful it may be, is nothing worth. 

 Therefore, to these we look first. The fore-shoulder should be long, 

 obliquely set, with a considerable slope, high in the withers and thin 

 above. The upper arm should be very long and muscular, the knee 

 broad, flat and bony, the shank, or cannon bone, as short as may be, flat, 

 not round, with clean, firm sinews ; the pastern joints moderately long 

 and oblique, but not too much so, as the excess produces springiness and 

 weakness ; the hoofs firm, erect or deep, as opposed to flat, and the feet 

 generally large and round. In the hind-legs the quarters should be 

 large, powerful, broad when looked at in profile, and square and solid 

 from behind. The hams should be sickle-shaped, not straight, and well 

 'et down, so as to bring the hocks well toward the ground. The hocks 

 should be large and bony, straight, not angular and convexly curved in 

 .heir posterior outlines ; the shanks, corresponding to the cannon bones, 

 short and flat, and the hind feet similar in form to the front. The back 

 should be short above, from the point of the withers and shoulder-blade, 

 which ought to run well back to the croup. The barrel should he round, 

 and for a horse in which strength and quickness are looked to more than 

 great speed and stride, closely ribbed up. A horse can scarcely be too 

 deep from the tip of his shoulder to the intersection of his fore-leg — 

 which is called the heart-place — or too wide in the chest, as room in 

 these parts gives free play to the most important vitals. The form of the 

 neck and setting on of the head are essential not only to the beauty of 

 the animal, but to the facility and pleasure of riding or driving him ; 

 \ience, with an ill-shaped, short, stubborn neck, or ill set on head, the 

 animal cannot by any possibility be a pleasant-mouthed horse, or an easy 

 one to manage. The neck should be moderately long, convexly arched 

 above from the shoulders to the crest, thin where it joins the head, and 

 so set on that when }d elding to the bit it forms a semi-circle, like a bended 

 bow, and brings the chin downward and inward until it nearly touches 

 the chest. Horses so made are always manageable to the hand. The 

 converse of this neck, which is concave above and stuck out at the 



